VOLUME II / ISSUE VII / JULY 2018
NINA CLARKIN
Leading the Way in a Man's World
Nina Clarkin was riding at age two, married to a leading polo player at 24, and at 36, the England women’s team captain is now the world’s foremost female player. In the polo handicap system from -2 to 10 goals, there are only two female three-goal players, and she has the edge, because in New Zealand – her winter base and home of her eight-goal husband, John-Paul Clarkin – Clarkin is ranked at four goals. The only British woman ever to have bettered this is Claire Tomlinson who, in the late page 108
1980s, was a five-goal player. An England team coach, Tomlinson has both coached Clarkin and played with her. “She is a very strong horsewoman, she can ride anything and she uses her height to her advantage,” she says. “I’ve always been very competitive,” she says, “I can put my hand to most sports, but I’ve been single-minded about this. I make sure I have everything right to play as well as possible. I take coaching from my eight-goal husband and I steal horses from him.”