On Friday evening, the Australian Racing Hall of Fame ceremony will gather some of the brightest lights in racing under the roof of the Adelaide Convention Centre.
Among those being inducted are horses Tie The Knot (Nassipour {USA}), Beau Vite (NZ), Red Anchor (NZ) and Sailor’s Guide, along with jockeys Darby McCarthy and Bill McLachlan, trainers Les Bridge and Guy Walter, and associates Bob Charley and John Messara.
It will be an evening as much about the past as the present, and about achievement as much as legacy, and few will have a better grasp of all this than the chairman and owner of Arrowfield Stud, John Messara.
Fire in the belly
It’s easy to assume that Messara, with his wealth and influence, was to the manor born. In fact, the Arrowfield studmaster, born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1947, cut his early cloth through emigration, arriving in Australia at the tender age of 11 with his parents and sibling left behind.
“Alexandria was a historic and sophisticated city,” Messara said. “With its English and French influences, it had a somewhat colonial feel. My parents were part of the British expat community though, which came under extreme pressure after Colonel Nasser and the military took over, and they thought it best for me to be educated elsewhere.”
Messara went to school in Sydney, by all accounts a reluctant, lazy schoolboy until something clicked.
John Messara graduating from the University of NSW in 1968
“It was only at the point of entering university that a fire was lit in my belly,” he said. “I became super-competitive in anything I did, and I went from being a less than moderate student to being in the higher end of my class... working hard, applying myself, and I’ve never stopped doing so.”
"It was only at the point of entering university that a fire was lit in my belly. I became super-competitive in anything I did, and I went from being a less than moderate student to being in the higher end of my class." - John Messara
Messara graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce in Accountancy and, by the age of 25, he was the youngest elected member of the Sydney Stock Exchange.
He had a brain for figures and detail, and a brilliance that set him aside in his early working life.
In 1980 he purchased his first broodmare, the 1978 VRC Oaks winner Scomeld (Scotian). She had won a host of principal (now Group) races, including the then Listed Queen of the Turf S. and Wakeful S. and, in Messara’s care, she got the two-time stakes winner Scollata (NZ) (Rancher).
Messara won his first Group 1 race in 1983 when Starzaan (NZ) (Zamazaan {Fr}) won the AJC Oaks for him. By 1985 he was the treasurer of the NSW Breeders’ Association.
In the following handful of years, he had a controlling interest in Middlebrook Park, Swettenham Stud and New Zealand’s Ra Ora Stud, and it was in 1986 that he bought the Arrowfield vineyard and winery at lush Jerry’s Plains.
“The horse business well and truly got under my skin, and I became intensely interested in it,” Messara said. “I’ve worked hard at it from day one, to get good horses and get outstanding results where I could, and that included on an industry basis.”
An industry who’s who
Arrowfield blossomed quickly in those early years. Messara bought into Danehill (USA) in 1989 and, in partnership with Coolmore, the breed-shaping stallion stood his first Australian season at Arrowfield, getting eight Group 1 winners, of which six were bred by the stud.
These were also the years of Flying Spur, Baryshnikov, Nothin’ Leica Dane and Snippets.
There was G1 Golden Slipper filly Belle Du Jour (Dehere {USA}), and the brilliant matron Sunday Joy (Sunday Silence {USA}) with John Singleton.
And it was also the era of industry-changing initiatives.
Messara pioneered the reverse shuttle movement with Flying Spur in 1997, when the stallion went to the Irish National Stud, while Baryshnikov went to France. Shuttle stallions began visiting from Shadai Stallion Station in Japan, beginning a long and still-current association with Japanese breeding.
From 2000 onwards, there was Redoute’s Choice, Not A Single Doubt, shuttler Animal Kingdom (USA), Hussonet (USA), Snitzel, Dundeel (NZ) and The Autumn Sun, all major players in modern Australian bloodstock.
And none of this detracts from a long and glittering list of remarkable fillies associated with Arrowfield, which includes Alverta (Flying Spur), Miss Finland (Redoute’s Choice), Forensics (Flying Spur), Stay With Me (Street Cry {Ire}), Estijaab (Snitzel) and Shoals (Fastnet Rock).
Leadership interest
On bloodstock alone, Messara was a high achiever, but equally he was a mover and shaker in industry administration.
Early on, he worked with Prime Minister Bob Hawke and trainer Colin Hayes to align the Australian tax situation with that of New Zealand when it came to breeding-stock depreciation. He was the inaugural chairman of Aushorse and, from 2007 to 2008, the president of Thoroughbred Breeders Australia.
He was also the chairman of Racing NSW, and much of the drive behind the tax parity agreement with the NSW government that has led to an enormous injection of prizemoney that launched The Championships in 2014. Messara was also critical in the founding of Racing Australia and, as its chairman, oversaw traceability, illegal offshore wagering and amendments to things like whip use and anabolic steroid use pre-auctions.
“People often think that my deep involvement in racing personally might have been in conflict with my public roles,” Messara said. “Yet I think it was that deep involvement and knowledge that gave me the base to be able to do those jobs well. It proved to be a really valuable background.”
"People often think that my deep involvement in racing personally might have been in conflict with my public roles. Yet I think it was that deep involvement and knowledge that gave me the base to be able to do those jobs well." - John Messara
Messara has been exposed to so many facets of the business, including training via his successful son Paul, breeding at Arrowfield and ownership in top-shelf racehorses, and this foundation made him qualified for so much of his administrative roles.
“All those aspects of the thoroughbred industry, both locally and internationally, fitted me well for doing the job,” he said. “Rather than providing some sort of a conflict, it had the opposite impact.”
Messara said he rarely thought about his own situation when he held positions of office within racing and breeding.
“If the industry was doing well, then of course so did I, and so did everybody else,” he said. “That’s the way that I always looked at it.”
Paul and John Messara with the late Redoute's Choice
A breeding ground for leaders
You couldn’t achieve what Messara has achieved in life without a thick hide and a penchant for risk.
“I have been a risk taker through my life,” he said. “In the latter years, it has definitely been more calculated. I do my research and then back my judgement.”
Messara has armed himself at Arrowfield with an effective team, and he credits his people with so much of the success he has experienced.
“I’ve always had an extraordinarily strong and good team at Arrowfield, holding the fort while I was out there battling away in different areas,” he said. “A lot of the graduates out of Arrowfield are now running other farms, and I’m very proud of that. We’ve proved to be a breeding ground for leaders, and that’s as important as anything for me.”
"We’ve (Arrowfield) proved to be a breeding ground for leaders, and that’s as important as anything for me." - John Messara
In the same breath, he credits his wife Kris, whom he married in 1973, with much of his goal-kicking. He said she remained there when he hardly was, and together the couple had four equally high-achieving children.
“I’ve been fortunate to have an accepting wife, who has put up with me not being there most of the time,” Messara said. “We only talked about that at home this morning, actually.”
John and Kris Messara
Things to be done
Messara will accept his Hall of Fame induction on Friday night with good grace and humility. He is flattered by it, but he isn’t proud of himself because of it.
“I don’t think there’s time or room to be proud,” he said. “If I start thinking about being proud I think, come on, don’t be stupid. There’s so much more to be done. At this stage, I’m humbled to receive the recognition, but I’m also interested in doing better.”
"At this stage, I’m humbled to receive the recognition, but I’m also interested in doing better." - John Messara
What could possibly be left for the studmaster is an interesting question.
“There are things to be done locally,” Messara said. “There are strains at the moment in the industry in Australia, between the states and in other areas. There’s a changing profile of wagering worldwide, and it’s a constant challenge because there’s a lot going on. It’s not something where you can say, I’ve fixed that and now I can go to bed.”
He said there is room still for Arrowfield to punch higher with its stallions, sourcing the best international sires to shuttle or bring young names to the pinnacle. It’s hard to imagine that the operation could bat any better, but that’s the trademark of Messara - a hardihood for achieving more.
Still, he doesn’t get carried away.
“We’re not saving lives here,” he said, good-humoured and chuckling. “If I was a life-saving doctor, I might be different. But we’re just breeding horses to run quickly, so I keep my feet on the ground.”
