By Sarah Eakin
A highly anticipated rematch of last year’s U.S. Open Polo Championship final between father and son, Adolfo and Poroto Cambiaso, played out in front of a capacity crowd at the National Polo Center in Wellington as La Dolfina/Tamera emerged victorious with a 12-8 win over La Dolfina/Catamount on Sunday, April 20.
La Dolfina/Tamera came to the field with a win on the board in the opening tournament of the Gauntlet of Polo, the C.V. Whitney Cup, and the dust barely settled on the 50th birthday celebrations for its captain, Adolfo Cambiaso. Last season’s memories, losing to his son Poroto and La Dolfina in both the USPA Gold Cup and the U.S. Open finals, still appeared fresh in Adolfo’s mind prior to the rematch, who was keeping track — and not just of the fact that he was in line for his tenth U.S. Open Polo Championship title.
“He has been beating me a little bit too much,” Adolfo said of his son Poroto. “But the last game I beat him. Last year, I lost two finals against them [La Dolfina]. I won one, I lost two important ones. And now we are 1-1 [for the season], but he beat me in England in the quarterfinals of the Queen’s Cup. But sometimes one game is more important than three or four, so let’s see…”
True to form, La Dolfina/Catamount came out swinging at the start of the match, with Rufino Merlos, who played alongside Poroto for last year’s U.S. Open champions La Dolfina, putting two inspiring field goals on the board, the second a result of a concerted offense by all four players, including Jesse Bray, who set up the goal shot. “I think we started off really strong in the first chukker,” said Bray, who, along with Matt Coppola and Scott Devon, was one of three U.S. players in the final. “And then at the end of the first chukker, they scored some really nice goals.”
Diego Cavanagh, Coppola and Adolfo Cambiaso — scoring from a penalty — edged La Dolfina/Tamera into the lead going into the second chukker but were in danger of entering halftime behind by a goal until team owner Alejandro Poma scored a crowd-pleasing goal in the closing seconds of the third chukker, capitalizing on a pass from Adolfo to make things even at 6-6 and shifting the energy on the field. “I felt like I had to be focused and do my best with the chance I got,” Poma said. “You can get one chance to make that shot, and that’s in my mind, sort of keeping it simple, make the shot.”
By the end of the fourth chukker, an 8-6 advantage soon stretched to a 10-7 lead for La Dolfina/Tamera in the fifth, with a further highly applauded field goal from Poma and a penalty from Adolfo Cambiaso. The margin extended to 11-7 before Bray found the posts in the sixth only to have a field goal from Coppola to seal the win. “I thought we did really well today,” Bray said. “But it was just tough to play against that team. It’s a very good team, and they had a really good season.”
By the close of play, all four players on La Dolfina/Tamera had scored three goals each — a testament to the mindset of Adolfo Cambiaso in cultivating his team and extracting the best from each of his players. No one appreciated the experience more than Coppola.
“I think it’s every player’s dream to have an opportunity to play with him,” Coppola said of Adolfo. “I am so lucky I did. I got the chance. I made the most of the opportunity, and I’m so grateful. He wants you to play your game; he wants you to have confidence. I’ll never forget when we were playing our first team practice, and he said, ‘I’ll never yell at you unless you’re timid. So, if you mess up doing what you thought was right, I’ll never yell at you.’ Since then, I just kind of got my confidence every game… and I think my game playing with him has come on a lot.”
For his significant role in the victory, Poma was given the Seymour H. Knox Most Valuable Player Award. “You’ve got to wake up and make it happen,” he reflected on his linchpin goal to close out the first half. “You need 6-6, and you can’t get unfocused. You can’t give up one inch, and that’s what Adolfo was telling us, ‘You know, come on guys, let’s get it going.’ We came out focused and motivated [in the second half]. This was very, very special. It is a dream come true.”
The Willis Hartman Trophy for Best Playing Pony, presented by Palm Beach Equine, was awarded to Adolfo Cambiaso for La Dolfina’s mare, Dolfina Binter. Adolfo’s horses were also recognized as the Best Playing String in the National Polo Center’s End of Season Horse Excellence Awards, reflecting an outstanding performance of an entire string throughout the Gauntlet of Polo series.
Read more by equestrian writer Sarah Eakin at www.paperhorsemedia.com.
