152 SIDELINES MARCH 2014
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
The oldest niece, who earned her Master’s degree, focusing on
foundations and grants, is a relative newlywed. The youngest is
17 and in high school. We are all very close and I love being so
involved with them.”
Alina owes her passion for polo and for horses to her father,
Alvaro Carta. She was three when she started riding, and by
seven she was totally hooked on the game thanks to Alvaro,
an enthusiastic amateur player who started a polo club in Vero
Beach where she grew up. Alvaro also re-introduced the game
to the Dominican Republic where, in the late 1960s, he played a
pivotal role in the creation of the Casa de Campo resort with its
“Teeth of the Dog” golf course near the sugar town of La Romana.
Alvaro brought in the Prince Maharajah Jabar Singh, a famous
international high goal player of that era.
“Jabar gave me my first polo lessons and I stick-and-balled every
day with his son, BJ – we nearly killed each other, but we had so
much fun,” recalled Alina. “I grew up in the U.S., but for years
we returned every other weekend to the Dominican Republic. In
1978 we moved to Palm Beach and in 1979 my father brought the
horses here. Vicky Armour was playing. She was so good – I really
looked up to her. My dad built stables, an over-sized stick and ball
field – I had great practice fields – before South Shore was even
developed. You knew everybody. It was a magical time.”
Since the 1980s polo has evolved quite a bit. Alina experienced
firsthand many of those changes, especially the acceptance of
women players on formerly all-male teams. For the 1985 season,
Polo
Magazine named her Woman Player of the Year. She carried
a two handicap, right alongside her great friend Vicki, at a time
when only 15 women playing grass polo were accorded two goals.
In 1987 the U.S. Polo Association included fewer than 250 women
polo players, although the men numbered about 2,800. Alina’s
most unforgettable year, the best of some very good ones, took
place in 1987.
“That was the year I had really phenomenal horses, horses that
I had trained myself, and it all came together for me,” Alina said.
“I played with fun people, good people, in the most memorable
tournament of my life – the finals of the Delegates Cup at
Gulfstream Polo Club. There were 23 or 24 teams, they had a
huge Calcutta and a lot of teams were bought. I played 10 games
– the more you won, the more you played.”
Alina’s two young Thoroughbreds each played five games in
Alina’s Spot II ready
for action in the WCT
polo tournament won
by Goose Creek last
April.
Photo Courtesy of Maureen
Brennan/VIPolo.com
Continued on page 165
