The Florida winter season
The 2026 winter season at the USPA National Polo Center (NPC) in Wellington opened with the George Miller Memorial on 28 December 2025 and ran until early May. It was built in layers by goal level, according to the USPA's season announcement:
- 12 to 16 goals: the George Miller Memorial, Heritage Cup, Joe Barry Memorial, Ylvisaker Cup, Iglehart Cup, Outback Cup and the NPC 16-Goal Championship (9 to 12 April 2026).
- 18 to 22 goals: the three tournaments of the Gauntlet of Polo, from mid-February to late April.
- 8 goals: the National President's Cup, 20 to 26 April 2026.
- Women's polo: events at 10 to 14 goals and at 18 to 22 goals, including the U.S. Open Women's (see women's tournaments).
Spectators were admitted every Sunday afternoon from 28 December 2025 to 3 May 2026 at U.S. Polo Assn. Field One. Watching polo covers going in person and streaming.
The Gauntlet of Polo
The Gauntlet is the USPA's three-tournament series at 18 to 22 goals, all played at NPC. In 2026 the C.V. Whitney Cup ran from 11 February to 1 March, the USPA Gold Cup was planned for 4 to 29 March, and the U.S. Open Polo Championship ran from 1 to 26 April. The USPA release on the 2026 U.S. Open says Pilot took back-to-back Gauntlet wins by adding the U.S. Open to the Gold Cup.
A note on sourcing: the USPA's uspolo.org, the National Polo Center site and some local press blocked our reader. Rows marked "search summary" rest on search-result summaries of those reports and could not be confirmed from the full page.
U.S. Open Polo Championship
Established in 1904, the U.S. Open is the final leg of the Gauntlet. Eleven teams played in 2026.
| Year | Final | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Park Place 12, Valiente 11 | Park Place's first U.S. Open. Heavy rain stopped the final at half-time on Sunday 23 April; it was finished on Monday 24 April 2023. |
| 2024 | La Dolfina 10, Valiente 7 | La Dolfina, with Poroto Cambiaso, beat his father Adolfo Cambiaso's Valiente. Search summary. |
| 2025 | La Dolfina Tamera 12, La Dolfina Catamount 8 (20 April 2025) | Tamera: Adolfo Cambiaso, Diego Cavanagh, Matt Coppola, Alejandro Poma. Poma MVP. Adolfo Cambiaso's 10th U.S. Open. |
| 2026 | Pilot 15, BTA 10 (26 April 2026) | Pilot: Curtis Pilot 0, Mackenzie Weisz 6, Lorenzo Chavanne 7, Camilo Castagnola 10. BTA: KC Krueger 1, Steve Krueger 5, Tomas Panelo 10, Ignacio Viana 7. Chavanne MVP; Best Playing Pony Open Texas. |
The 2026 final, on the U.S. Polo Assn. Stadium Field, was BTA's first. BTA fielded a husband-and-wife pair, and the USPA says its woman player was the first woman in a U.S. Open final since Gillian Johnston won it in 2002.
USPA Gold Cup
| Year | Final | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Pilot 11, Park Place 10 (27 March 2022) | Golden goal 42 seconds into overtime. Facundo Pieres MVP with 10 goals. |
| 2023 | Scone 8, Pilot 6 (26 March 2023) | Tomas Panelo (8 goals) replaced the injured David Stirling (9), which gave Scone a one-goal start on handicap. |
| 2024 | La Dolfina 12, Valiente 9 | Led by Poroto Cambiaso; described as La Dolfina's first title on American soil. Search summary. |
| 2025 | Park Place 10, Coca-Cola 9 (23 March 2025) | Won in overtime; Park Place's first Gold Cup. Louis Hine, 19, MVP. Search summary. |
| 2026 | Pilot 10, La Dolfina Scone 6 (5 April 2026) | Played on Easter Sunday, a week late because of rain, after Pilot trailed 5-2 at half-time. Lorenzo Chavanne MVP; Pilot's third Gold Cup. Score and details from a search summary; the Pilot win is confirmed by the USPA. |
C.V. Whitney Cup
| Year | Final | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Not confirmed | A USPA page called Valiente the reigning champion going into 2024, which implies a 2023 Valiente win, but no 2023 final report was found. |
| 2024 | Valiente 12, La Dolfina 10 | Led by Adolfo Cambiaso; described as Valiente's sixth Whitney Cup. Search summary. |
| 2025 | La Dolfina Tamera 11, Coca-Cola 10 (23 February 2025) | Adolfo Cambiaso's 10th Whitney Cup, with MVP and Best Playing Pony. Search summary. |
| 2026 | The Dutta Corp 14, La Dolfina Scone 9 (1 March 2026) | The Dutta Corp: Dylan Rossiter, Lucas Diaz Alberdi, Facundo Llosa, Timmy Dutta. La Dolfina Scone had been unbeaten. Search summary. |
Summer on the West Coast: the Pacific Coast Open
The 2026 U.S. Polo Assn. Pacific Coast Open was played from 14 to 30 August 2026 at Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club in Carpinteria, California, as a round robin followed by semi-finals and a final.
| Year | Final | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | La Karina beat Carbenella | Score not given in the source. |
| 2026 | Klentner Ranch 16, La Karina 9 (30 August 2026) | Klentner Ranch: Jake Klentner, Ignacio Viana, Jesse Bray, Justin Klentner. Its fourth Pacific Coast Open. |
How US high goal differs
US events are grouped by team handicap, with 18 to 22 goals at the top for the Gauntlet. A team's rating is the sum of its players, so line-ups mix levels: the 2026 U.S. Open winners combined players rated 0, 6, 7 and 10. That is very different from Argentina's opens, where every player in a team can be rated 10 (see the Argentine Triple Crown). The 2026 handicap ratings shown above are as printed in the USPA's 2026 line-ups; US ratings are set by the USPA and can differ from a player's rating in Argentina or the UK. See top players.
Sources
- Wellington The Magazine, the 2026 winter season at NPC (USPA release, 29 October 2025)
- Maxim, USPA record-breaking season at the U.S. Open (2026)
- USPA, 2026 U.S. Open Polo Championship final release (28 April 2026)
- Global Polo, 2026 season report
- USPA, 2025 U.S. Open Polo Championship final
- National Polo Center, U.S. Open 2025 recap
- Newswire, 2024 U.S. Open Polo Championship
- National Polo Center, U.S. Open Polo Championship
- Florida Trend, 2023 U.S. Open Polo Championship
- Newswire, 2023 U.S. Open Polo Championship
- Palm Beach Illustrated, 2026 USPA Gold Cup final
- Town-Crier, USPA Gold Cup 2025
- National Polo Center, USPA Gold Cup 2025 recap
- National Polo Center, USPA Gold Cup 2024
- PoloHUB, Scone won the USPA Gold Cup (2023)
- Town-Crier, USPA Gold Cup 2022
- Town-Crier, C.V. Whitney Cup 2026
- National Polo Center, C.V. Whitney Cup 2025 recap
- National Polo Center, C.V. Whitney Cup 2024
- USPA, C.V. Whitney Cup 2024 tournament page
- Santa Barbara Independent, 2026 Pacific Coast Open announced
- Santa Barbara Independent, Klentner Ranch win the 2026 Pacific Coast Open
- Virginia Polo, Polo 101