Arias grew up in poverty on a farm in central Venezuela.[3] As a child, he had hoped to become a pilot in the Venezuelan air force but suffered a hernia which prevented him from going into the training program. Instead, aged fifteen, he became an apprentice to a local horse trainer, and two years later was accepted into the trainers school at La Rinconada, a race track in Caracas,[4] and received his training licence on 4 July 1959.[3]
