Photo Credit – Matias Callejo /Prensa AAP
FIFTH CONSECUTIVE TITLE FOR NATIVIDAD LA DOLFINA!
On court 6 of the local club, on Sunday 8/11 the decisive match of the 86th Tortugas Country Club Galicia Open presented by Visa was played, in which the Emilio de Anchorena Cup was at stake.
In the match, the recent winner of the 133rd Hurlingham Club Open presented by the AAP and only contender for the Triple Crown, La Natividad La Dolfina, beat La Hache Yellowrose 16-10 , achieving its 20th consecutive victory, taking the Emilio de Anchorena Cup and will seek the TC for the second consecutive season in the 133rd Argentine Polo Galicia Open presented by Visa, which will be played between Saturday 11/14 and 12/12.
Let us remember that the tournament was contested by the 10 best teams in the world, which have a valuation between 31 and 40 goals.
The final proved much more difficult for the Cañuelas team than expected. La Hache played a near-perfect first half, winning the vast majority of throw-ins and committing very few fouls (only two in the first four chukkers). With Hilario Ulloa on fire against the opposing players, they built their largest lead of the game, 8-6, midway through the fourth chukker.
But in the second half, La Natividad La Dolfina began to settle into the game, started to gain strength in the throw-ins and with scoring distributed between Barto, Jeta and Poroto, turned the score around and achieved victory by an excessive 16-10, which in reality does not show what the game was like, extremely hard fought and which should have been decided by less advantage.
For LN LD, the goal is to continue on the path of victory and arrive in the best possible shape for their debut in Palermo, which will be on Tuesday, November 17th. Meanwhile, LH showed great improvement after their defeat against Las Monjitas and will seek a new rematch against their rival from the two finals of the season, as both are located in Zone A of the Palermo Open.
The finalist teams and their progression:
La Natividad La Dolfina: Camilo Castagnola 10 (5 goals, three from a penalty and one from Penalty 1), Adolfo Cambiaso (n) 10 (5, two from a penalty), Adolfo Cambiaso (h) 10 and Bartolomé Castagnola (h) 10 (6). Total: 40.
La Hache Yellowrose: Hilario Ulloa 9 (4), Carlos M. Ulloa 8 (2), Benjamín Panelo 8 (2 penalties) and Tomás Panelo 9 (2). Total: 34.
La Natividad La Dolfina: 1-1, 3-3, 4-3, 6-7, 8-8, 11-9, 13-10 and 16-10.
Judges: Gastón Lucero and Guillermo Villanueva (h). Referee: Matías Baibiene.
THE NUMBERS OF THE FINAL
After 20 years of playing the tournament final on court 7 of Tortugas CC, this season the decisive match was played on court No. 6 – the last final there had been in 2005.
La Natividad La Dolfina secured its fifth title since the two clubs merged. Separately, La Natividad now has four trophies in Tortugas (2022, 2023, 2025, and 2026); while La Dolfina has accumulated eight (2013 to 2018, 2025, and 2026).
For their part, the La Hache team was unable to achieve their second Triple Crown and Turtles trophy, after having achieved it in 2024.
In the individual competition, Adolfo Cambiaso (h) secured his 11th title at this Open, leaving him just one shy of Pablo Mac Donough , the all-time leader in Tortugas Open victories. Meanwhile, “Jeta” and “Barto” Castagnola claimed their fifth titles, while “ Poroto” Cambiaso earned his second Tortuguitas championship.