Adolfo Cambiaso (born 15 April 1975) is an Argentine professional
polo player with a
10-goal handicap rating.
Early years
From an early age his mother, Martina de Estrada Lainez, encouraged her son Adolfo and his half brothers to play polo.
[The thrilling world of polo](_blank)
'' Country Life'', 5 July 2012 By age 12 he had a 1-goal handicap, and a year later, with a 3-goal rating, he won the ''Eduardo Heguy Cup'' with team La Martina, playing with his father (also Adolfo). In 1989, at age 14 and with the San Diego team, he won the ''Campaña del Desierto Cup'', and a year later the ''Renault Cup Open'' with La Martina, gaining a 6-goal handicap.
Professional career
1990 to 1994
Cambiaso traveled abroad regularly, winning 24 tournaments in Argentina, England and the US, while playing for teams like La Martina, Ellerstina/Ellerston White and others. In 1994 he won the "Triple Corona" (
Argentine Open,
Hurlingham Open
The Hurlingham Open ( es, Campeonato Abierto de Hurlingham) is a yearly polo competition that takes place at the Hurlingham Club
The Hurlingham Club is an exclusive private social and athletic club located in the Fulham area of London, En ...
, Tortugas Cup) with Ellerstina, and his handicap rating was raised to 10-goals, the youngest player to attain this.
1995 to 1999
He won 31 tournaments with teams like La Martina, Ellerstina/Ellerston White, White Birch and Outback.
His awards included the ''
Olimpia de Plata'' award as the most important Argentine polo player of 1997, and the best player at the final of the ''Abierto Argentino'' 1997, with a record 67 goals in the 1998 ''Abierto Argentino''.
2000 to 2004
In this period Cambiaso took home 33 trophies. He left Ellerstina, and became successful with his own team, La Dolfina, which he co-founded with
Bartolomé Castagnola, and won the
Campeonato Argentino Abierto de Polo
The Campeonato Argentino Abierto de Polo (Spanish for Argentine Open Polo Championship) is an international polo championship at club level, organised every year since 1893 at the Campo Argentino de Polo of Palermo, Buenos Aires.
It was known as t ...
(Argentine Open) in 2002. In England he started playing for the
Dubai team, and won the
Cartier Queen's Cup
The Cartier Queen's Cup is a 22-goal polo tournament at the Guards Polo Club in England. Named after Queen Elizabeth II, it is held annually in May–June. According to '' Country Life'', it is the "jewel in the polo calendar" and it "encapsulates ...
three times and the Gold Cup twice, among other tournaments.
2005 to 2008
Cambiaso's La Dolfina team continued to dominate, winning the Argentine Open in 2005, 2006 and 2007. They defeated Ellerstina by 20–19 in 2005, the highest score in an Argentine Open final match. He continued playing successfully for
Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...
in England, but also became captain for team Crab Orchard in the US, winning the US Open and the USPA Gold Cup. 2008 was a less successful year, not winning one match in the English polo season, nor any of the prestigious Argentine tournaments. La Dolfina made it to the finals of the Argentine Open, but was beaten by Ellerstina 12-13 after a golden goal by
Gonzalo Pieres in an extra time.
Current
Today, he was considered the best player in the world
and the most successful player in the Argentine Open, competing 15 times and winning 7, and played in the final another 2 times. He scored 535 goals in the Argentine Open alone, breaking the record held by Bautista Heguy with 531 goals.
He played for the Argentina national team since 2002 when they won the ''Copa Quilmes''.
Horses
Of his horses, the most notable were ''Lili'', ''Ilusión'', ''Sospechosa'', ''La Osa'', and his favourite ''Colibrí''.
His most recognized horses included ''Mambo'', ''Bruma'' and ''Dolfina Cuartetera''. For the 2015 U.S. Open, his best horses were the mare Romana and the stallion Boeing, known as the "American Pharoah" of the polo world.
Cloning
At age 25 Cambiaso decided to create his own
breeding business from scratch, as well as the polo team
La Dolfina
La Dolfina (currently named La Dolfina Sancor Seguros due to sponsorship reasons) is an Argentine polo team, founded by Adolfo Cambiaso and Bartolomé Castagnola in 2000, based in the city of Cañuelas, Buenos Aires Province.
La Dolfina won th ...
. Today he has nearly 1000 horses on his extensive farms.
One of his best polo ponies was a world-famous stallion, . The horse was seriously injured during the final of the 2006 Argentine Open, and suffered further setbacks in treatment of the broken bone in his near foreleg. The injury occurred in the extra chukka, and the horse was taken off in the horse ambulance, forcing Cura's early retirement from the field. After amputation a prosthesis was fitted, but due to complications Aiken Cura had to be euthanized in January 2007, but not before live skin cells were harvested at Cambiaso's request in the event cloning became possible.
Cambiaso pioneered the horse
cloning
Cloning is the process of producing individual organisms with identical or virtually identical DNA, either by natural or artificial means. In nature, some organisms produce clones through asexual reproduction. In the field of biotechnology, c ...
business. He was approached by polo enthusiast Texan Alan Meeker of . Meeker teamed up with Cambiaso, and in 2010 produced that first clone. Together with biologist Dr. Adrian Mutto and Argentine tycoon Ernesto Gutiérrez he proceeded to clone his favorite 17-year-old mare ''Cuartetera'', multiple times, clones of which he rode to win the 2017 ''Argentine Open''.
A clone of his horse ''Cuartetera'' was bought for $800,000 at an auction, making it the most expensive horse sale in polo history. This horse was kept by contract within the partnership. No clones are now sold, only their foals.
Personal life
In 2001 Cambiaso married former model and Argentine television presenter María Vázquez. He has three children: Mia (born 2002), Adolfo Jr (born 2005)—who was born during the
Argentine Polo Open in the middle of a qualifier against Centauros-Beaufort, which his father left half-way through in order to be present at the birth—and Myla (born 2010).
Awards and recognition
He won the Platinum
Konex Award
Konex Foundation Awards, or simply Konex Awards, are cultural awards from the Konex Foundation honouring Argentine cultural personalities.
History and purpose
Konex Awards are granted by the Konex Foundation, created in 1980 in Argentina. The pur ...
in 2000 and 2010 as the best poloist of each decade in Argentina. On 24 June 2012, Her Majesty
Queen Elizabeth II presented Cambiaso with an award commending his pioneering efforts to encourage violence-free training in a country where breaking a horse used to involve pain and distress, as recommended by famed JoinUp pioneer Monty Roberts.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cambiasso, Adolfo
Argentine people of Italian descent
Argentine polo players
Sportspeople from Buenos Aires Province
1975 births
Living people