Deauville Cheval / The polo paradise
Meeting with Jean-Edouard Mazery and Francisco "Pancho" Bensadon
Their names are engraved on the prestigious Coupe d'Or, the mythical trophy of the Deauville polo season. Jean-Edouard Mazery continues to hit the ball, while presiding over the destiny of the Deauville International Polo Club.Francisco "Pancho" Bensadon, a professional player on the In The Wings team, participates in the 2018 edition's final, alongside his son, Rufino. The players help us understand what makes Deauville so famous in the Polo world.
The magic of Deauville is that it is the only city in the world where you can see horses running at the same time as you play polo in the center of a racecourse.
DEAUVILLE AND POLO, A WHOLE HISTORY
The first polo matches were played in Deauville in 1880. It was in 1907 that the club was really founded by Baron Robert de Rothschild, Captain Joubert and the Duke of Gramont. The grounds already occupied the heart of the Touques racecourse! Thanks to the Golden Cup, instituted by François André in 1950, Deauville Polo is the only French tournament and one of the three major European tournaments to boast a list of honors that includes the names of all the greatest players of the last six decades. Since the first edition won in 1951 by Cibao La Pampa, most of the polo gods, the famous 10-handicap, have trodden the fields of the Deauville-La Touques racecourse with their horses.
Horseback riding in Deauville
In Deauville, the alleys are cavalier and the houses are named after the best gallopers. It is one of the few places where you can take your horse for a weekend or play polo all year round. You can also buy a horse together, meet the best jockeys in the world, learn acrobatics, gallop on the beach in the early morning, train with an equestrian pro back from the Olympic Games.
These are stories that are shared daily and passed on for the pleasure of thousands of visitors who have been choosing Deauville for years.
Being a horse capital in Deauville means living all these stories and leaving with the pleasure of having touched a whole world.
