Polo’s glamour couple are heading to Australia for the Magic Millions
They mix with royals and celebrities but now polo’s glamour couple are heading to Australia. Delfina Blaquier and her polo player husband Nacho Figueras will play in the Magic Millions Polo match ahead of the annual yearling sales and race day.
Gwyneth Paltrow calls her “one of my most favourite women” and newly minted royal Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, counts her as a friend.
To say Delfina Blaquier has an impressive social circle would be like saying James Packer has got some money. And now she is going to bring some of that A-list glamour to Australia.
“Gwyneth has an aura around her,” Blaquier enthuses over the phone from the edge of a polo field in Palermo, in the Argentinian capital of Buenos Aires.
It is a shared friendship, which began at a charity for horses more than 10 years ago, and prompted Paltrow to post on social media that Blaquier was “one of my most favourite women” alongside a picture of them together the last time they caught up.
“She is the most amazing woman, like superwoman, she does it all,” Blaquier said, seemingly oblivious to the fact that, actually, she is the one who does it all.
The mother of four, who represented Argentina in high jump as a teenager, manages to juggle photography, fashion design and horse breeding with a jet-set lifestyle that takes her to some of the most glamorous places on the planet.
At the Veuve Clicquot Classic in Los Angeles, she regularly rubs shoulders with celebrity attendees including Aussie actor Naomi Watts, reality star Kendall Jenner, TV host Ellen DeGeneres and Hollywood star Jamie Foxx.
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At the polo classic at Liberty State Park in New York, the crowd this year included actors Penelope Cruz, Sienna Miller and Sam Rockwell.
In January, Blaquier and her Argentinian polo player husband Nacho Figueras will be on the Gold Coast to play in the Magic Millions Polo match ahead of the annual yearling sales and race day.
“I love Australia and I really cannot wait to come. I heard so many great things from Nacho after he came last year,” Blaquier said.
Figueras attended the Magic Millions with the couple’s 13-year-old daughter Aurora. This year they will also bring Artemio, 9, and Alba, 5, while 18-year-old Hilario will be in Florida.
They will be rubbing shoulders with royalty in Queensland, catching up with Magic Millions ambassadors Zara Phillips, the Queen’s granddaughter, and her husband Mike Tindall.
They also are old friends. Blaquier and Figueras were with them earlier this year at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan in St Georges Chapel in Windsor, and were among the 200 people invited to the exclusive evening reception hosted by Prince Charles.
“It was a beautiful experience,” Blaquier said.
“We were very happy to be there for our friends and to share that very special moment.”
Figueras, who is also a Ralph Lauren model, met Prince Harry at a polo match in 2007 and they became firm friends through a shared passion for charitable work.
Figueras took on a role as ambassador for Harry’s Sentebale charity, which supports children affected by HIV and AIDS in Africa.
Earlier this year Figueras and Prince Harry played in the Sentebale polo fundraiser in Berkshire, while Blaquier kept Meghan company in the grandstand.
She said that finding love has made the Prince a much happier man.
“Their love story is very inspiring and it is beautiful to see them both so happy,” Blaquier said.
“They inspire people and they share a common goal to try to make the world a better place.”
Magic Millions co-owner Katie Page said she and husband Gerry Harvey are “thrilled Delfi is joining us for Magic Millions Polo”.
“She is horsewoman, polo player and breeder in her own right,” Ms Page said.
“She and Nacho are a team in every sense. What those two have done to promote polo is just extraordinary.
“Delfi is a businesswoman and a horsewoman. She has an entrepreneur’s approach to promoting the sport she loves.
“Delfi is an accomplished photographer — she cleverly integrates her love of fashion and travel to draw a different audience to the polo.”
Blaquier is a fashion designer for the clothing brand Acheval Pampa.
“She and Nacho travel the world as a family so she has a truly global perspective on all trends — how style and sport influence all ages and all nationalities,” Ms Page said.
“More than anything we want to see her play!”
Blaquier grew up with polo ponies, playing with her father until he turned his attention
to motor racing.
She and Figueras have a breeding operation in Argentina with horses imported from all over the world, including Australia.
“It is a long-term investment because you never know what you are getting with their genetics until the horses are six or seven years old,” Blaquier said.
“We brought mares from everywhere, we have some Australian bloodstock, and we aimed to bring in horses that were meaningful for polo.
“At one stage we had 500 horses but we sold a lot off to concentrate on the really good ones.
“I love horses, everything about them, and I am really looking forward to coming to Australia for the race day.”
Blaquier has just had her 38th birthday, which was marked with a homemade cake from her four children and a trip to a 10-pin bowling alley with her family.
“I blew out a lot of candles and then we went bowling. I beat Nacho but did not win, which was a bit rude of my family,” she said with a laugh.
Winning is a theme that resonates with both Blaquier and Figueras.
“We are too competitive,” Blaquier said.
“If I lose I am in a bad mood at home and if he loses it is not good. We have played against each other before and it didn’t end well.”
Figueras agrees: “It really is a problem. If I win in polo I lose in the house and if I lose at polo I also lose in the house.”
Blaquier joked: “I am saying this now so that they think very carefully when they are picking the teams.”
A MAGICAL WEEK OF CELEBRATIONS
A week-long, celebrity-studded festival of the horse kicks off with a world-class polo match on the Gold Coast in January.
Top of the line-up in the Magic Millions Polo match on January 6 will be Argentinian polo player Nacho Figueras and his wife Delfina Blaquier. They will be playing against a star-packed line-up, including the Queen’s granddaughter Zara Phillips, ex-NRL star-turned-horse breeder Billy Slater and Winx jockey Hugh Bowman.
“Magic Millions Polo has everything going for it — Gold Coast in summer, overlooking the water,” Magic Millions co-owner Katie Page said.
“Where else can you see racing royalty Hugh Bowman play footy legend Billy Slater or polo royalty play real royalty?”
And you do not have to be a millionaire to take a picnic along and enjoy the day.
“For most men and women, a day at the polo begins well before you arrive. This is a day to celebrate a style of fashion that is perfect for summer — style and comfort are the order of the day,” Ms Page said.
The polo kicks off a week of equine activity, including the yearling sales, which attract some of the biggest names in racing, with legendary trainer Gai Waterhouse bidding from her customary table next to one usually occupied by broadcaster Alan Jones.
At the January 2018 sales, 152 yearlings sold for $300,000 or more and one for $2 million. Champions that have been under the auctioneer’s hammer in the past include Winx, Redzel, Capitalist and Buffering.
The week finishes with the Magic Millions race day, the first in Australia to offer $10 million in prizemoney. It is now in the top 10 of the world’s richest race meets.
Magic Millions ambassador Francesca Cumani and fellow Channel 7 commentator Hamish McLachlan provide the expert commentary on races that attract some of the best jockeys in the nation. The event aims to encourage women to participate in the thoroughbred horse racing industry. The Star Gold Coast Magic Millions two-year-old Classic race has $2 million in prizemoney. It also has $500,000 to be shared between the first four horses owned by women.
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