Paulo, a Brazilian national, learned to ride as a six-year-old and has been passionate about horses ever since. Which makes perfect sense: his surname is Italian for ‘rider’. His choice of equestrian sport as a young man is one of the few not pursued by Wathnan – ‘vaquejada’, the authentic rodeo games of the vaqueiros of north-east Brazil.
For four years from 2014, he was Professor of Equine Studies at University of Uninta in the north-east of his homeland, before following two of his former students to Qatar. After two years working on the breeding programme of show Arabians for Al Shaqab, he transferred to Umm Qarn, which transitioned into Wathnan Racing towards the end of 2022. He has been in charge of all things veterinary for all things equine around here ever since.
In many ways, Paulo’s twin preoccupations – horses and eduction – reflect those of his father. Signor Cavalcante senior was a smallholder who had some cattle and chickens but devoted his energy into horses; in later life, he has moved away from the land and has recently completed his sixth degree, in Medicine (the others were similarly demanding: Topography, Mathematics, Accountancy, the Law and Civil Engineering).