Dubai with Cambiaso win British Open
By Herbert Spencer
Adolfo Cambiaso completed a hat trick Sunday as he led Ali Albardy’s Dubai to victory over Victor Vargas’s Lechuza Caracas, 14-12, taking the Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup in the British Open Championship at Cowdray Park Polo Club.
Cambiaso has now won all of the world’s current top Opens: the Argentine with his own team, La Dolfina, in December; the US, with Crab Orchard, in April; and the British. In just over seven months, the world’s Number One has also won the other two 26-goal tournaments in the US and the 22-goal Queen’s Cup in the UK.
The 35-year old Argentine 10-goaler took the Most Valuable Player award in the final and the award as the highest scorer of the 20-team Gold Cup tournament and his mare Dolfina Caridad took Best Playing Pony of the final.
Having lost last year’s final, this time Cambiaso made it is own, scoring most of Dubai’s goals. Dubai dominated the match with both player and pony power.
Lechuza Caracas put up a hard fight but were unable to play the open game they wanted. Their two lower-handicapped players, however, put on a fine show, with patron Vargas always up front for the pass and scoring two goals himself and back Max Routledge, the only English player in the final, putting in an impressive performance in defense.