Hot spot

American businessman Thomas Barrack speaks to Emma Tucker about his love of sailing and his mission to bring the sport of polo to the Costa Smeralda

As recently as a few years ago, the Mediterranean island of Sardinia had never heard of a chukka, let alone hosted a polo tournament. Today, thanks largely to one determined player, the island surrounded by Corsica, Italy, Spain and Tunisia now has a fledgling polo scene with its very own Costa Smeralda Cup.

The man behind introducing polo to the island is Thomas Barrack, chairman and chief executive of Los Angeles-based private equity firm Colony Capital.

Barrack, a sports enthusiast from the west coast of America, was brought up riding horses with the junior Rodeo Cowboy Association. But he only discovered polo 12 years ago, having previously dismissed it as a game for rich kids. ‘I have always been a horse fanatic,’ he explains. ‘Jumpers, roping, hunting. A friend of mine invited me to stick-and ball one day 13 years ago and it was over – I was addicted.’

Now he’s a fully paid-up ambassador for the game who likens the sport’s dedication, commitment and teamwork –those required for success in polo –to the rough and tumble of the business world. ‘I have always looked at polo as a sharpening of my life skills,’ he says.

Barrack was already familiar with Sardinia through his other passion: ‘Yachting,’ he says, ‘is another great addiction. Everything that is fast and beautiful fascinates me. I had been coming through on boats for 21 years and just falling in love with the island and the people.’

It was no surprise then that in 2003 Barrack bought the Costa Smeralda, a luxury resort stretching 65 miles along the island’s northern coast that was founded by the Aga Khan in the early 1960s. It was only a matter of time before Barrack embarked on an ambitious dream to bring polo to Sardinia.

And it wasn’t just the horses that made Sardinia an ideal destination. The island already offered the key combination of sport (sailing) and glamour that are critical to attracting polo lovers and their families.

Over a number of summers spent holidaying in Europe with his wife and children, Barrack admired the success of polo

events such as those held in St Tropez in France. ‘The demand in Europe for summer polo outside the UK was sensational,’ he says. Moreover, those most likely to support polo were already regularly visiting Sardinia.

‘For four to five months of the year megabillionaires come here for the yachting,’ says Barrack. ‘Every 50 metre-plus yacht in the Med comes through Costa Smeralda at least once a year. The idea was to have the beautiful setting of the island – the sea, the rocks, the fun environment, the things that make it so popular for yachting – and to combine all that with a decent polo scene.’

Sardinia’s foray into polo began in earnest last summer with one field and a 14-goal tournament, the Costa Smeralda Cup. The second season will involve eight teams. Now Barrack is building two more fields, allowing the island to host some 10 to 12 teams. The idea is to build Sardinia into the European circuit with one tournament before St Tropez and one after.

‘We don’t want it to be huge,’ explains Barrack. ‘We want it to be fun and appropriate for what the place is. It isn’t really about size. The idea was to have a beautiful polo opportunity two to three times a year at a level that was discreet. The real objective is to make it excellent rather than grand.’

He believes that polo in Europe will see a Mediterranean circuit of smaller polo clubs acting as satellites to the grander clubs –those in the UK, Deauville and Sotogrande.

Ventures such as his in Sardinia ‘provide another outlet,’ he says. ‘It’s never going to be competitive with the UK, as it doesn’t have those kinds of facilities, but it is an easy place to pasture horses. I think we have an opportunity to take England as the polo mecca, but then to have satellite tournaments all around Europe.’ Barrack predicts more polo ‘outcroppings’ in places around St Tropez that can house horses, such as Aix-en-Provence and Marseille.

So far the venture has pleased not only Sardinia’s regular tourists, but the locals too. Until Colony Capital bought the Costa Smeralda, Sardinia’s interest in equine matters extended to just a few race tracks. Now the locals have enthusiastically adopted polo, not least because Barrack’s venture is now the island’s second-biggest employer after the government.

‘It’s a bit like sailing,’ reflects Barrack. ‘Before yachting really took off the locals were not really amenable to the sea –but now they have taken to it. Polo is the same.

The visitors who come to Costa Smeralda –whether to spend time on a yacht, play polo or simply have a holiday – are mainly Europeans, including Russians and Arabs. Only 15 per cent of visitors are American.

America is still home for Barrack, although he has properties around the globe. His Santa Barbara ranch in California has four polo fields and an estate where he rears horses and cultivates a vineyard. This is where his family – which includes a poloplaying son –lives during the school term.

When not attending to polo, Barrack remains a sailing enthusiast and has derived enormous pleasure from building up a fleet of super-yachts to lend to guests staying in the resort, which comprises four hotels, two ports and a golf course.

‘It all fits perfectly into the polo lifestyle,’ says Barrack, who somehow manages to find time for polo between a hectic schedule that usually involves travelling five days week –in his private jet, of course.