Inside Polo
REAL HIGH GOAL ABOUT TO START
By Ron Allen
Six teams have signed up to launch the first leg of the high goal season in Argentina. The Tortugas Open gets underway on September 24th with the finals slated for October 6th. The early spring polo season in Pilar is often plagued with several rain delays.
The two favorites again this year are defending champion Ellerstina and La Dolfina. Both teams return with the same players and are rated at 39 goals each. Ellerstina has dominated at Tortugas winning an unprecedented six years in a row. 
Other teams have made some line up changes. Lolo Castagnola’s La Natividad team has three new faces: Sapo Caset, Nachi Heguy and Rodrigo Andrade. The Merlos brothers will be missing from Fred Mannix’s Alegria squad; Polito Pieres and Hilario Ulloa have replaced them and the five Astrada brothers will be competing on two different La Aguada teams again this year. 
The Tortugas Country Club was founded in Pilar 83 years ago and now has over four hundred homes, six polo fields, stalls for 300 horses and includes golf and tennis. Pilar is truly the world capitol of polo with over 100 polo fields just 35 miles from downtown Buenos Aires.
