Game Changer
Having broken into polo’s illustrious boys’ club, Sarah Siegel-Magness has her sights set on revolutionizing the sport for a new generation.
Left to right: Cacu Marcos, Geronimo Obregon, Mariano Fassetta, Sarah Siegel-Magness, Robert Zedda, and Cable Magness at Cancha de Estrellas Polo Club in Carpinteria.
Styling by Daniella Clarke, makeup by Caroline Hernandez, and hair by Johnny Stuntz.
Having broken into polo’s illustrious boys’ club, Sarah Siegel-Magness has her sights set on revolutionizing the sport for a new generation.
Written by Kelsey McKinnon
Photography by Dewey Nicks
Siegel-Magness is in the saddle six days a week either practicing or playing matches. In addition to cardio workouts and time spent in the hitting cage, she must also make room in her schedule for regular rehab sessions in a hyperbaric chamber when she’s injured, which happens frequently for all elite polo players.
When Sarah Siegel-Magness takes the polo field on one of her pedigreed Argentinian ponies, the petite powerhouse prefers an all-black uniform to traditional white riding pants. The bold sartorial statement is just one of the many ways that Siegel-Magness, who is usually the only woman on the field, is rewriting the rules of the game. “Polo in America is set in tradition, and in many ways I love the consistency,” says Siegel-Magness. “[But] this is 2022, we must make changes in order to progress.”
“Polo in America is set in tradition, and in many ways I love the consistency. says Siegel-Magness. “[But] this is 2022, we must make changes in order to progress.”
Since Siegel-Magness first picked up a mallet five years ago, she has dedicated her life to the sport—playing six days a week at the highest levels of the game. She and her husband, Gary, who both have roots in from Colorado, have purchased polo estates around the world. That includes one in Mexico and a 65-acre property in Santa Barbara, where she regularly plays with the likes of Adolfo Cambiaso, Prince Harry, and Nacho Figueras. Siegel-Magness counts Cambiaso as a close friend—they are neighbors at Cambiaso’s elite polo club in Argentina, La Dolfina—and she also turns to him for horsepower; the Argentinian superstar was a pioneer in horse cloning and now breeds some of the world’s most coveted ponies. “It was like I had been driving a Mazda all my life and then getting to drive a Ferrari,” she says of switching to one of Cambiaso’s ponies.
“We share a lot on the field but off the field as well,” says Cambiaso, who is grateful for the direction Siegel-Magness is steering the game. “It is really impressive to see how many female players are starting to take part,” he says.
Siegel-Magness takes a break to say hello to a zebra named Marty, one of her many rescue animals. When she first rescued the week-old zebra, she camped out at the barn and took turns with other polo pros feeding him.
“It was like I had been driving a Mazda all my life and then getting to drive a Ferrari,” she says of switching to one of Cambiaso’s ponies.”
During the season Siegel-Magness competes with her team, which is sponsored by Dundas. Siegel-Magness and her husband are business partners of the Dundas fashion brand, and Siegel-Magness sits on the board. In the past, Siegel-Magness was also a successful film director and producer with credits including Precious and Crazy Kind of Love.
Now that she’s traded movie sets for horse stables, Siegel-Magness intends to climb to the top of this male-dominated field as well. “Of course, I could say I want to win every important tournament,” she says, “but at the end of the day the experience is not the win, it’s the stuff along the way.”
The traditional open-fire barbecue usually occurs over the weekends during polo season.