Emma-lee & David Brown have taken out The Showdown with Mcgaw (+500), thanks to a peach of a ride from Damian Lane in the 1200m contest at Caulfield on Saturday afternoon.
The son of I Am Immortal backed up his impressive debut victory with a tough win in the feature to give the trainers their first success in the $1 million race.
Befuddle (+2200) jumped smartly from her barrier to take up the lead from the race favourite with horse racing bookmakers, Killiana (+150), while Damian Lane slowly crossed from the wide gate to eventually settle outside the leader after 200m.
Very little changed throughout the contest, with two of the top three settling at the front of the field, which allowed the jockeys to run the race to suit themselves.
As the leaders went past the 300m mark, Killiana had dropped off the leading duo, leaving them to fight out the race, while Chergui (+1200) weaved his way through traffic and started to take ground of the leaders.
Lane asked for the ultimate effort at the 200m pole, and Mcgaw continued to find, edging clear of Befuddle to claim a half-length win, with Chergui flashing home to nab third place ahead of Killiana.
2025 VOBIS Platinum Showdown replay – Mcgaw
Emma-lee Brown spoke to the media post-race.
“That was highly exciting. A bit lost for words really,” Browne said.
“We bought this horse and just thought hopefully it will win a race, and obviously when he won his first race he’d already won back his purchase price.
“And we have the best crew of owners, they’re all friends. They’ve been big supporters of us, they have social times with us.
“They’re an amazing group and just to get that result is massive.
“Damian’s been a great part of our story in Australia already.
“Great supporter of our team, brilliant rider. Especially when he said I’ll stay for the Showdown, I thought, “oh here’s a go!”
Damian Lane was just as happy with the win.
“Everything racing a horse is about, isn’t it?” Lane said.
“A cheap buy with great people. David, Emily, and they won a million-dollar race.
“So it’s what dreams are made of from an ownership point of view, and it’s really rewarding when you can provide a result like that.
“He’s very raw and he’s really not sure still.
“He’s a bit of a big kid. He goes to the barriers trying to take off and jump different coloured patches on the grass.
“So to be able to do what he’s doing race day, hopefully that means that with natural progression he can improve and hopefully, like Emily, see where he goes in the Spring.”
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