Polo fans outside Argentina sometimes struggle to follow the southern hemisphere’s biggest events, so with the season about to start we have put together a short guide to the Triple Crown.
Three tournaments, one prize
The Triple Crown is a circuit of three high-goal Open tournaments played in Argentina each spring. A team that wins all three completes the Triple Crown, which is the biggest achievement in the Argentine game. The three events are the Hurlingham Open, the Tortugas Open and the Argentine Open in Palermo.
The history
- Hurlingham: played at the Hurlingham Club, which was founded in 1888. The first Hurlingham Open took place in 1893, and the Hurlingham team won it.
- Tortugas: played since 1930 at the Tortugas Country Club in Tortuguitas, in Buenos Aires Province.
- Palermo: first held in 1893 as the River Plate Polo Championship. It became the Campeonato Argentino Abierto de Polo in 1923, and it has been played at the Palermo polo grounds since then.
The Palermo final is the grand finale of the Argentine season and one of the three Grand Slam events of world polo, alongside the British Open and the U.S. Open.
How the Opens work
All three are Opens, which means matches start at zero rather than with a handicap advantage. To enter, a team needs a combined handicap of at least 28 goals. That rule is why you will hear of teams being described by their goal total, such as 40 for La Natividad La Dolfina, who are the only team at the maximum.
The format differs between the three events. Hurlingham is a short, intense tournament that ends with a single final. Tortugas splits its field into two zones before a final. Palermo also uses two zones, A and B, and builds to semi-finals and a final.
Recent results
La Natividad beat La Dolfina 13-11 in the 2024 Argentine Open final. At Tortugas in 2024, La Hache won its first Triple Crown title, beating Ellerstina 14-13 in the final. The 2025 field has eight teams, and the Hurlingham Open is due to start on 23 September.
The Triple Crown tradition has produced some of the sport’s greatest stories, from long rivalries between teams to family dynasties, and 2025 promises another chapter. We will report on every stage.
Sources: ESPN Deportes, Triple Corona 2025, La Nación
