They say that timing is everything, and the timing of the phone call Dean Chambers put in to McGaw’s co-trainer David Browne led to one of the best decisions he has ever made.

Browne had just completed a trackwork gallop on McGaw when he received the call from Chambers who, together with his five friends in the G’Out Syndicate, was on the hunt for a moderately priced racehorse to invest in and have some fun with. 

Chambers, who formed the syndicate in 2021, had heard through word of mouth that Browne and his wife Emma-Lee were just the sort of trainers they were looking for – open and honest folk who were easy to deal with and could get the best out of the horses under their care.

One of the syndicate members had also shared a few refreshments with the Brownes at the Hanging Rock Cup meeting the year before and had been taken with their down-to-earth and approachable manner, so a unanimous decision was reached that the Sparta Racing stable was the right fit for the group.     

As the syndicate manager, Chambers was tasked with making contact with the stable to run a list on their available horses. 

“The horse I just rode might be a bit special,” Browne told him, referring to the I Am Immortal juvenile they had purchased for a mere $14,000 at the 2024 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale.

How prescient those words proved to be, as McGaw made a dynamic debut at Pakenham at the end of January, romping to victory by three-and-a-half lengths. 

Unfortunately, Chambers’ six-strong syndicate – who had taken out a 10 per cent share in McGaw – weren’t there to witness the win in the flesh as heavy traffic on the West Gate Freeway meant they were unable to reach the track in time, and so were diverted to a pub in Port Melbourne instead. 

If that win was impressive, the best was certainly yet to come six weeks later at Caulfield, where McGaw – affectionately labelled a “long-legged dork” by Emma-Lee – made a mockery of his price tag and his dorky demeanour with a fairy-tale win in the $1m VOBIS Platinum Showdown (1200m). 

“The race fell on my birthday, so it’s fair to say it was one of the better birthdays I’ve ever had,” said Campbell. 

“I’ve just taken delivery of my framed photo, so that will be a permanent reminder of an absolutely amazing day. We had a few drinks at the track after the race, then took the celebrations back to our place and from memory the party went on until around two in the morning. So it was a big day, and I haven’t stopped smiling since. 

“I got to know the other guys from when all our kids were at primary school together. We decided to form a syndicate, and we went in on a couple of horses but didn’t have much luck. We had the money sitting in our account and someone had recommended David and Emma-Lee to us. So I gave David a call, and the rest is history. They’ve been wonderful to deal with, and obviously the horse has taken us on an unbelievable ride so far.”   

Inevitably, offers have since flooded in for McGaw, both from both home and overseas; but Chambers & Co. are determined to resist the temptation to cash in their shares on a horse who, according to his trainers, should be even better once he has reached full maturity as a three-year-old and beyond.

“I think the first offer we received after he won his Maiden was $600,000, which we rejected,” said Chambers. 

“They then came back with a bigger offer, but that was knocked back again. We just want to enjoy the journey with him. If we’d sold him after his win at Pakenham we wouldn’t have had that experience in The Showdown, and you can’t put a price on a day like that. 

“So we’re happy to keep racing him and hopefully we can have a lot more fun with him. David and Emma-Lee have been very shrewd with him, they’ve only given him two runs as a two-year-old because they think we won’t see the best of him until next season, when he could get out to a mile. So that’s pretty exciting.  

“This has been our syndicate’s first horse with the team, and I’m sure we’ll roll into a few more in the future. We’re all involved in the Point Cook Centrals footy club, out in the western suburbs of Melbourne. I coach one of the teams and I tipped all the boys into McGaw in The Showdown, so we had a lot of people riding him home and I was pretty popular that day!”