The Sport of Kings: Polo

(CBS News) In a small horse stable in west Philadelphia, city kids are learning the sport of kings: polo, usually the domain of the modern-day Gatsby set. It's all part of polo's growing popularity in the United States, a charge led by star player Nacho Figueras. Nacho tells Lara Logan there is nothing genteel about this sport, and he has an impressive list of injuries to prove his point. 60 Minutes reports on one of the most dangerous, expensive, and beautiful sports in the world - "The Sport of Kings."

The following script is from "The Sport of Kings" which originally aired on April 8, 2012. Lara Logan is the correspondent. Max McClellan, producer.

Polo is called the sport of kings and for centuries its drawn royalty to its ranks. In the minds of many, the game has always belonged to the rich, the famous, and the privileged few. But there's more to the sport than the glamorous world that surrounds it.

It began as a war game more than 2,000 years ago and is one of the oldest team sports in history. Most of us in America today know very little about it, but there was a time in this country -- in the 1920s and 30s -- when polo could draw a crowd of 30,000 spectators and the U.S. was considered the best in the world.

Today, there are polo clubs all over the country and this weekend the best international players are gathered at the U.S. Open Polo Championship in Florida, one of the most prestigious tournaments in the sport.

Tonight, we're going to introduce you to one of the game's stars who has made it his mission to try to reignite America's passion for the game.

It's fast, it's rough, and it's considered to be one of the most dangerous sports in the world.

Lara Logan: Is it a fight on the field? Are you going to war?

Nacho: It's war, yes. You're not trying to hurt anybody. But yes, you're trying to score more goals and to go faster and hit someone harder, and do whatever it takes to win that game.

35-year-old Argentine Ignacio Figueras -- known simply as Nacho -- is the most famous professional polo player today. You may recognize him as the face of Ralph Lauren, that sultry look, an international symbol for the Polo brand. He's also the unrivaled ambassador for the sport.

Eighteen thousand people showed up at this charity match he hosted on Governors Island in New York City where some of the VIP tables went for $50,000.

Nacho is at ease among the glitz and glamour of the polo scene, the star attraction in that Great Gatsby world of extravagant hats, seersucker suits and elegant spectators sipping champagne. But where we saw his real passion was on the field.

Nacho: Polo it goes beyond where you are or beyond what people are wearing, beyond the hats, beyond the high heels, beyond all of those things. People think of polo and they think of those things first. All these things are happening around it, but what about what's happening inside.

Inside it takes blood, sweat and hard work to play polo at Nacho's level. These pictures were filmed at a thousand frames per second on a high-speed camera that we used to capture Nacho in action and the power and intensity of the game.

Many people describe polo as hockey on horseback. Nacho told us it's more like playing golf in an earthquake.

Nacho: I've broken my nose twice. I have stitches here from like here to there. I broken my wrist. I broken my ankle. I've been unconscious twice from falling. It's a rough sport.

Lara Logan: You took a ball in the eye?

Nacho: Yeah, right here.

That explains the helmets and kneepads the players have to wear. Nacho didn't bother with any of that when he was a boy growing up on a farm in Argentina, obsessed with polo.

Nacho: I always say, if you're born in Hawaii, you'll surf. If you're born in Austria, you'll ski. If you're born in Argentina, then most likely you'll play polo.

Lara Logan: What's the thing you're best at on the field?

Nacho: I am tough. I am not the most talented guy with the ball or playing. I run. I kick. I hit people hard. I never give up.

Lara Logan: So you're determined?

Nacho: Oh yes, determined.

Determined to try to make polo in America as popular as it was 75 years ago when these pictures were filmed on Long Island. Back then, wealthy families like the Vanderbilts and the Whitneys dominated the game and Hollywood stars like Spencer Tracy and Walt Disney were avid players.

To understand how the game is played, we asked Nacho for a lesson.

Nacho: It's four against four, you play different periods called chukkers. They're seven minutes long. You have to score with a ball that is this big.

The object is to hit the ball through the opposing team's goal and it all takes place on the largest field in sports, big enough to fit nine football fields. The rules are you have to use your right hand to play and control the horse with your left.

The horses go as fast as 35 miles an hour and usually last about three and a half minutes before they have to be swapped out. Nacho has one of the best strings of polo ponies in the game.

Lara Logan: What are his strengths on the field?

Nacho: Stopping and turning, amazing. These horses can stop on a dime.

Nacho: You can compare it with racecar driving.

Lara Logan: So this is a Ferrari right here?

Nacho: This is a Ferrari right here that then also has to be tuned and feel great for the game.

He told us nothing is more important than the horse and he picks his carefully.

Nacho: This one is Cortina. I bought her two years ago from a very famous American polo player called Owen Rinehart.

Owen Rinehart runs a world-class breeding and training operation on his 300-acre ranch in Aiken, South Carolina. In a game dominated by Argentines, this American was once one of the best in the world.

Lara Logan: What makes a good polo pony?

Owen Rinehart: Speed, agility, mental soundness, competitiveness, the really good ones are really competitive.

Lara Logan: You can't overstate the importance of a polo pony?

Owen Rinehart: Unbelievable how important they are.

Training starts from birth, and for these newborns, getting used to being around humans is the first lesson.

[Owen Rinehart: That one's mother is a great horse, but she's mean.]

They are all descendants of great polo ponies, bred from champion stock.

Owen Rinehart: We want these to hopefully one day be in either the U.S. Open, the British Open or the Argentine Open. Those are the three biggest tournaments in the world.

These horses won't be ready for professional polo until they're six or seven - pretty old compared to a racehorse which peaks at three or four.

Lara Logan: So he could turn out to be a champion polo horse.

Owen Reinhart: I believe he will be.

Lara Logan: Which would mean he'd be worth what?

Owen Reinhart: Up-- I think that sort of the top end now is $200,000.

Polo ponies don't spend long in the ring, but Owen told us this is a critical part of their training, because it's here that he determines how sensitive their mouth is to the reins.

Owen Reinhart: It's all about pressure and this is very light pressure and you want a horse to have a light mouth.

On the field, they get used to full contact and learn how to compete at top speed. The best polo ponies like the ones bred here can play for 10 years or longer.

Lara Logan: That's amazing to see her weave like that from side to side.

Owen showed us what a champion horse can do.

Owen Reinhart: When she feels this...

Lara Logan: Yeah.

Owen Reinhart: She goes that way. When she feels the reigns on the other side she goes the other way. It's all her and it's literally that or that.

Professional players like Nacho travel with their best horses. He brought 13 of the 300 he told us he owns here to the Bridgehampton Polo Club on Long Island where he was playing in a six-week tournament.

His wife and children travel with him as much as they can. Professional polo keeps Nacho on the road seven months a year, competing in a series of international tournaments, from Singapore to Spain.

Polo at his level costs millions of dollars and is paid for by the ultra-rich, like Peter Brant, who owns two polo clubs and his own team. Nacho spent years playing for him.

Lara Logan: So this is your polo field?

Peter Brant: Yes.

Peter Brant: I have one polo field here. And we have two across the road for the Greenwich Polo Club.

We met him on his estate in Connecticut. He's what's known in polo as a patron.

Peter Brant: If the team runs into deficit, he covers it, and if it runs a profit, he keeps it. That's what a patron is.

Lara Logan: Have you covered more deficits or kept some profits over the years?

Peter Brant: Well, let's put it this way. As an investment advisor, I wouldn't advise you to start playing polo to earn a living. I mean, as a producer of a team.

But in exchange for covering all the bills, the patron gets to compete in the biggest tournaments alongside the pros. And few of them play as well as Peter Brant, once the highest rated amateur in the U.S.

There's another side to the sport that Nacho wanted us to see. He introduced us to a 19-year-old player from Philadelphia who he's mentored.

Kareem Rosser: Oh, Nacho is amazing guy. You know, very caring.

Lara Logan: Have you played a game with him?

Kareem Rosser: Yes, I have. I was fortunate enough to play couple times with Nacho -- once against him, once with him. I'd much rather play with him than against him, so...

Kareem Rosser was named the best high school polo player in the nation last year. Over 40 high school teams across North America compete for a national title. And Nacho sees Kareem's success as proof that polo can take root in the most unexpected places.

Lara Logan: Most kids grow up wanting to play basketball or football. There aren't many kids that grow up in America wanting to play polo. Did you ever imagine that that would be your life?

Kareem Rosser: I had no idea, but I'm glad that it is polo. I'm glad that polo has taken me far. I just love everything that it has brought to me, you know, all the opportunities, just the way it changed my life for the good.

Kareem grew up in a rough part of West Philadelphia.

Kareem Rosser: This is where a lot of bad stuff happened, on this street -- drugs, violence, shootings, killings. Being around all that negative influence, it's easy to get pulled in.

Just a five-minute drive from here was his refuge: this barn at the Chamounix Equestrian Center where Philadelphia's mounted police once stabled their horses.

Seventeen years ago, a woman named Lezlie Hiner started a program called Work to Ride. She came to see the sport of kings as her way to help give poor kids a chance.

In exchange for mucking stalls and keeping up good grades, Lezlie taught the kids how to play polo with donated horses and second hand gear. For years they didn't win a single match and they were not always welcomed in the wealthy, white world of polo.

Lara Logan: And now you're high school champions for the country?

Kareem Rosser: Yea, we are. It took us a while to accomplish that goal but now we can definitely walk around and say we are National Champions.

Kareem told us he hopes that one day he'll play professionally like Nacho.

In the match on Governors Island, we watched him lead his team to victory, hustling for the ball, stealing possession and charging down the field to score.

Nacho playing the game the same way it's been played through the centuries, hoping to excite new interest in this ancient sport.