La Dolfina completed the first stage of three as they took Ellerstina 11-9 in the final of the Tortugas Open, on the first step to the triple crown for the third year running. Surpassing the record set by the great Coronel Suarez team is within reach.
The records set by La Dolfina are staggering: since 2011, when the quartet of Cambiaso, Juan Martin Nero, Pelon Stirling and Pablo MacDonough came together, La Dolfina has gone 44 matches with one defeat, in the Argentine Open Final in 2012. Since then, only victories.
With imperfect weather conditions at Tortugas Country Club, cold and with the ground rough, it was not the best exhibition of polo on record.
However, according to Ed Heguy, Cambiaso rolled back the years, in scoring 10 of 11 goals for La Dolfina.
• Capturing the heritage of Argentina’s season
The match turned in the third chukka. It started with Ellerstina 4-3 up, but ended with La Dolfina enjoying a 6-4 lead.
Thereafter, the dream team never relinquished their lead, dominating to 11 goals and a three-goal advantage going into the closing stages.
Ellerstina also missed crucial field penalties which would have kept them in contention in the match.
MacDonough told PoloLine that the beauty of the match from their perspective was winning “without playing well”. Winning ugly has always been a quality with great teams – in any sport.
Nonetheless, Cambiaso looks in top form, according to the most sage of observers. Heguy, long in the game and having been around Cambiaso for decades, told The Telegraph: “The weather has been cold in Argentina, the grass has not been growing so the fields don’t have the cushion. So it was a bit rough. Nobody fell, which was good.”
“La Dolfina started slow, Ellerstina were good in the first two chukkas, but La Dolfina played better as the game progressed and they really did go on to dominate.”
“Adolfito was like a 20-year-old kid the way he was playing,” said Heguy of the 40-year-old 10-goal star of the sport. “They want to make history, they want to better this brilliant team of Coronel Suarez who won the triple twice.”
“The biggest opposition they have is against Ellerstina, of course, and they are lucky that none of the players has got injured. Keeping their form and the four players free from injury will be the key,” Heguy said.
“They have eight more games to win. Four at the Hurlingham Open and four at the Argentine Open, at Palermo. They are eight games away from making history. It’s as simple as that.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/polo/11941212/Argentina-polo-season-2015-Adolfo-Cambiao-like-a-20-year-old-as-La-Dolfina-beat-Ellerstina-in-Tortugas-final.html