The Argentine Triple Crown.

Three opens, one season

The Triple Crown (Triple Corona) is run by the Asociacion Argentina de Polo (AAP). It is made up of three tournaments: the Hurlingham Club Open, the Tortugas Country Club Open and the Argentine Open (Abierto Argentino de Polo). A team that wins all three in the same season wins the Triple Crown.

The Argentine Open is the third and final leg. It is played at the Campo Argentino de Polo in Palermo, Buenos Aires, which is why it is often called simply Palermo. Wikipedia records that the championship has been played every year since 1893, and that the only winner from outside Argentina was the American Meadow Brook team in 1932.

Which leg comes first

Sources disagree on the order. The AAP called the 132nd Hurlingham Open the first leg of the 2025 Triple Crown and Tortugas the second, and Prensa Polo also put Hurlingham first in 2026, when it was played first. A polo school blog in September 2025 and PoloHUB's club profile both call Tortugas the first stop. What everyone agrees on is that Palermo closes the season.

Format and level

• Team handicaps. Triple Crown teams are rated far above the caps used in England or the US. The eight 2025 Tortugas teams ranged from 32 to 40 goals, according to the AAP. La Nacion billed the 2024 Palermo final between La Natividad and La Dolfina as the second final of 80 goals of combined handicap, with both teams rated 40 goals, the top of the 0 to 40 range for team handicaps given in La Nacion's guide to the Palermo ground (2001, updated 2020).
• Eight chukkers. The AAP's report of the 2025 Tortugas final gives eight chukker scores, and El Ancasti describes the 2025 Palermo final as eight chukkers.
• Fields. The 2026 calendar published in April listed Hurlingham as an eight-team knockout at the Hurlingham Club, Tortugas as a ten-team group stage, and the Argentine Open as a ten-team group stage at Palermo. In 2026 the Tortugas matches are being played at the AAP's Alfredo Lalor complex in Pilar rather than at Tortugas Country Club itself.
• Palermo 2025 format. Ten teams in two zones of five, with the two zone winners meeting in the final (from search summaries of ESPN and a sponsor announcement).

The 2026 Triple Crown, as of 20 October 2026

La Natividad La Dolfina's 2026 line-up is Adolfo Cambiaso, his son Adolfo "Poroto" Cambiaso, and the brothers Camilo "Jeta" and Bartolome "Barto" Castagnola. La Hache, the beaten Hurlingham finalist, fielded two sets of brothers: Hilario and Carlos Maria Ulloa, and Tomas and Benjamin Panelo. Prensa Polo reports that the 2026 Hurlingham title was Adolfo Cambiaso's 17th, the most by any player in that tournament.

Tortugas results reported so far include La Hache 18, La Irenita 12 and Las Monjitas 16, Hiper 15 (La Nacion, 18 October 2026). The tournament is not finished, so there is no 2026 Tortugas or Palermo champion.

Results, 2023 to 2026

2024. Adolfo Cambiaso tore a hamstring in the Hurlingham final and Gonzalo Ferrari replaced him. The Palermo winners were Facundo Pieres, Pablo Mac Donough and the two Castagnolas; La Dolfina Saudi had Juan Martin Nero, David Stirling and both Cambiasos.

2025. The Castagnola brothers' La Natividad and the Cambiasos' La Dolfina merged into one team, La Natividad La Dolfina, with all four players rated 10 goals. It won the Triple Crown unbeaten across 11 matches. The Tortugas final was delayed by rain; the AAP named Antonio Heguy MVP and Show Down, ridden by Barto Castagnola, best horse. In the Palermo final, Facundo Pieres was hurt in the eighth chukker and replaced by Pedro Zacharias, and President Javier Milei presented the Championship Cup. The Palermo final was played on Sunday 7 December, a day after the announced date.

The 2025 Palermo score. ESPN, El Ancasti and the Buenos Aires Herald give 17-13. Perfil's 442 printed 17-12 in one place.

Records and disputed counts

As of October 2024, La Nacion counted six wins for La Natividad in the previous nine Triple Crown tournaments: Hurlingham 2021, Palermo 2021, Tortugas 2022, Tortugas 2023, Palermo 2023 and Hurlingham 2024.

Prizes and watching

At the Tortugas final the AAP awards an MVP prize named for Francisco E. Dorignac, a best horse of the final prize, and a breeders' association (AACCP) prize for the best Polo Argentino bred horse. In Argentina the 2025 Hurlingham Open and the 2025 Palermo final were shown on ESPN through the Disney+ Premium plan. Early rounds can be free: the 2025 Tortugas preliminaries had free entry while the semi-finals and final were ticketed, and La Nacion reported free entry to the opening stage of the 2024 Argentine Open. See watching polo for more, and top players for the 10-goal list.