It seemed only natural that Paul Messara would spend his life working with thoroughbreds. Paul is the son of Arrowfield Stud's John and Kris Messara and always had a strong desire to be a trainer. He did his secondary schooling at St Ignatius (Riverview) in Sydney before achieving a Communications (Business) degree at Bond University.

After completing his degree, Paul went overseas to learn more about the training and conditioning of racehorses. He spent time with prominent trainers in Ireland, England and France, visited the top training centres around the globe and also worked for Shadai Stallion Station in Japan.

Paul returned home in 2005 and started training from stables on Arrowfield Stud. He utilised a sand track on the Pages River for much of his horse's educational work and travelled his team to Scone racecourse for weekly fast work and to use the swimming facilities. He had immediate success, with winners at a number of local tracks. However, it was a filly passed in at public auction that really caught the public's attention. Alverta's fourth win in seven starts culminated in her sucess in the Listed Hawkesbury Guineas in 2006.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported: Three year-old filly Alverta provided young trainer Paul Messara with a career milestone in securing his first Stakes win, the flashy chestnut finishing too strongly for Five Ways to snatch a short head win in the 1400-metre event.

The decision to establish a state-of-the-art training complex on a property next to the stud came to fruition in July 2007. Paul designed the Arrowfield Training Centre from the ground up, incorporating the best of his overseas experience with his own method for sucess. The result is now widely regarded as one of the best training complexes in Australia.

The purchase of the Randwick stables has allowed Paul to tailor each horse's racing programme according to its ability. The results have been very pleasing. Alverta was beaten a nose at Randwick by champion sprinter Takeover Target, in addition to city wins by Congenial, Saint Nicholas, Battlefield and Hussta La Vista winning twice at Rosehill. A very successful campaign in Queensland during the winter of 2008 has been followed up with a strong start to the 2008-2009 season south of the border.

Paul has a strong and loyal staff based at Scone and Randwick. Assistant Trainer Barry Wintle, Stable Manager Alice Minter and Head Foreman Nigel Bentley are responsible for the day-to-day running of the stable.

Paul is confident that he has both the numbers and the quality of racehorses coming through the stable to build on the winning formula already established.