The Triple Corona 2024 It comes with several new features. The Argentine high handicap season, the most important in the world of this sport, will get underway on September 24 with the Hurlingham Openwill continue with the Turtles from October 12 and will close with the Argentine Open Championshipwhich will be disputed only in Palermo and will end on December 7. There will be days with free entry in all competitions, changes in formats and more polo than ever.
“We are very excited and eager to inaugurate a new season of the best polo in the world. This sport continues to be a national pride that is distinguished throughout the world; That is why we are proud that everyone can come to live and enjoy this show of great prestige and international reach,” he stated. Uranga Dolphinpresident of the Argentine Polo Associationin the presentation that was made at the Polo Housea new space in Campo Argentino located in Libertador and Dorrego.
As happened last year -and unlike the historical schedule-, Hurlingham will open the action of the series. The tournament will be played with eight teams and a direct elimination format. The quarterfinals will be at the Alfredo Lalor headquarters of the AAP in Pilar; the semis in Palermo; and the final, on October 5, at the host club.
Based on the 2023 Triple Crown ranking, The Nativity will start as the first seed and will clash with La Hache II in quarters. La Dolfinadefending champion, will be the second favorite and will face Chapaleufu Indians in the other half of the painting. The other duels will be The Hache–La Dolfina Breeding y The Cove–Ellerstina.
The Hurlingham results will establish the two zones of Turtleswhich will be played between October 12 and November 2. The winner of the first contest will be placed in A and the runner-up will be placed in B; and the rest of the teams will be distributed based on the results of that initial appointment. After the group stage, of all against all, the first ones will advance to the duel for the title, which will be played on Saturday, November 2.
For the Argentine Open the modality will be similar: whoever lifts the trophy in Tortugas will lead group A and whoever loses the final will lead group B. Although for that competition two more teams will be added: those who pass the qualifying tournament in which they will star. The Little Irene, At Irenita II, The Corner, Matera, Saint Mary July 9, La Zeta, The Dolphin III y La Ensenada II.
The ten teams will be divided into two groups, which will begin to be played on November 1, and the winners of those zones will compete in the final on December 7.
This edition of the Triple Crown will have two great novelties. All matches will be the best of eight chukkas. Until last year, Hurlingham (except the final) and Tortugas were played with seven-period matches. Thus, the public will have more polo to enjoy. And also, there will be more days with free entry. Last season, there were two dates of the Open in Pilar that opened the doors to fans free of charge. In this, the most prestigious tournament in the world will have five days with free access. And the first two dates of the other two contests will also follow this modality.
In Palermo, in addition, it will also be played on some Fridays. There will be four throughout the tournament. One will be on November 1, when the curtain on the tournament will be raised so that it does not coincide with the Tortugas final scheduled for a day later. Another, on the 29th of that same month, since the following day the final of the Copa Libertadoresan event with which the AAP prefers not to “compete” for people’s attention. While the other two will make up weekends of three days of pure polo, in which on Sunday there will be only one match and which will allow the Association to take more advantage of the social and gastronomic activity that is generated on each date.
The 2024 Triple Crown will have two 40-goal teams that are emerging as great protagonists because they have a much better handicap than the rest. They will be The Nativitycurrent champion of Tortugas and Palermo, and La Dolfinawho will defend the title at Hurlingham. The other formations already confirmed are La Hache and La Ensenadaof 36 rating; Ellerstina (35); La Dolfina Breeding (32); y La Hache II and Chapaleufú Indians (31).
The formations of the eight confirmed teams:
The Nativity (40 rating): Facundo Pieres, Camilo Castagnola, Pablo Mac Donough and Bartolomé Castagnola.
La Dolfina (40): Adolfo Cambiaso, David Stirling, Adolfo Cambiaso (h) and Juan Martín Nero.
The Hache (36): Pablo Pieres, Hilario Ulloa, Tomás Panelo and Francisco Elizalde.
The Cove (36): Juan Britos, Alfredo Bigatti, Juan Martín Zubía and Jerónimo del Carril.
Ellerstina (35): Lucas Monteverde, Gonzalo Pieres, Guillermo Caset and Ignatius du Plessis.
La Dolfina Breeding (32): Rufino Bensadón, Bautista Bayugar, Diego Cavanagh and Alejo Taranco.
La Hache II (31): Benjamin Panelo, Carlos Ulloa, Facundo Sola and Joaquín Pittaluga.
Chapaleufu Indians (31): Antonio Heguy, Victorino Ruiz Jorba, Cruz Heguy and Teodoro Lacau.