La Dolfina wins first match of Argentine Open
By Herbert Spencer
Reigning champions La Dolfina Peugeot came from behind in the second half Saturday to win the first match of the 117th Argentine Championship, decisively defeating lower-handicapped Sao José Audi 18-12.
La Dolfina’s victory at Palermo, in the Abierto del Bicentenario, celebrating 200 years of the Argentine nation, was to be expected. They are a 39-goal team against Sao José’s 30.
Nor was it any great surprise that, as is often the case, it took La Dolfina several chukkas to get their game together. Or that it was the team’s owner and skipper, 10-goaler Adolfo Cambiaso, who in the end scored most of his side’s goals, 14 of the 18.
Underdogs Sao José, fielding their best ponies early on, took an early lead and kept it until La Dolfina tied up the match 8-8 in the fifth chukka. La Dolfina had held back their best mounts until the second half and dominated the game after that, outscoring their opponents 9-3 in the sixth and seventh chukkas.
In the day’s second match, 33-goal Pilará-Piaget swamped 35-goal Chapa Uno Hope Funds 19-9 in their best performance yet in Argentina’s Triple Crown series. Pilará-Piaget’s 10-goal star Marcos Heguy was still sidelined after shoulder surgery.