The former Nyngan resident, now based on the Gold Coast, was tuned in to the Kentucky Derby to watch his horse contest one of the most famous races in the world.

There it was, the supremely talented Authentic, parading around behind the gates in readiness for the $2.5 million (AUD) event.

"The next second the channel went off and they went to the trots," Walsh said, leaving him stunned at the time.

"There I was going through these bloody stations trying to find this bloody race and I couldn't find it.

"I got back to the original channel and the result come up and I nearly had a heart attack."

Walsh may have missed the race but there was no missing the result in front of him on the screen.

Authentic had caused a shock in the famed event and had led from virtually start to finish.

As one of more than 20 partners who have shares in Authentic, Walsh savoured the win as his biggest in a racing career which started on the bush tracks around the western area of NSW.

Walsh's father previously had horses with Nyngan trainer and stalwart of bush racing Rodney Robb.

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A horse like Authentic might seem a million miles from those racing at tracks like Gilgandra or Warren but if it wasn't for the lessons learnt from Robb in those then Walsh might not be able to call himself a Kentucky Derby winner today.

"I appreciate the advice he gave us in the past," Walsh said.

"Rodney was a good friend of my father's and we had horses with him in the past, 20 years ago, and he had a good feel for the horses and he gave us a lot of good advice.

"He's an unsung hero in racing. He's got a terrific lot of knowledge and I don't think he gets all the accolades he should."

The biggest thing the Walsh father-and-son took with them when buying into horses in more recent times was not everything comes back to a horse's blood line or price.

When Walsh's father Brian, now aged 90, retired the family sold the property at Nyngan and made the move north.

Money from the sale has since been put towards promising horses all over the world but plenty of work goes into each investment.

"We don't pick horses like conventional buyers. Most buy by blood lines or sires and while that's important it's not the most important thing we find," Walsh said.

"The main reason for that is because racehorses spend a lot of time with humans. Personality is probably the most important thing for a champion racehorse.

"Even when you look at Phar Lap and Winx they all had a personality and a lot of them didn't have great breeding.

"So we think outside the square when selecting racehorses."

A horse like Authentic was always every chance of being a star, but there was a long time before Brett and Brian put their money towards him.

"We studied the horse and asked them to take video for us, him obviously being based in California, and we got hours and hours of video at different stages," Brett said.

"Whether he was sleeping, eating, when at trials or at practice on the treadmill or open field, we had video of the horse.

"We saw the behaviour and personality and from that we decided it was a horse we are going to invest in."

Walsh considers himself lucky to have picked a horse like Authentic and is all too aware buying horses can be a real lottery.

He and his father have roughly another 10 now in work. They're based everywhere from New York, Kentucky and California in the US, to Ireland, and closer to home here in Sydney and Melbourne.

"It gives us a greater opportunity to have success in a champion racehorse," Walsh said.

That champion racehorse was always the dream.

Even in those days at Nyngan when it might have seem far-fetched, but that's what it making the success now all the more special.

And while he's basking in the glory of being one of the owners of a world-class horse, Walsh just wants to use it as an example for others to never give up.

"If you have a dream or ambition, go for it," he said.

"We had a dream, my father and I, of having a champion race horse and that dream is now fulfilled.

"If you work hard to achieve something, you'll achieve it. That's what the real message is."