Adolfo ‘Poroto’ Cambiaso Jr is wearing what you might describe as typical getup for a teenager – baggy jeans, a Drew House hoodie, New Balance ‘Dad sneakers’, and the obligatory backward-turned Gallery Dept cap – but with one particularly notable addition: he’s currently sitting aboard one of his personal stable of world-class polo horses. On the grounds of Coworth Park, the Dorchester Collection’s country pile in Berkshire, he’s going through the motions as he prepares for today’s exhibition match with his La Dolfina teammates and a few select patrons.

Poroto moves with all the grace and poise you’d expect from the sport of kings despite his incongruous outfit choice. He holds the reins to his mount gently in his left hand, manoeuvring the mare more by telepathy than coercion, while he lazily scoops the ball off the turf with the mallet in his right and begins performing keepie uppies like it’s the most natural thing in the world. And, in a sense, that’s probably because it is for the 19-year-old sensation who first rode a horse at the tender age of three or four – he can’t quite recall the exact timing – and whose meteoric rise through the polo ranks is unparalleled.

All in all, it’s an unorthodox introduction to one of the most exciting players of his generation, but given this is the young man whose boyish good looks and prodigious horsemanship have left many experts labelling him the future of polo, it’s only right that he should do things his way.

A roll call of his early achievements is insufficient to depict the weight of expectation placed on his slender shoulders, but for those keeping score: at just 12 years of age, he became the youngest player to lift the Royal Windsor Cup, one of the most prestigious trophies in the UK; by 14, he won the British Open Gold Cup; and by 17, he had secured a ten-goal handicap, the highest and most difficult rating a polo player can achieve in the sport (there are currently less than a dozen active ten-goal handicappers in the world). He also broke new ground by becoming the youngest in history to win three of the biggest tournaments on the planet, ticking off the Cartier Queen’s Cup in England, the US Open and the Argentine Open – all before his 18th birthday.

Yet, the person I encounter seems thoroughly unencumbered by his lofty position in the sport. He is softly spoken, polite, with a kind disposition underscored by a fiery passion for his beloved sport. He was born on a horse ranch in Cañuelas, a small countryside town in Buenos Aires Province and home to many of the finest polo institutions in the world. Horses are all Poroto has ever known; being in the saddle would appear to be his happy place.

Poroto is talented, a hell of a horseman, and has incredible hand-eye coordination

“Home is where the horses are,” he flashes a Hollywood smile at me when I ask about the nomadic nature of the polo season, travelling from tournament to tournament with his merry band of people and ponies. “Riding a horse is like riding a bicycle for our family, it’s just normal.”

Polo whites donned and a helmet emblazoned with the Argentine flag safely secured atop his mop of dark brown hair, Poroto is about to demonstrate what he can truly do on the polo field. But, before that, a very swift introduction for those who are new to the sport: two teams of four players each compete to score by hitting a small ball through the opposing team’s goalposts using a long-handled mallet. The game is fast and furious, surprisingly physical for both player and horse, and divided into six periods called chukkas – seven-and-a-half minute intervals between which players will change mounts before the next phase begins. It’s one of the oldest team sports in the world, tracing its origins back more than 2,000 years to ancient Persia, was introduced to England in the mid-1800s, and later elevated to greater heights by the Argentines.

The match starts with a flurry of ferocious movement as the polo field thunders into life with the scampering of hooves. It doesn’t take long for Poroto to separate himself from the pack as he deftly takes control of possession and instigates an attack. With an easy waft of the wrist, he bunts the polo ball downfield a good 100 yards or so – the ball hanging high on the breeze before landing as if laser guided into the charging stride of his teammate who duly obliges with a finish. Goal. “Vamos!” Poroto yells in delight, raising his mallet above his head in celebration.

The game continues apace with Poroto content to play an auxiliary role for the most part, despite his renown as one of the game’s most potent goal scorers. Moves and counter moves evolve in fits and starts – and, yet, the teenage phenom seems to predict each play before it has come to pass, positioning his horse in just the right place to suppress the opposition or kickstart a counterattack. In a sport where, to the uninitiated at least, chaos takes hold, his polo IQ is such that he manages to wrangle control in the face of unpredictability.

Polo player Poroto Cambiaso
Polo player Poroto Cambiaso

At another point, he stoops low among a melee of limbs, his legs hugging the girths of his horse tightly, as he contorts his body almost sideways to collect the ball from the ground. He flicks it up in the air, as he did in the knockabout before the game, and juggles the ball above the waving mallets of opposing players, and neatly passes to his teammate – while his horse is moving at full tilt. It’s so good, I’m left shaking my head.

And then comes the moment of the match. Poroto finds himself in possession of the ball out on the flanks. He glances to his left in the direction of the goal, hitches his arm high above his shoulder and brings the mallet down on the ball with a forceful thwack. From 40 yards out the ball fizzes like a rogue firework straight between the two goal posts to a chorus of cheers and bemused laughter from those watching from the sidelines. In footballing parlance, it’s a certified screamer. “Yes, that was quite a good shot,” is Poroto’s assessment when I mention it later. I think my response to him in reply may have included a curse word or two, but suffice it to say the kid’s got some humility behind his killer instinct.

The exhibition finishes 5-2, with three goals for the main man, and I hustle over to a breathless Nico San Román, head of operations for La Dolfina in the UK and a fine polo player in his own right, to get his views on Poroto’s performance: “You know, they are very similar. The way they play, the horsemanship, the talent. Very similar. It’s uncanny.” San Román is mopping his sweat-laden brow, but he gestures in the direction of a man who has been quietly watching the action play out on the field.

His hood up and sunglasses obscuring his face, the lone figure is keeping a deliberately low profile, but it only takes me a moment to recognise that I am staring at Adolfo Cambiaso Sr – the greatest polo player of all time and, yes, Poroto’s father.

If Poroto is the future, Adolfo Sr is polo’s past and present. At 50 years old, he still sits at the pinnacle of the World Polo Tour rankings as the game’s number one player – one position ahead of his son – 22 years after he first claimed the top spot. His accolades are frankly too numerous to list here, but the multiple Argentine Triple Crown winner (claiming preeminent trophies the Argentine Open, Hurlingham Open, and Tortugas Open in the same season) is credited with changing the very fabric of the game – from the professionalisation of the sport, its training methods, business operations and indeed the breeding and cloning of the game’s finest horses.

He co-founded La Dolfina, a team that has become the dominant force in polo, winning many championships, including an unprecedented three Triple Crowns in a row. But his greatest legacy? His children.

On the wrist

The Cambiasos are inextricably linked to the world of polo, embracing the sport for seven generations, but improbably Adolfo Sr has sired three world-class players to carry on his dynasty. Mia, a nine-goal handicapper in her own right, recently won the British Open Gold Cup alongside her father and is one of the finest female players in the game, while young Myla is showing every bit the talent of her siblings at 14 years of age. Heck, even Poroto’s cousins, Camilo and Bartolomé “Barto” Castagnola are elite polo players, so the familial dominance looks set to continue for another few decades at least.

Looking back, perhaps Poroto was always destined to rise to the top of the tree. He was born during the 2005 Argentine Open and, in a move that made headlines at the time, his father Adolfo Sr dramatically dismounted his horse midway through a qualifying match and rushed to the hospital when he was informed his wife, former-model María Vázquez, had gone into labour.

You may, understandably, be questioning whether the son of a rich and famous polo player has reached such dizzying heights purely as a product of nepotism. No doubt, it’s a lingering critique that followed Poroto as he first strived to claim a foothold in the game’s elite ranks. The truth is it certainly hasn’t hurt his chances – go figure – but, then again, being “born in a stable doesn’t make one a horse”, as the old saying goes. Charlie Woods has yet to make a splash despite his father Tiger teaching him the game of golf; rookie Bronny James hasn’t convinced Lakers fans that he is the answer even with Lebron playing alongside him; and 15-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo Jr is a long way off living up to his legendary name. The difference in Poroto’s case is that he has already exhibited every bit of the talent and flair for the game that saw his father bestowed GOAT status.

“Adolfo Cambiaso Sr is known as the Messi of polo, the way he plays the game and handles a horse, the standard of the breeding operation, the training, everything has been elevated to never-before-seen levels. His mindset towards winning and being the best is unmatched in the game,” veteran polo commentator Greg Keating tells me when I quiz him about this ‘nature versus nurture’ debate.

“For Poroto, his father has set the bar so high that he really has his work cut out for him, but he’s extremely talented, a hell of a horseman, and has incredible hand-eye coordination. Look, you can’t beat God-given talent but luckily Poroto was born into a family where he can achieve the dizzying heights set by his father.”

I think I have my own name in polo now. My goal is to be the best polo player I can be

For those in the polo community, watching Poroto step out of his father’s immense shadow has been a subject of great interest. Those records I listed? He’s taken them off Adolfo Sr no less.

Understandably the pair spent much of Poroto’s formative years as teammates, but in 2023 the young scion won his first major title on his own at the USPA Gold Cup in Wellington. Just last year, Adolfo’s team Valiente duelled with Poroto’s La Dolfina for supremacy in each of the three largest tournaments in the US season, known as the Gauntlet of Polo: the CV Whitney Cup, the USPA Gold Cup and the US Open. Par for the course for the Cambiasos, it was another record broken: the first time in history that the same two teams had met in all three finals in the same year, let alone separate teams captained by father and son. It was Poroto who would ultimately claim bragging rights on this occasion, bagging two of the three tournaments to get one over his old man. I’d love to have been a fly on the wall at dinner afterwards.

Over afternoon tea in the confines of Coworth Park’s Drawing Room, I sat down with Poroto to delve into his ascendant career. The last two years have been a transitional coming-of-age phase in the starlet’s young life, a period where he is building not simply his polo team but also developing himself as a brand in his own right. The latter has recently seen Poroto join Swiss watchmaker Richard Mille as its newest ambassador, a coup of sorts for such a young sportsman. Indeed, he fiddles with his box-fresh Richard Mille RM 67-02 as I start peppering him with questions.

First cab off the rank predictably concerns finding his own place in the game, despite sharing his father’s famous name: “When I was young, of course my family name was a lot of pressure because of my dad, but not so much now. I think I have my own name in polo, which is good for me. My goal is to be the best polo player I can be. I’m not thinking too far in the future or about records. All I know is I want to win every game I play.”

He counts fellow Richard Mille ambassador Rafael Nadal and Lionel Messi among his biggest sporting heroes. “Then my dad,” he adds with a wry smile. And, though he has battled to become his own man on the polo pitch, that doesn’t mean he hasn’t gleaned every last shred of detail he could from studying the maestro himself: “Dad helped me a lot in horses, because I need to know the details outside of the saddle; they are what make you a great player. There’s a lot of good players, but that’s what separates the very best.”

Polo player Poroto Cambiaso, La Dolfina

Like father, like son

Poroto Cambiaso is the son of the “Messi of Polo”, Adolfo Cambiaso Sr. At just 19 years of age, he is smashing all of the records set by his legendary father.

Perhaps the stiffest task he has needed to overcome is the lesser-appreciated art of building a cohesive team. That means being a leader, a talent scout, and indeed a breeder of quality polo horses. (Unlike his father, he isn’t quite ready for the business of siring his own polo-playing offspring.)

“To create good teams, you have to choose your own teammates and it’s not easy. You have to be a great horseman, and then like every sport you must be talented, professional and dedicated. You don’t have to start young, though it helps. But, first, you need the right horse,” Poroto asserts.

He uses his beloved Chicharra, the 15-year-old mare aboard whom he won his first British Open Gold Cup in 2020, as an example. “She has speed, agility, stamina; she has everything. She’s a very special horse. She’s small, but very powerful. Explosive acceleration. I started playing competitively when I was very young, but she was my first love. She’s like a Ferrari. When her career is over we’ll take her to breed – and maybe to clone.”

Much like in Formula 1, the pilot can only get you so far in polo. Without the right engine, you simply can’t make it to the top. It’s in this area where the Cambiaso dynasty has established itself as the sport’s most powerful player.

La Dolfina is responsible for not only the largest breeding operation in polo but also, through its partnership with Crestview Genetics, the most sophisticated cloning programme on the planet. Set across Argentina, the UK and USA, La Dolfina boasts a cohort of almost 2,000 horses, with almost 80% in the Cambiaso’s homeland.

The first successful cloning of a mammal was, of course, Dolly the sheep who was cloned by associates at the Roslin Institute in Scotland, however it’s in equine sports where cloning has found a great deal of real-world application.

At the centre of it all is a tale of Adolfo Sr’s most beloved horse, Aiken Cura. Now the stuff of legend, the story goes that in 2006 during the final of the Palermo Open the brilliant chestnut stallion, easily distinguishable by the white blaze on its face, suffered a life-ending injury that cut short his career at the top of the sport.

“Save this one, whatever it takes!” Adolfo Sr cried in anguish to the veterinarian team as he dismounted his stricken horse. And, though all attempts to save his life were in vain, Cambiaso was ultimately able to bring the mighty Aiken Cura back to life thanks to a skin sample taken from the stallion’s neck.

There are now more than 25 Aiken Cura clones safely in the barns and prancing on the polo field – such is the miracle of science. “Today, seeing these clones is more normal for me. But seeing Cura alive again after so many years was really strange. It’s still strange. Thank goodness I saved his cells,” Adolfo Sr told Vanity Fair in 2015.

For Poroto, such particulars are incidental behind his love of the game and the animals who make it possible: “First of all, I love the sport. I love to compete in everything I do, I love to win. But secondly I love the horses.” There’s an intensity in his calm tone that means I don’t doubt him.

He tells me the story of the first time he took part in a polo tournament at his family’s farm in Cañuelas. “I was really nervous and I fell off the horse! I was only six though. But it was a lot of fun.” It only steeled his resolve for his chosen sport.

“It was an important lesson. When you lose you have to deal with it and come to terms with a loss. I think that’s helpful in life – especially now,” he tells me, referring to the competitive nature of polo’s current climate. “Some people see me as the one to beat, but there are many great players, my father is in his 50s but he is still winning.”

The future is a shiny unpredictable world for a young polo athlete like Poroto. Bestowed with giant helpings of talent, good looks, and a world-renowned brand in Richard Mille backing him, it would be easy to slip into complacency. But if the sport’s brightest star has learnt anything from his old man it’s that Rome wasn’t built in a day: “It’s more difficult to maintain that level of polo, to be at the top of polo for many years. That’s what I want and that’s what I am working towards.”

Judging by his record-breaking success to date, you’d be a braver person than I to bet against him.

Poroto Cambiaso is a Richard Mille ambassador. See richardmille.com