From an early age his mother, Martina de Estrada Lainez, encouraged her son Adolfo and his half brothers to play polo. By age 12 he had a 1-goal handicap, and a year later, with a 3-goal rating, he won the Eduardo Heguy Cup with team La Martina, playing with his father. In 1989, at age 14 and with the San Diego team, he won the Campaña del Desierto Cup, and a year later the Renault Cup Open with La Martina, gaining a 6-goal handicap.
Professional career
1990 to 1994
Cambiaso traveled abroad regularly, winning 24 tournaments in Argentina, England and the US, while playing for teams like La Martina, Ellerstina/Ellerston White and others. In 1994 he won the "Triple Corona" with Ellerstina, and his handicap rating was raised to 10-goals, the youngest player to attain this.
1995 to 1999
He won 31 tournaments with teams like La Martina, Ellerstina/Ellerston White, White Birch and Outback. His awards included the Olimpia de Plata award as the most important Argentine polo player of 1997, and the best player at the final of the Abierto Argentino 1997, with a record 67 goals in the 1998 Abierto Argentino.
Cambiaso's La Dolfina team continued to dominate, winning the Argentine Open in 2005, 2006 and 2007. They defeated Ellerstina by 20–19 in 2005, the highest score in an Argentine Open final match. He continued playing successfully for Dubai in England, but also became captain for team Crab Orchard in the US, winning the US Open and the USPA Gold Cup. 2008 was a less successful year, not winning one match in the English polo season, nor any of the prestigious Argentine tournaments. La Dolfina made it to the finals of the Argentine Open, but was beaten by Ellerstina 12-13 after a golden goal by Gonzalo Pieres in an extra time.
Current
Today, he was considered the best player in the world and the most successful player in the Argentine Open, competing 15 times and winning 7, and played in the final another 2 times. He scored 535 goals in the Argentine Open alone, breaking the record held by Bautista Heguy with 531 goals. He played also for the Argentine national team since 2002 when he won the Copa Quilmes.
Horses
Of his horses, the most notable were Lili, Ilusión, Sospechosa, La Osa, and his favourite Colibrí. His most recognized horses included Mambo, Bruma and Dolfina Cuartetera. For the 2015 U.S. Open, his best horses were the mare Romana and the stallion Boeing, known as the "American Pharoah" of the polo world.
Cloning
At age 25 Cambiaso decided to create his own breeding businessfrom scratch, as well as the polo team La Dolfina. Today he has nearly 1000 horses on his extensive farms. One of his best polo ponies was a world-famous stallion,. The horse was seriously injured during the final of the 2006 Argentine Open, and suffered further setbacks in treatment of the broken bone in his near foreleg. The injury occurred in the extra chukka, and the horse was taken off in the horse ambulance, forcing Cura's early retirement from the field. After amputation a prosthesis was fitted, but due to complications Aiken Cura had to be euthanized in January 2007, but not before live skin cells were harvested at Cambiaso's request in the event cloning became possible. Cambiaso pioneered the horse cloning business. He was approached by polo enthusiast Texan Alan Meeker of. Meeker teamed up with Cambiaso, and in 2010 produced that first clone. Together with biologist Dr. Adrian Mutto and Argentine tycoon Ernesto Gutiérrez he proceeded to clone his favorite 17-year-old mare Cuartetera, multiple times, clones of which he rode to win the 2017 Argentine Open. A clone of his horse Cuartetera was bought for $800,000 at an auction, making it the most expensive horse sale in polo history. This horse was kept by contract within the partnership. No clones are now sold, only their foals.
Personal life
In 2001 Cambiaso married former model and Argentine television presenter María Vázquez. He has three children: Mia, Adolfo Jr —who was born during the Argentine Polo Open in the middle of a qualifier against Centauros-Beaufort, which his father left half-way through in order to be present at the birth—and Myla.
Awards and recognition
On 24 June 2012, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II presented Cambiaso with an award commending his pioneering efforts to encourage violence-free training in a country where breaking a horse used to involve pain and distress, as recommended by famed JoinUp pioneer Monty Roberts.
