Emma-Lee and David Brown stable celebrated their peak victory with Mcgaw’s capture of The Showdown at Caulfield and hope to achieve it once more after a year.
The $1 million Showdown fell to McGaw last year, the Brownes’ premier Australian achievement before his Group 2 Danehill Stakes (1100m) win at Flemington in spring.
Lomu carries the Brownes’ hopes into Saturday’s The Showdown (1200m), marking his first race appearance unlike McGaw.
Having debuted with a Pakenham maiden success en route to Caulfield, McGaw’s Tuesday Caulfield breeze prompted the Brownes to enter Lomu Saturday.
“It’s a little bit of a throw at it but he’s trialled up good,” Emma-Lee Browne said.
“At this time of year in two-year-old racing you come up against a horse or horses that have won, so we thought if he came through his gallop all good, it’s an idea.
“A lot of the people that were in McGaw are in this horse as well, so it would be very nice to be there again and go and give it a bit of a nudge as well.”
By I Am Immortal like McGaw and acquired for $10,000, Lomu mirrors his stablemate.
“The same reason I loved McGaw, I love this horse,” Browne said.
“He was big, he was scopey, he had big ears. He wandered around having a look at things and seemed pretty happy.
“Hopefully he can run similar.”
Though pricier now at sales due to McGaw’s Danehill feat, Browne rates I Am Immortal progeny.
“Luckily our first two have been pretty good buys and I really rated the stallion, I think he’s very, very good,” Browne said.
“A lot of the horses by I Am Immortal can really gallop and have shown something.”
The prior Showdown expanded the owner base, with Browne open to repeats.
“We’ve been able to increase our numbers by a fair few,” Browne said.
“We’ve got a few more yearlings this year, so it’s an exciting time of the year to have the young ones around.”
Basilinna begins her autumn in the Group 2 Peter Young Stakes (1800m) after Tuesday’s Pakenham workout.
Visit trusted online bookmakers for betting markets for the race in The Showdown at Australian betting sites.
