Polo: La Dolfina wins dedicated US Open

WELLINGTON, Fla. – La Dolfina won its first U.S. Open Polo Championship this week in an emotionally charged final at the National Polo Center.

La Dolfina (Alejandro Azmar, 0, Rufino Merlos, 3, Poroto Cambiaso, 10, Tomas Panelo, 9) broke open a close game in the sixth chukker to defeat Valiente (Joaquin Vilgre de la Madrid, 0, Peke Gonzalez, 4, Pacquito de Narvaez, 5, Adolfo Cambiaso, 10), 10-7, on Sunday in front of a soldout crowd.

La Dolfina, Valiente’s sister organization making its U.S. polo winter debut, won two of the three legs of the Gauntlet of Polo Series and back-to-back tournaments. The game was bittersweet for Adolfo Cambiaso, celebrating his son’s second Gauntlet tournament win against him, but also dedicating the game to Valiente patron and good friend Bob Jornayvaz.

Jornayvaz was involved in a serious polo accident on April 8 in an early U.S. Open match and remains in intensive care at St. Mary’s Medical Center with serious injuries. His family said Jornayvaz is “in recovery” but would release no other details.

“Honestly, I don’t think of the game very much, I think of Bob and today Valiente is playing because his family wanted it and it’s what Bob would have liked, to keep on playing,” Cambiaso told Pololine before the game.