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A C T I O N
Opposite:
La Dolfina take the
trophy at the Argentine Open;
This page:
Juan Martin Nero (left)
confronts Polito Pieres in the
Tortugas Open at Palermo
Ayrshire Cup. The tournament featured 10
teams, broken down into two leagues. We
should remember that four of those teams
are rated between 32 and 40 goals (La
Dolfina, Ellerstina, Alegría and La Aguada),
while the remaining six foursomes go from 29
to 31 goals (Cría Yatay, La Irenita, Chapaleufú,
La Albertina, La Esquina and La Dolfina II).
Of the 20 games played during the
qualifying stage, seven ended by a single
goal, and three were decided in the last
chukka. As a result, the qualifying stage
was very interesting, despite the fact that
the highest-rated teams always won easily.
However, with the exception of the final,
the best matches were the two league
deciders, in the clash of the undefeated. In
the first, Ellerstina had to fight hard until
the last second of play to defeat a brilliant
La Aguada by a single goal. But the biggest
surprise would come in the second league
decider. Alegría displayed their best polo to
beat the dream team, La Dolfina, by a close
10–9. We should remember that La Dolfina
holds the unique record of winning the most
matches over the past decade. They have
played in all the finals of the Triple Crown
since 2010. In addition, this is the first time
they haven’t reached a final with the current
line-up (Cambiaso, Stirling, Mac Donough
and Nero), who hold a 69–5 record.
The championship match of the 124th
Hurlingham Open was definitely one to
remember. The first half belonged to Alegría,
who managed to take a four goal lead; they
dominated the scoreboard from the first
