Álvaro Odriozola's thoroughbred goal and the rich racing heiress

• Turf world Sergio Ramos, elite horse breeder

Some buy Ferraris and others thoroughbreds, although there are footballers, like Sergio Ramos, who do both.

Álvaro Odriozola (26) is one of the seconds.

He doesn't look for horses out of a nouveau riche whim, but out of a passion instilled in him by his

and which he has carried along since he was a child.

That love for racetracks and horse riding led him to

, recently

He was running in 2017 and

debuted the colors of the block that he founded that same year, the white and red of his school, the Marianistas of San Sebastián.

Since then other horses have been swelling the

, named after his grandfather, who is beginning to make a name for himself at the Spanish and French racetracks, where Odriozola is

His career with the ball began like a rocket: he played in the

when 18 months earlier he was in Segunda B and even

gave him his moment of glory with the

- "I don't believe that Odriozola is not a starter", they sang after destroying

-.

Real Madrid signed him (they paid Real 35 million for him) but his career seems somewhat stagnant:

and he hasn't played a single game since his

.

His return to Italy seems close.

Surely it will be years before the man from San Sebastián hangs up his boots, but

, especially since he came out with

, his girlfriend of four years.

Inés Laffón and Odriozola with several horses at the Carlos Laffón breeding center in Chantilly.EM

Inés belongs to a well-known Sevillian saga linked to the equestrian and business world.

Her father,

(59), is

Settled in France since 1992, he owns a

where he works with 70 thoroughbreds (he once had 120).

Through her hands, expensive copies of Arab sheikhs and the billionaire

, the

and some 200 racehorses, pass.

The maternal branch is not wasted either.

Her mother,

is part of another legendary family linked to racetracks: Agnes's great-grandfather,

, was

, founder of a cabalistic empire based at

, a fairytale castle located near Deauville.

The property was

and the family bought it in 1958 half in ruins.

Since then, the Heads have had their stud there and have raised dozens of thoroughbreds.

Inés has posed in Quesnay for the magazine

and she has brought to light the fascinating history of her family, where one of her cousins ​​is also famous.

Odriozola Inés Laffón with Victoria Federica and Rochi Laffón, in Florence.IG

Rocío Laffón,

is the close friend and faithful squire of Victoria Federica, the King's niece, with whom Inés has a relationship, she says, "of sisters".

This was evident in the trip that Vic and

made to Florence in January to visit Inés and Odriozola, who was playing for Fiorentina at the time.

The couple's relationship is going from strength to strength.

She herself has talked about a possible wedding in the

, in which the footballer also appears.

She says "it would be a dream" to get married in

, which has a chapel where her grandparents and her parents were married.

It must also seem like a dream to him because Inés reveals that for Odriozola

is

.

View this post on Instagram

For

it is also a very special place.

There he ate with the Queen of England during one of her visits to her mother-in-law's stud, according to what he reports to LOC.

"The queen slept there twice," he adds.

The Sevillian trainer claims to be delighted with his

-in-law, with whom he shares his passion for horses.

called

in his Chantilly stables

.

"She's young, she's two years old, but

I'm preparing her to run next year," he told LOC.

The training center of Carlos Laffón, in Chantilly.EM

He believes that Odriozola

, although, he assures, "the competition is very tough."

"It seems that he is going to go there because

, which are intended for reproduction. But the world of breeding is very tough, very complicated, because you compete against people with a lot of money, basically Arabs, whom It doesn't affect them if a horse doesn't turn out well," he says.

And as a son-in-law, how do you see him?,

we asked him.

Carlos laughs on the other end of the phone, from France, where he has lived with his wife for 30 years.

he joked.

Laffón met him the same day as his daughter, "three or four years" ago, in Paris.

It seems that

, they must have given the phone number and he called her for dinner or something like that, and to this day, you know how these things go," she says.

Laffón also met his wife at a racetrack, Zarzuela

, in Madrid, where he spent the day.

He was crazy about horses, although no one in his family was professionally dedicated to racing.

It was his maternal grandfather, Fernando Paries, who was mayor of Seville, the most fond of horse riding, but as a

.

.

"They took it fatally," he says.

, who lived with them-"she was my second mother"-did not understand.

who is a businessman.

"The world of

in Spain it was very residual, it's not like in France or England, where horses are an industry and there are races seven days a week," he says.

Despite family opposition,

, although he had to give it up due to his height.

He had to settle for being a

(amateur racing jockey) until

, they fell in love and his life changed.

Patricia's mother is Christiane

Head (74), the

, and she gave him the opportunity to work with her to learn the trade.

She packed her suitcase and

His three children (Patricia, Inés and Fernando) were born there and he developed his entire career, which reached its zenith in 2012 when he entered the history of the racing world when one of his horses,

, won the Prix de l'At Longchamp. Arc de Triomphe,

Laffón has been in France for more than three decades but whenever he can he escapes to his beloved Seville and Sanlúcar de Barramameda, where they have a home.

He dreams of retiring in Spain but before that he dreams of winning his second Arc de Triomphe.

With

?

"I wish, it would be a dream."

Giscard d'Estaing and his wife congratulate the Head family on July 10, 1979 at Longchamp.

From left to right: Alec Head, Criquette and his son Freddy.AFP

THE LEGENDARY HEAD FAMILY

The Heads are a

, legendary in the world of horse racing.

Alec Head, Inés Laffón's great-grandfather, was

.

He died last June, at the age of 97.

He was the one who convinced his father,

, another reference as a jockey and breeder, and his uncle to settle in France and buy

in 1958. The castle and its 180-hectare estate, located near the Normandy beaches, It belonged to an American jockey who bred racehorses.

The Nazis occupied it during World War II and left it in ruins at the end of the war.

and in 1959 he brought the first stallion to the farm.

Over the years, he and his wife, Ghislaine, developed 'Haras du Quesnay' into one of the leading stud farms in France.

Alec and Ghislaine

, they had three children:

.

All three followed in the footsteps of their parents.

Freddy (75) won races as a jockey before dedicating himself to breeding thoroughbreds, like his sire.

Criquette (74) made history by becoming the

.

She retired in 2018. Martine ran

until 2000 and now lives in the United States, also breeding Thoroughbreds.

One of Freddy's sons, Christopher, has become another famous trainer.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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