Talented mare Alverta will be given the first of two Queensland opportunities to vindicate a decision to delay her stud career when she tackles the Listed Brisbane Handicap at Eagle Farm on Saturday.Trainer Paul Messara, who has been training for only three years and now has 40 horses in work at Scone in the NSW Hunter Valley, said Alverta was due to be retired following her Brisbane winter carnival campaign."It wasn't easy and it took some time but we managed to talk the owner into giving her o

Talented mare Alverta will be given the first of two Queensland opportunities to vindicate a decision to delay her stud career when she tackles the Listed Brisbane Handicap at Eagle Farm on Saturday.

Trainer Paul Messara, who has been training for only three years and now has 40 horses in work at Scone in the NSW Hunter Valley, said Alverta was due to be retired following her Brisbane winter carnival campaign.

"It wasn't easy and it took some time but we managed to talk the owner into giving her one more season on the track," Messara said.

Alverta's owner is Messara's father, prominent breeder John Messara who is the principal of the famous Arrowfield Stud at Scone.

"As things have panned out the economy has turned bad so it looks to be a good decision to keep racing her," Paul Messara said.

Alverta will be put on a float on Thursday for the 1600-metre Eagle Farm feature in which she received 56.5 kilograms and will be ridden by Shane Scriven.

Messara was disappointed with the five-year-old's weight but will press ahead with a start before she tackles the Listed Recognition Stakes (1600m) on the same track on November 29.

"I don't think she's been well handicapped. I thought 56.5 kilos was about one kilo too much," he said.

"Unfortunately, she keeps getting penalised for her consistency even though she hasn't won since the Hawkesbury Guineas last year."

Alverta's victory in the Listed Hawkesbury Guineas (1400m) in April last year was also Messara's greatest triumph as a trainer.

"She's been placed a number of times in stakes races but her only black-type win was in the Hawkesbury Guineas in her three-year-old year," Messara said.

"That also was my biggest win but I've had a number of Group Two and Group Three placings while Alverta was Group One-placed when she ran third in the Winter Stakes in Brisbane during the winter."

Alverta started four times for three placings during the Brisbane winter carnival, when third in the Winter Stakes (1500m) at Eagle Farm and Listed Glasshouse Handicap (1400m) at the Sunshine Coast before being runner-up on a heavy track to Cocktail Supreme in the Listed Ascot Handicap (1400m) at Eagle Farm in her last Brisbane appearance on July 5.

The daughter of Flying Spur has maintained her consistency with three placings from four outings this campaign including her second to Prima Nova in the Listed Belle of The Turf (1600m) at Gosford on October 19 before being runner-up to the Jack Denham-trained Nuclear Sky in the Group Three Hawkesbury Cup (1600m) six days ago.

"She's the best she's ever been and if we had the same run as the winner (Nuclear Sky) had last start she would have won by three lengths," Messara said.