A connection to their homeland attracted Emma-Lee and David Browne to Mcgaw as a yearling, and twelve months later, the inexpensive gelding delivered the couple’s biggest victory since moving to Australia in Saturday’s $1 million Showdown (1200m).
At just his second appearance on race day, Mcgaw was forced to travel wide from an outside draw early, eventually sitting outside the leader under Damian Lane. The son of I Am Immortal kicked strongly at the top of the Caulfield straight and kept finding, outmuscling Befuddle to score by a half-length.
“It was a massive effort from the horse; it was only his second start, and he’d had a bit of a gap between races; he just had the one start back at the end of January,” Emma-Lee Browne said.
“It was massive for the stable as well; we’ve been here for just over three years now, and to get a result like that was a testament to our great team at home.”
Mcgaw was bred by Havaparty Investments in Australia, as the fifth live foal out of Kiwi-bred mare Niki Piki Milo. A daughter of Librettist Niki Piki Milo won three races from eight attempts, including the Listed Ryder Stakes (1200m) under the care of Peter and Dawn Williams.
Formerly based in Waikato, New Zealand, the Brownes recalled watching Niki Piki Milo race and, after inspecting her son at the 2024 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale, they secured Mcgaw for just $14,000 from Stonehouse Thoroughbreds’ draft.
Saturday’s victory took Mcgaw’s earnings above $600,000.
“I just really liked his type; he’s a very athletic, leggy type of horse,” Browne said. “Also, coming from New Zealand, we knew Niki Piki Milo, and I remembered her being a nice horse, so that attracted us to him in the first place.”
“I didn’t expect him to be an early type at all, because he is quite leggy, but we wanted to get a fair bit of education into him as a two-year-old, and he was doing it all quite easily. Every time we asked something more of him, he put his hand up; he was quite natural.
“Even now, he still looks like he needs to grow into himself a bit; he’s still quite lanky. We’ll probably put him out now and hope to target the spring with him.”
Now settled in Victoria, Australia, the Brownes have enjoyed success at feature carnivals, notably Scary’s runner-up finish in the A$2 million Group 1 Victoria Derby (2500m) last November.
“It’s been super; we love it here, and it’s been a great move for us with the horses and also for the family,” Browne said.
“Pakenham is a fantastic place to train out of; we’ve got a great group of trainers here that all support each other. We’ve got a little farm here now and are happy to call this place home.”
Continuing their association with Kiwi-bred and sourced gallopers, the Brownes travelled to the Karaka Yearling Sales in January and purchased two yearlings, including a Satono Aladdin colt from Jamieson Park.
“We came over to Karaka and actually bought a Hanseatic, which we didn’t expect to do, but we also picked up a really nice Satono Aladdin and he’s landed here in Melbourne,” she said. “He’s currently at the breakers.”
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