A Hong Kong business trip meant Alibaba President J. Michael Evans not only missed the Hamptons polo match benefiting the Robin Hood Foundation on Sunday, but also the discovery of a squatter in the house he recently bought nearby.
At the polo event in Water Mill, N.Y., the former Goldman Sachs vice chairman's wife, Lise Evans, said she learned of the squatter when a friend went to the home to access the beach. She found a man making sandwiches. Both were startled. The friend asked if he knew Ms. Evans, too, and the squatter said yes. The police arrested him just as the post-match Argentine
asado began, Ms. Evans said.
The event started with moms and dads watching over their kids decorating wooden stick ponies. Andrew Right, the son-in-law of Steve Schwarzman, was among the parents. He started an assignment at the end of June as executive director of the U.S. Department of Transportation's Build America Transportation Investment Center. He said he'll help bring private capital to infrastructure projects and figure out how to use existing federal credit available.
The only transportation problem on the polo field was the grass torn up during the match, solved by numerous guests who stomped the divots during halftime. Later, a retro-looking tractor brought a stage to the field for the Piaget Hamptons Cup ceremony. Dashing polo player Nacho Figueras and his wife, Delfina Blaquier, arrived in a Bugatti.
One of the awards went to the pony Seaside.
“She handled like a Bugatti out there,” announcer Tony Coppola told the crowd.
Bugatti was a sponsor.
The winner's trophy went to the St. Regis Hotels & Resorts team, which prevailed over the Credit Suisse team, 9-7.
'NACHO'S FAULT
The fourth-annual event took place at the
Equuleus Polo Club owned by Diana DiMenna and her husband, hedge-fund manager Joseph DiMenna. The fundraiser met its $1 million goal.
“It's all Nacho's fault,” Diana DiMenna said. “He's so charming. He said, 'So I think we'll go for a million,' and we said, 'It's crazy, but let's try.'
"The problem is you can't make the event bigger because this tent is the size you can get before you go to a plastic-frame tent," she said. "We always wanted it to be elegant.”
The sailcloth tent holds 440 people. Ms. DiMenna said organizers got a few people to give more and added Bugatti as a sponsor. Tickets started at $1,000, or $500 for children. To get to $1 million, guests who made pledges during the event were entered into a raffle to win the shirt Mr. Figueras played in, autographed by him. Those who gave most were entered in a separate raffle to win dinner with Mr. Figueras at the Polo Bar, Ralph Lauren's restaurant on Fifth Avenue.
'SENSE OF FAMILY'
The
Robin Hood Foundation will use proceeds to fight poverty in New York, through the money and management assistance it provides to more than 200 nonprofits.
“I'd never been to a polo match before,” said David Saltzman, the group's executive director. “Diana said, 'What you'll be struck by is the sense of family, the sense of community.' That's what she created here.”
Guests included Donna Karan, who said she's looking forward to the Aug. 30 fundraiser for Hillary Clinton in the Hamptons; Ms. Karan's son-in-law, Gianpaolo DeFelice, founder of Zen Air; MSD Capital's Glenn Fuhrman; Raycliff Capital's Stefan Reyniak; and Joseph Fichera of Saber Partners.
As the sun set, Diana DiMenna, almost done with her work on the event, said goodnight to Simone Levinson, who is about to go into high gear on the Southampton Arts Center fundraiser.
SummerFest on Sept. 3 includes tastings by local restaurants, and supports the center's programs, which include outdoor film screenings, art exhibits, music performances and puppet shows. A “Dune Beach” single ticket is $250 and a “Jobs Lane Package” of 12 tickets and a table is $25,000. Ms. Levinson, who helped turn the former home of the Parrish Art Museum into the Southampton Arts Center, said 250 tickets already have been sold, leaving 150 to go.
