Feature
Interview: Dillon Bacon
Dillon Bacon The Queen’s Cup winner tells us about this year’s momentous victory, past achievements, his love of polo… and more
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hen Dillon Bacon agreed to an exclusive interview with us, the first question we had was – what questions do we ask him? As a guy who likes to keep a low profile, not many people, particularly outside of the high goal circuit know much about him. So, we decided to start at the beginning and ask this charismatic patron some basic questions about what everybody wants to know – about life, polo and, of course, (excuse us please)… bringing home the bacon in the Cartier Queen’s Cup. Where did you grow up? I’m half British and half American, but grew up in the UK from the age of six, having spent my school years here. Where do you call home now? I have just moved back to the UK from New York, where I was for University and my first few years of work.
polo when I was young and initially forced me to play when I was 12. I didn’t have a kids pony or lighter mallets, so it was difficult, at first, because of my age. What started off initially as a chore, quickly grew into a passion though – I grew up playing farm polo at our place in Long Island with the Garcia del Rio family, with the father, Felipe and his three sons, Tomas, Gonzalo and Marcos. And when I went to high school, our school had a team and so I got play there as well.
Away from polo, do you have a ‘day job’? As fanatical as I am about polo, I do have a job. I work in finance doing investments in private companies, mostly late stage startup businesses. When did you start to ride? First memories on a horse was when I was four. Riding and feeling comfortable on a horse was something that I was brought up with. I even got my first riding accident when I was five, when my small pony Rose bolted; when I tried to emergency dismount, my foot got caught in the stirrup and I got dragged. I remember waking up in hospital and still carry a scar from that today. I was riding again not long after that, so I think I got over any fear of horses from a young age.
Were there any other sports that had your attention when you were younger? I grew up playing lots of sports with my family and at school. Rugby was my first great passion in sport as I was good at tackling (maybe why I work well marking in polo!). I also love all racket sports, especially squash though, which I’ve always loved playing. After polo, squash is my favorite sport to play and what I’m most obsessed by. Other sports I love include, skiing, road cycling, tennis, badminton and kite surfing.
Are you from an equestrian background or a polo family? Fortunately, yes. My father started playing
Are there any sports that still compete with polo for your attention and time? Up until the last two years I would say squash. I would play religiously throughout the winter, and have always been obsessive on how to improve every aspect of my game, and likewise with polo in the summer. Squash is an incredible game because of the amount of exercise and focus you can do in a 30 minute match. It takes a lot of fitness, technique and focus to improve as a player, much the same with polo. For the last two years, I have spent more time in the winter training for polo, strength building and Pilates, to ensure I hit the ground running when it came to the polo season. This has meant I haven’t had as much time to play squash. Photography by ©www.imagesofpolo.com
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Polo Times, September 2020
Where have you played the majority of your polo? What have been your most notable polo achievements so far? Both in the UK and abroad? I grew up playing polo in the UK until I was 18-years-old, both schools polo (winning the National Schools’ tournament in 2009) and at Guards. From then on, I played mostly in the Hamptons, Long Island. www.polotimes.co.uk
