October 23, 2020, Argentina – Following a long wait, it is expected the start of the 2020 Triple Crown in Argentina, and the first leg of the most coveted polo trophy worldwide, the Tortugas Open, due to be played on the grounds of the Argentine Polo Association, set in Pilar.
In such a challenging year, Ernesto Gutiérrez’s La Ensenada and the Novillo Astrada’s La Aguada joined forces to form a new team named La Ensenada La Aguada, which will be provided with the strong support of two of the most important organisations within polo.
The 29-goal lineup, that’s due to make their debut against La Dolfina, will be comprised by Segundo Bocchino (6), Alfredo Bigatti (8), Matias Torres Zavaleta (8) and Jerónimo del Carril (7). Ignacio “Nachi” Heguy has been named as the coach of the team. Nachi is a former 10-goaler, won the Argentine Open four times with Indios Chapaleufu II and is a member of the legendary Heguy family, the son of Alberto Pedro Heguy, who claimed the Argentine Open 17 times with Coronel Suarez.
Up next, La Ensenada La Aguada will be playing the Hurlingham Open and the Argentine Polo Open Championship.
La Ensenada La Aguada will be supported by several sponsors. Grupo Rusoniello, Río Uruguay Seguros, Clonargen Genetics and Cifftone are the main sponsors, while La Taquera and ONA Polo will remain as technical sponsors.
For the third consecutive year, La Ensenada will be playing the tournaments of the Triple Crown in Argentina. And this year, La Ensenada will be honoured to have La Agauda’s support and organisation, based in the motto – “excellency to aim at a better and sustainable polo” and, as usual, hand-in-hand with the youngest. Tortugas, Hurlingham and Palermo await them – a future of quality and passion for international polo.
The Novillo Astradas are one of the most traditional and important families within the polo community, with more than 60 years in the polo grounds, both in Argentina and around the world. La Aguada is today one of the most prestigious polo clubs worldwide, a place that holds polo for all tastes and levels. The club was founded in 1959 in Río Cuarto, set in the Province of Córdoba, by Mr. Julio Novillo Astrada, nicknamed “Iaio”, a renowned horsebreeder as well as 5-goaler polo player. La Aguada have three generations of high goal players and a fourth generation is already coming up, through Iaio’s great granchildren.
La Aguada played the Triple Crown for the first time ever during the 80s, led by Eduardo (“Taio”), Iaio’s son, who reached 9-goaler status. With Taio abroad, La Aguada won their first ever title of the Triple Crown, the Hurlingham Open, in 1986. In 1990, Taio and his teenage sons, Eduardo Jr, Miguel and Javier claimed the Copa República Argentina, one of the highlights of the Autumn season in Argentina, and the only polo competition in the world with no handicap limit, which Iaio already won in 1946. This was the formal presentation of the family’s third generation within high goal polo in Argentina.
La Aguada biggest highlight came up in 2003, when the four brothers – Eduardo Jr, Miguel, Javier and Ignacio – won the Triple Crown, unbeaten after eleven matches. La Aguada is already in the history books of polo, not only because they are up-to-date the first and only team comprised by four brothers to have earned the biggest polo trophy in the world, but also by joining Coronel Suárez (1972, 1974, 1975, 1977), Santa Ana (1973), Ellerstina (1994, 2010) and La Dolfina (2013, 2014, 2015) in the selected few of those who obtained such achievement.
