Prince Harry & Nacho Figueras
If you are a member of the upscale social networking site called A Small World, you may have seen the recent offer for tickets to this weekend’s 2nd Annual Veuve Clicquot Manhattan Polo Classic. Prince Harry flew in from across the pond to play with his team, Sentebale (team members include Prince Harry, Emma Tomlinson, Mariano Aguerre, Johnny Redlich), against the Argentine team Black Watch (whose members are Christ Brant, “Nacho” Figueras, Nick Manifold and Martin). If you are not familiar with “Nacho” Figueras yet – get to know him in this great Vanty Fair article. While Harry was paying respects at Ground Zero to the World Trade Center, Nacho was acclimating late night audiences with the art of polo on Jimmy Fallon, teaching the host how to play on a real horse (video below)! “Polo is played 4 against 4. The idea is to score on the other team’s goal. Whoever scores more goals wins.” —Nacho tells VF.
“Nacho” and Prince Harry arrive at the Clicquot pre-party before the match.
Governor’s island was a landfill used as a military base and orginally got its name from British colonial times when the colonial assembly reserved the island for the exclusive use of New York’s royal governors. According to my father’s friends … Governor’s island was all the rage in the 30s and 40s – home to polo weekend games in the summer for the sexy jet-set elite – the same crowd who held permanent residence at the MET Opera during the year, summered in the Hamptons and hobnobbed with all the vintage starlets and royals of the day.
The park recently re-opened after 50 years of military use and closures, and held a modest version of this year’s stupendous polo match last summer. This famous old polo haunt will rise again as sure as the rich and famous will follow to Clicquot’s games again next summer in 2010 – they are already committed! Private boats and public ferries (The Heart of Brooklyn), will chauffeur guests from the Brooklyn Flea Greene in lower Manhattan to the polo grounds at 10am, 12:30pm, 2pm, and 4pm on the weekends.
![]()
="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uuaAc8C3eSA/SiHlEWa4CLI/AAAAAAAAI2g/pI_MQrvHiUs/s400/nachoq.jpg" border="0" />So who do we have to thank for bringing this fantastic pastime back to the mainstream?
Ignacio “Nacho” Figueras is royalty in his own right. Having saddled up with Prince Harry and William as a world-famous six-goal Argentine polo player many times, he is also a model for Ralph Lauren, the face of Polo Black fragrances and the impetus for this event.
Nacho tells Vanity Fair: “A mission in my life is to bring polo to the world a little more … That’s how the Veuve Clicquot Manhattan Polo Classic thing got started. I’d been trying for years to play a polo match in Central Park, and I couldn’t get that done—it was impossible. I couldn’t get the permits. Then we found Governors Island, which was as close as we could get to Manhattan. Last year we did a much more humble version of the game, and now this year it’s going to be very special. The idea is to make it even better for many years to come.”
Prince Harry is the perfect ying to Nacho’s yang for a breath-taking, worldly, power-duo who to bring back the sport. Harry has been playing for years in London for his home team; Sentebale. The two lit Manhattan on fire this weekend with the festivities, Nacho’s publicity appearances on Jimmy Fallon and The Today Show, and the after-party held last night at Pink Elephant in NYC.
Also in attendance … Chloë Sevigny / Kate Hudson
Marc Jacobs with partner, Brazilian advertising executive, Lorenzo Martone / David Lauren
Marc Jacobs with Madonna and son David
Piaget was the official timekeeper of the match – whose final score resulted in a 6-5 win by Sentebale. The VIP area served Clicquot champagne and Alain Ducasse treats, courtesy of the St. Regis. Check out the Veuve Clicquot Polo website for more photos of the day and to keep up with other ritzy activities they host. You can also read about Madame Clicquot and her champagne empire here on the brand’s website or else via a new book dedicated to the lady of bubbles. The book’s log line reads: “The story of the visionary young woman who built a champagne empire, showed the world how to live with style, and emerged a legend.” Keep up with Clicquot’s other sponsorships for 2009/10.
Proceeds from the event went to American Friends of Sentebale charity, which supports at-risk children in Africa (via
target="_blank">GovernorsIslandBlog).
Photos from REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
Prince Harry of Wales spits champagne at Nacho Figueras, right, after drinking from the winner’s trophy of the second annual Veuve Clicquot Manhattan Polo Classic polo match on Governor’s Island in New York Saturday, May 30, 2009. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
You can continue following the nights events on Veuve Clicquot’s Twitter feed:
Want to know a bit more about the Polo world?? Nacho continues his break-down of the game with Vanity Fair: “We start in Palm Beach January through April—in Palm Beach we play three or four tournaments, with the U.S. Open being the most important one. Then we play the Gold Cup in England, and we play a series of tournaments in Argentina, with the Argentine Open being the most important. Each player has a team you play for in Argentina normally, then there’s a team that hires you to play in the American season, and then there’s another team—sometimes it’s the same team, but most likely it’s a different one—that hires you to play in the British season. And then we also play in July and August—there are three different main places to play: Santa Barbara, in California; Bridgehampton, in New York; and Sotogrande, in Spain. Each one of those good players goes from Palm Beach to England, from England to either Santa Barbara, Bridgehampton, or Sotogrande, where you play for a different team, and then to Argentina. More or less that’s how it works. We get hired per seasons. I am lucky that I play for Black Watch because I have a team that hires me all year round, but that’s not the case with all of the players.” - from vanity Fair
