The tournament begins today
Today is the day! The 124th Hurlingham Club Championships, the second instalment of the 2017 Triple Crown, gets underway today. This year’s tournament will be played across four venues; the Jockey Club in San Isidro, La Dolfina in Cañuelas, La Ensenada in Luján and the Hurlingham Club.
10 teams have entered this year’s competition, with handicaps ranging from 29 to 40 goals.
The tournament qualifying stages are split into two sections, A and B. Defending champions Ellerstina will head up Section A alongside La Aguada Las Monjitas, Cradle Yatay, LD La Dolfina Polo Ranch and La Esquina LM Navarro Correas. Section B will be made up of Dolfina Sancor Insurance, Alegria Land Rover, La Irenita, La Albertina Abu Dhabi and Chapaleufú. Tortugas Open finalists La Dolfina and Ellerstina Johor will be taking part in the tournament after their Tortugas Final tomorrow afternoon. These two teams came to loggerheads in the Hurlingham Open Final last year, with Ellerstina Johor trumping Cambiaso’s side at the last moment with an epic goal from Gonzalito Pieres in the dying moments of the final, and extra, chukka to finish the match 10-9. Will it be the two Titans teams facing each other again in the Final this year?
Today’s matches are as follows:
12pm – La Dolfina (Cañuelas): The Albertina Abu Dhabi Vs. The Irenita
2pm – La Ensenada (Luján): Breeding Yatay Vs. LD La Dolfina Polo Ranch
2pm – Jockey Club (San Isidro): La Aguada Las Monjitas Vs. La Esquina LM Navarro Correas
4pm – Hurlingham Club: Joy Land Rover Vs. Chapaleufú
The Hurlingham Club Open Championship Teams:
La Albertina Abu Dhabi (32): Francisco Elizalde (8), Ignacio Toccalino (8), Santiago Toccalino (8) & Alfredo Cappella Barabucci (8)
La Irenita (31): Juan Ruiz Guiñazú (8), Juan M. Zavaleta (8), Clemente Zavaleta (7) & Matías MacDonough (8)
Cradle Yatay (31): Valerio Zubiaurre (7), Cristian Laprida (8), Joaquín Pittaluga (8) & Ignacio Laprida (8)
LD La Dolfina Polo Ranch (30): Diego Cavanagh (7), Guillermo Terrera (8), Alejo Taranco (7) & Ignatius Du Plessis (8)
La Aguada Las Monjitas (31): Alejandro Novillo Astrada (8), Alfredo Bigatti (7), Miguel Novillo Astrada (8) & Ignacio Novillo Astrada (8)
La Esquina LM Navarro Belts (29): Pascual Sainz de Vicuña (6), Rodrigo Ribeiro de Andrade (8), Mariano Aguerre (8) & Rodrigo Rueda (7)
Joy Land Rover (35): Guillermo Caset (9) Hilario Ulloa (10), Facundo Sola (8) & Frederick Mannix (8)
Chapaleufú (30): Alberto Heguy (7), Ezequiel Martínez Ferrario (8), Julián ‘Negro’ de Lusarreta (7) & Eduardo Heguy (8)
La Dolfina Sancor Insurance (40): Adolfo Cambiaso (10), David ‘Pelon’ Stirling (10), Pablo MacDonough (10) & Juan Martín Nero (10)
Ellerstina Johor (39): Pablo Pieres (9), Gonzalito Pieres (10), Facundo Pieres (10) and Nicolás Pieres (10)
Photograph: The competition for the enormous Hurlingham Open trophy begins today. By ©www.imagesofpolo.com