Dan's Papers - June 29, 2007 - Ignacio Figueras

If you have ever driven past a billboard or flipped through a fashion magazine, you've seen his face. As the international spokesmodel for Ralph Lauren's Black Label for men and POLO Black fragrances, Ignacio "Nacho" Figueras has become a household name and an internationally recognized supermodel represented by the best modeling agency in the business, Ford models. However, although many people who know him only from his ad campaigns think of him as just a handsome face, to polo fans, he is as an athlete of this highest caliber and an innovator in the world of equestrian sport.

In conversation with Nacho, all topics lead to two things -- polo and horses. Growing up in Argentina, Nacho began playing polo at a young age.

"I started playing when I was nine years old and never stopped," he remembered.

Soon after, he was playing professionally in Europe and Latin America. However, it wasn't until he received a phone call from a friend in 1999 that he became a regular visitor to the Bridgehampton Polo Club.

"I was playing polo in Spain and there was a team here that was missing one player," and the rest is history.

The next year, while playing for Neil Hirsch's Black Watch team, Nacho would become an instant star in the United States, courtesy of the Hamptons' favorite designer, Ralph Lauren.

"I met Ralph here in 2000. At the time, they were using Penelope Cruz for the Black Label women's collection and Ralph thought that it would be a good idea to a have a Latin actress and a Latin polo player for the campaign."

Soon, Nacho was flying around the world as a spokesmodel for Ralph Lauren whenever he was not playing polo or overseeing his horse-breeding program at his farm in Argentina. This past month, while most other professional polo players were gearing up for the summer season in England, Nacho was in Moscow with Ralph Lauren at the opening of Lauren's first store in Russia.

But from now until the end of the summer, Nacho Figueras will be on the East End, delighting crowds of polo fans with his aggressive playing style and exuberant love for the game. And Nacho isn't the only world-renowned player who will be in Bridgehampton this July and August. David Walentas, the owner of the farm where the Bridgehampton Polo Club's fields are located, recruited Adolfo Cambiaso, who is known as the best polo player in the world, to play for his team this year. And, as Nacho says, "it's always good to play against the best."

Although he admits to enjoying milling around the tents, Nacho believes that watching polo is "not only about the VIP tent." He explained, "In a lot of sports, you have the people who watch the game and some who socialize. Of course, I would love everybody to be sitting out there watching the game. But, I want everyone in the Hamptons to know that while they are watching the games this year, the best polo players and horses in the world will be playing here in Bridgehampton."

This is partly due to the fact that the number of professional teams playing at the Bridgehampton polo club has risen from five teams to eight over the past couple of years.

"With the new barns, the polo here is growing and growing," Nacho explained. "We are excited that Ralph Lauren is going to be the official sponsor of the Black Watch team this year, because not only will the players wear the Ralph Lauren logo, but people will be able to buy the shirts in the stores and on the website," thus promoting the sport and the Black Watch team worldwide.

Perhaps due to this new sponsorship, Ralph Lauren has come out with a new "Polo Match" line of shirts featuring a group of oversized polo ponies galloping madly in pursuit of the ball. These subtle recognitions prove that the United States is being swept up in the international love affair with polo and that Nacho's involvement with Ralph Lauren and the Bridgehampton Polo Club is the catalyst.

Even with two demanding jobs and a thriving horse breeding program, Nacho still finds time to enjoy the Hamptons with his family.

"I like Sag Harbor very much," Nacho said warmly. "My wife and my two kids come here with me -- we rent a house in Sag Harbor every summer. It's close to everything -- it's the best."

Nacho and his wife, Delfina Blaquier, have a two-year-old daughter, Aurora, and a seven-year-old son, Hilario. Although he is two years younger than his father was when he first picked up a mallet, Hilario is already following in his father's footsteps.

"My son rides and he just started hitting the ball. This summer, he will play in his first tournament against other kids. He's still not sure if he wants to be a golfer, a tennis player or a polo player."

Nacho added, "The Bridgehampton Polo Club is a great place to bring your kids. We play games almost every day of the week and families are always invited." And if the tent is too overwhelming for children, Nacho recommends that they bring a picnic and sit on the other side of the field, where it is quieter.

When they are not in the Hamptons, Nacho and his family can be found at their farm in Argentina.

"Taking care of my green (young) horses and overseeing my breeding program are important to me," Nacho said. "In the past, young horses were left out in a field with their mothers for two years and you had to fight with a horse, really break him, to ride him. Now, it's so different. By handling the foals from birth and getting them used to wearing a saddle and bridle while they are still at their mother's side, the babies are already tame when you ride them!" Nacho exclaimed. "You can just get on the horse and ride them normally -- it has made a big difference in the way the horses are trained."

Nacho is also a great believer in another relatively new concept in horse breeding, that of embryo transfer.

"I breed polo ponies by doing embryo transfers out of the good mares. Sometimes, we can have three or four babies from the same mare in one year. I think ponies are becoming better and better because of this technology."

Although thoroughbreds are the most common breed on the polo field, Nacho believes that breed alone is not a deciding factor in how a horse will perform.

What does he look for in a broodmare or stallion?

"They have to be good polo ponies," he said.

As these new methods of breeding and training produce faster, more agile horses, the games are becoming even more exciting to watch than they were in years past.

No matter which team wins the Mercedes Benz Polo Challenge this summer, it is clear that the caliber of play will be higher than ever, giving Hamptons residents and visitors first-row seats to watch one of the world's oldest and most prestigious sports played by the best players in the world. Once the season is over, Nacho Figueras' billboards, commercials and photographs will linger in the public eye, building excitement for next year, when the thunder of hooves and the crack of the mallet will lure us all out to the field once more.