Team Browne eyes Showdown bonanza with bargain buy
Training and life partners David and Emma-Lee Browne are hoping to turn a $14,000 purchase into a $550,000 payday when their juvenile McGaw (I Am Immortal) tackles the VOBIS Sires Showdown (1200m) at Caulfield on Saturday.
Their bargain buy, who was sent for a freshen-up after bursting onto the scene with a dynamic debut win at Pakenham at the end of January, completed his final track gallop at Caulfield on Tuesday morning ahead of Saturday’s $1 million contest.
In a show of faith, Damian Lane, fresh from his heroics at Flemington last Saturday, has foregone the opportunity to chase further Group 1 glory in Sydney to continue his association with McGaw in the seventh edition of the Showdown, which is exclusive to the two-year-old progeny of VOBIS Sires stallions.
The form from McGaw’s maiden win has been franked by his fellow Showdown contender Cloisters (Frosted), the Godolphin colt who trailed some 3.5 lengths in his wake at Pakenham before promptly breaking through at Bendigo at his very next start.
And while the Brownes are adamant that McGaw – who holds a nomination for the Inglis Sires’ Produce (Gr 1, 1400m) in Sydney – will be a much more polished athlete once he has filled out his sizeable frame, they are prepared to throw him in at the deep end as the duo chase their biggest win since relocating to Melbourne from their native New Zealand in early 2022.
“We didn’t ask him to do too much at Caulfield this morning, but he went super so we’re really happy with him,” said Emma-Lee Browne, who is also hopeful their unraced Frosted (Tapit) filly Himalayan – currently 20th in the ballot order – will join her stablemate in the race.
“He [McGaw] won a jumpout at Caulfield last week, but other than that all his work had been at Pakenham so we just thought it would be a good idea to give him another look around Caulfield in preparation for Saturday’s big race.
“It was definitely a worthwhile exercise because he was much more settled this morning than he was last week, when he was quite fresh and fizzy. But that was probably to be expected given he hadn’t raced since January, and we’re just hoping the additional exposure this morning will keep him nice and relaxed and help him switch on this Saturday.
“He’s still very gangly and leggy and he’s also quite gawky and a bit green mentally, the way he looks around and takes it all in. But he loves being a racehorse, he thrives on being in work and he doesn’t leave any feed in his bin, so he’s a happy and healthy horse and hopefully his final hit-out this morning should have topped him off nicely.
“The feedback from Damian was certainly very positive, so we do think he’s come on from his debut run and even since he’s come back into the stables from his short break. It’s fantastic when we got the news that Damian was staying in Melbourne and would ride him. He’s one of the best jockeys in the country and is obviously in great form, so we’ve got the right man for the job on Saturday.
“We know the horse has plenty of ability, we just need him to harness that and put his best foot forward. Anything can happen in two-year-old racing and it does look a very strong field, which you would expect in a race worth $1 million, but if he can live up to his potential then we’re definitely in there with a fighting chance.”
The bookmakers have agreed with Browne’s assessment, placing McGaw on the top line of betting – ahead of Lindsay Park’s trio of fillies Killiana (Brazen Beau), Miss Celine (Magnus) and Rohesia (Hanseatic) – when early markets opened for the Showdown.
Given he hadn’t been nominated for the Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m), in the aftermath of McGaw’s home track blitz Browne’s thoughts immediately honed in on the marquee contest of Victorian Owners and Breeders Raceday, which for the first time this year will be run during the autumn carnival.
The prospects of him competing in a $1 million race would have appeared unlikely when the bidding on Lot 733 at last year’s Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale stopped at just $14,000 – only a fraction over the service fee Adam Sangster’s Swettenham Stud had set for I Am Immortal (I Am Invincible).
The Brownes were prepared to take a chance on Swettenham’s freshman sire, and they have since been back to the well with an equally frugal purchase at this year’s Premier Sale of another I Am Immortal colt, who like McGaw was born and raised on Ryan Arnel’s Stonehouse Thoroughbreds property in central Victoria.
“It’s testament to the great prize-money on offer here in Victoria and the bonuses and incentives attached to the VOBIS scheme that we have a $14,000 purchase running in a $1 million race,” Browne told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“I really liked the horse and David was also on board, so we probably hadn’t expected to pick him up quite so cheaply. I Am Immortal was obviously a first-season sire at the time and his race record was good without being outstanding, so we knew we wouldn’t have to pay top dollar for him but we were still both pleasantly surprised that we only had to bid $14,000.
“The colt we bought at the Premier Sale a couple of weeks ago was even cheaper and he looks very similar to McGaw, which is obviously why we liked him. So hopefully he’s got some of his ability and we’ve got another bargain on our hands.”
After flying out of the blocks with back-to-back stakes wins in the 2019 Blue Diamond Stakes Preview (Listed, 1000m) and Blue Diamond Preview (Gr 3, 1100m), I Am Immortal’s promising racing career was cruelly curtailed by the injury he sustained during the 2020 Challenge Stakes (Gr 2, 1000m).
He was trained by the Freedmans and raced by the Dream Thoroughbreds syndicate, whose director Dave Azzopardi bred McGaw under his Havaparty Investments banner.
Dream Thoroughbreds purchased McGaw’s dam Niki Piki Milo (Librettist), winner of the 2014 Ryder Stakes (Listed, 1200m) at Otaki, for just $16,000 at the 2020 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale.
Busuttin Racing swooped on McGaw’s sister at this year’s Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale, paying $160,000 – the highest price fetched for the progeny of I Am Immortal – for the bay filly from the draft offered by Widden Stud.
So after a relatively moderate start to his career, the stallion is now starting to gain some traction in the sales ring. And if McGaw can oblige favouritism on Saturday, it would be a huge feather in the cap for both I Am Immortal and Swettenham, whose flagbearer Toronado (High Chaparral) has sired two of the six previous Showdown victors in Shesallshenanigans (2023) and inaugural winner Prince Of Sussex (who now races in Hong Kong as Lucky Express).