Tamara: Sibling Speak - The Polo Magazine

Sibling Speak
Nina
Sister
We met with sisters Tamara Vestey and
Nina (née Vestey) Clarkin over breakfast.
Happily munching away on a rather odd
combination of Marmite and pepper on toast
we discussed their relationship as siblings,
life in general and, of course; polo.
Photos courtesy of Zahra Hanbury
Tamara
Tamara somehow manages to fit in
playing a not insignificant amount polo
off her current handicap of 2 goals, as
well as being a chef extraordinaire,
running with her business partner
Sophie Meredith, the deliciously successful
‘Foxy Ladies’, rightly one of the most sought-after
catering companies in the Cotswolds. Last year
she teamed up with Nina, Emma Tomlinson and
Lucy Taylor to play for Coombe Wines: it was a
winning line up. For the first time in history an
all-lady team won the Gerald Balding. Go girls!
Nina, who is six years younger than Tamara, is a
force to be reckoned with on the polo field,
playing off 3 goals and taking no prisoners, male
or female. Her achievements have been
rewarded publicly with her the ‘Most Outstanding
Lady Player’ at the Audi Polo Awards for the last
three years straight. (Come on Nina, give the
other girls a chance, stop being quite so good
please). This year, she and Tamara were both
recognised for their achievements, bagging the
‘Most Outstanding Ladies’ Team’ at The Awards.
Nina’s love of polo has even extended to her
choice of husband – she married New Zealand
and Cadenza player, John Paul Clarkin, 8,
in 2007 – so no prizes for guessing what they
talk about over dinner!
They spent their childhood with their brother,
Ben and parents, The Hon. Mark and Rosie
Vestey, in the idyllic family home of Foxcote in
the heart of the Cotswolds. They describe their
parents as totally inspirational, offering moral
support and guidance through childhood and to
this day. Long, carefree summers spent outside
playing polo and eventing and winters, team
chasing and hunting all over the Gloucestershire
countryside, has left the girls with a love for the
area, horses and, quite naturally, polo.
Act
Tamara:
“We’ve always been competitive in a sisterly way,
Nina and I. Obviously this does extend onto the
polo pitch when we play together, or worse still
as opponents. We try and curb it and mask our
feelings with a smile, even when we’ve lost.
Throwing your toys out of the pram is for later
(if at all), isn’t it
We both presumed we got our competitive
streak from Dad, he was very driven when he
played – but we may have been wrong on that
one. Mummy seems to have been the source all
along. She hasn’t long been playing polo but she
played a game last year with Nina, John Paul’s
cousin, Tom [Hunt], and myself. We were losing
and I really saw a different side to her: one that
reminded me of Nina and myself. She was so
determined and kept on telling us over and over
again that losing really wasn’t good enough and
certainly was not an option whatsoever; it was
funny to see, but quite illuminating too – it’s
amazing to see people’s characters on the polo
field, they can change you know!
Both of us have often played as a family with
Mummy or Ben and sometimes against each
other, which often means us all clamouring to see
whom Dad will support. Naturally, being Dad, he
is always diplomatic and replies calmly: “Polo is
the winner, darlings. Polo is the winner”.
He’s quite right you know.”
Winning the Gerald Balding last year was such a
fantastic achievement and hard work, but we were
also having fun and enjoying ourselves. The
problem with ladies’ polo is that the ball can
sometimes be lost in a melee, but Nina has the
most tremendous hit. She can whack the ball up
the pitch so the rest of the team can chase after it
and get down to business. I think that has surprised
a lot of people, especially some of the guys; they
just don’t expect women to play like that. In
Argentina in particular I’ve seen male players not
bothering to mark a lady player, but then they see
that you are off spiriting the ball away towards goal
and they soon realise their mistake; but you don’t
really see that attitude in the UK. Girls certainly play
a different style of polo to guys, but as long as you
are playing well both individually and as part of a
team and up to handicap you’re going to be
respected and accepted.
Foxy Ladies, was something I stumbled into really.
It was the end of the English polo season and I
was waiting to go to Argentina and I thought I
would enrol on a catering course in the interim.
I’m not a morning person and having to be up at
6.30 am to walk the dogs before being in the
kitchens for 8 am was a bit of a struggle, to say
the least. But I really, really loved it. It felt like a
natural thing to do. Running Foxy Ladies with
Sophie is something that allows me to continue to
play, which I am really pleased about, although it
can sometimes be absolutely manic. If I’m juggling
catering for a dinner party for 100 and a Gerald
Balding game, I just adhere to my mantra of: don’t
panic and everything will be fine, don’t panic,
everything will be fine…”
66 | THE POLO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2008 SUMMER 2008 | THE POLO MAGAZINE | 67

Sibling Speak
Nina:
“Growing up with Pony Club polo, we were very
well looked after by Sue ‘The Granager’ James of
the Cotswold – she made learning fun. I played all
through university but then decided to take a
break and worked for Christies in New York,
which was exciting and certainly different from life
back home. But I knew polo was what I wanted
to do: it had always been my passion. I played
with Tim Keyte for six or seven years and he
influenced me greatly, as did Claire (Tomlinson,
reached 5 goals), but I wasn’t really looking for
people to influence my game, I just wanted to
play my own way effectively; it’s important to me.
Rosie, Tamara, Nina & Ben go hunting
T and I had such a great childhood, we pretty
much had a free rein and that has certainly helped
to make us the people we are today. But there
were no real ‘Jilly Cooper-esque’ stories of
Cowdray pony club shenanigans or polo scandals
– I think we missed that side of it all really. I think
the naughtiest thing we did was T spiriting me
away from school to go off to the pub.
This year we are in a team with Lucy Taylor and
Emma Tomlinson again and are sponsored by
Diamond International and the pressure is on us
to perform well for them on the field. We are a
competitive and determined bunch and we will
really work hard to make it as difficult as we can
for our opponents.
I really love playing on Ivy Lodge (at Cirencester
Park Polo Club), it is such a wonderful ground in
the most beautiful of settings, there is something
really special about it. Playing polo in the UK is
very competitive and there is always lots of polo
going on, throughout the week which means
you can play pretty much every day, if you have
the time! When I’ve visited other countries,
like New Zealand I’ve noticed that at weekends
it is busy, but during the week there is not
much on, but that gives you time and
a great opportunity to bring on
young ponies, which is always
really rewarding.
We always got on and playing
together now is no different. At the
end of the day, we both want to
achieve the same thing and what is
said on the pitch in the heat of the
moment stays on the pitch, doesn’t
it But polo should not be about
swearing your head off, so I don’t
say anything offensive or rude
– that’s not on.
Tamara & Ben
Nina
Tamara & Nina with their dogs Blue and Thistle
68 | THE POLO MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2008