The 86th Tortugas Country Club Open, which puts the Emilio de Anchorena Cup on the line, is going through its most thrilling week. Next Sunday, 8 November, the second jewel of the Argentine polo Triple Crown will be decided when La Natividad La Dolfina and La Hache Polo Team face off for the title. The match will be a rematch of the recent Hurlingham Club Open final, whose precedent favours La Natividad La Dolfina, and sets up a direct duel between the two organizations that have achieved the highest efficiency throughout the season.
The road to the grand final was resolved last weekend through two zone definitions that presented diametrically opposed scenarios, combining a direct victory in one bracket and strict mathematical resolutions in the other.
In Zone A, expectations were centered on the clash of undefeated teams: La Natividad La Dolfina and Ellerstina Indios Chapaleufú. However, La Natividad La Dolfina resolved the match categorically. The forty-goal handicap lineup defeated the team of the Pieres and the Heguys by 18 to 10. After a first half of even play, which included a field change once the second chukker ended, the Cañuelas team built a wide advantage throughout the following chukkers. Official records show that Camilo Castagnola led the offense scoring eight goals, allowing his team to secure first place in the group undefeated, but Poroto Cambiaso shone outstandingly, thus becoming the great figure of the match. As a prelude to this game, La Zeta Kazak defeated Don Ercole 19 to 10, securing key points for the season's overall ranking.
Conversely, Zone B offered an outcome completely tied to the calculator during Sunday, November 1. La Hache Polo Team reached the decisive duel with an advantage in the standings facing a potential three-way tie, but suffered a 16 to 13 defeat against Las Monjitas. During several stages of the match, Las Monjitas even reached the five-goal advantage they needed to snatch the qualification from Hilario Ulloa's club. However, La Hache managed to close the gap at key moments, narrowing the final distance on the scoreboard. According to the regulatory tie-breaking criteria after a three-way tie in the standings occurred, La Hache qualified for the Tortugas final by having finished with a goal difference of +3, compared to the +1 obtained by Las Monjitas and the -4 of La Irenita Clinova. In the other match of the day, La Irenita Clinova added its third victory by beating La Aguada Daily Mail 16 to 15.
The stage is more than set for Sunday, 8 November. La Natividad La Dolfina arrives backed by statistics: they finished undefeated in their zone and with a performance that allowed them to overcome their group rivals with wide margins on the scoreboard. The perfect handicap lineup will seek to impose the pace that consolidated them as champions in Hurlingham and also defend the title won in Tortugas in 2025. On the other hand, La Hache, a Tortugas finalist again, as it was two years ago, has several days to prepare in the best way for its second definition in this Triple Crown after the defeat against Las Monjitas. Hilario Ulloa and Tomás Panelo shared the feat two years ago in Tortugas, while for Carlos María Ulloa and Benjamín Panelo it will be their first time playing the decisive match of this tournament.
With the countdown approaching the most anticipated moment, La Natividad La Dolfina and La Hache are already feeling what could be a rematch of what happened in Hurlingham a few weeks ago, or the expansion of a victorious path that seems to have no end for the Cañuelas team.
