Riding horses since the age of 3 and playing polo since the age of 4
no wonder he is a rising star
Wellington's Polo-Playing Kid Documents His Coming of Age Story
Although the sport and its trappings often call to mind Prince Charles and socialites in shade-giving hats, many players and their families don't fit the trust-fund stereotype.
"Not everybody in polo has the easy route," says Kelita Torres. "It's a very good life, and everybody sees it as glamorous, but Santi works very hard - the extra horses he rides, the extra hours he puts in, that will help him get to where he wants to go."
Most people don't understand the hours and hours of work that go into polo behind the scenes, Santi says. The Torres family and their grooms, for example, care for roughly 30 horses.
"It helps if you're rich, but there's a lot of people just trying to make a living or they love the sport," he says.
Isn't this the perfect example of an Outlier in the Malcome Gladwell sense. A kid born into a polo family (a working one not an Argentinian polo dynasty like the Zavaletas...his father started as a groom/player at the Santa Barbara Polo Club) taught the game early and close to reaching his 10,0000 hours of practice and play.
