Polo Mag Combined - 54-97:Layout 1 - The Polo Magazine

Patrons Abroad
The only problem I find with polo is that I love it so much it has the power to become quite
addictive, it demands so much effort – so, this winter, I am off to Argentina and Beimy and Malcolm
will come with me. This year I am planning to be there for two months, from mid-October to
mid-December. I will use the time to practise polo, which will put us in a good position for the
beginning of next season, I hope. I’m also excited because we are also going to launch a breeding
programme, using embryo transfer, based just in Argentina. We are using some really good bloodlines
and I hope that I will keep a few ponies for myself each year and that we will sell the others. What I’m
looking forward to immensely is being able to play polo in five or six years’ time on ponies that we have
bred on our own programme; that will be a great feeling. Until that day, I will have to continue to buy
horses. When I first began to buy ponies, I was always choosing big horses, because I am quite tall, but
now I tend to choose them because of their abilities; it does not matter if they are big or small, so long
as they are capable. But small horses are great – they are easier because you don’t have to lean so far
to hit the ball! Polo is complicated enough to play without adding extra difficulties along the way.
I will be playing just in Argentina this winter and then just in England next year. Except that I have
heard that the St Tropez Polo Club is putting in an extra two grounds – if that is the case then I will keep
on coming to St Tropez as well. I like coming down here to play in September, it is relaxed at the end
of the season and enjoyable. For me, the weather is amazing, it is a great place, being able to spend the
days you are not playing on the beach is incredible. Great parties, great beaches. When I play in
England, I like to win, but here it is more relaxed for me; if I am losing, it is not the end of the world.
I think if the weather carries on being so bad in England, particularly at the end of the season, more and
more people are going to want to come and play here, it is closer than Sotogrande and has better
weather than Deauville.
I am now 100% based in London, I just travel out to Midhurst two or three times a week, so I
rent a small place closer to Cowdray to have a base for all my stuff and I play there May, June and July.
The rest of the time, I have a lot of work in Asia, Africa and all over Europe, so I travel a lot when I am
not playing polo and try to stay focused on my work. But when it is the polo season I try to be as
dedicated to that as I can.
I have also played in South Africa, in Kurland – it is an amazing place, in an absolutely beautiful
setting. I’ve played in Spain, in Sotogrande and Barcelona, in Switzerland, in Geneva, and of course in
most places in France. I played polo once in Megeve, because of my links with Rothschild, who were
sponsoring there, but I wouldn’t play on snow again, it was difficult for the horses: because of the
surface it is hard to stop them and it was just a different kind of play that I did not like; it also did not
help that from what I could see, we were playing the parking area on a really small pitch. I have heard
that in St Moritz they have a much larger playing area, so perhaps it is better there, but I love to ski,
so when I go to the mountains, I want to go there to ski, not to play polo.
I love sport, polo, skiing, rugby, nautic skiing, watersports, waterskiing – sport has always been a big
part of my life. When I was a teenager, I was very enthusiastic about decathalon, but then I got involved
with rugby. When I was at university I was playing for the Paris University Club (PUC) in the
First Division in France, and we were trained by a guy called Daniel Herrero, he was a super coach.
I knew some great people and actually one of the guys I played with then – Ewen McKenzie – is now
coach of the club Stade Francais; he’s a good mate of mine. Anyway, rugby was still played as an
amateur game at that stage, but it was just turning pro; I considered it as a career, but to be honest I
thought that I just did not have what it took to become a top, top player, so I focused on work instead
and stopped rugby when I was 25. Then I didn’t do any sport at all for five years. When I came back to
start to train again it was quite difficult to get back in shape for polo!
So, next year I will be playing high goal. We have got a team coach, Andrew Hine – after his
success with the England team this year I’m interested to see what he can do for Enigma. We will also
have a fitness trainer to help us and our training is starting soon; she is coming out to Argentina with us
this winter to make sure we keep working there too! More unusually for polo, we will also have
Miranda Banks with us as team psychologist (who is Bath Rugby Club’s team psychologist) – this is quite
common in rugby and football and I think it will be useful for polo as well. Psychologists help to make
the team work, to ensure you are in a relaxed state of mind when you are playing. Sometimes things
that are happening in your private life or your business life can affect what is happening on the field, the
way you come to the game. A psychologist helps to focus: we practise the way we play, so why not
the way we think about the game too Personally, I think polo should be a professional sport, so
because I think this I have to apply the same method to polo as is used in other pro sports. Now, I’m
not saying that it is going to work, but because I want to do it properly; I want to try to do it the pro
“
I have
always taken
any sport
I take part
in seriously
“
74 | THE POLO MAGAZINE | AUTUMN 2008