But even he breathed a sigh of relief when Curve finally gave the Yor! Racing With Mark Jones syndicate its debut win at Forbury Park on Thursday night.
It was perhaps appropriate the Courage Under Fire mare won the final event on the card, as the 120-strong syndicate, set up by McNamara last September, has had no luck since it started off with a Bettor's Delight filly named Pacing Delight last year.
''It didn't work out - she was really small and she was going to need time. I wanted something that could race and something we could cheer about and, fortunately, Curve was the one.''
But before Curve, both Hikoi (a Real Desire mare) and Kate Stephanie came and went from the Burnham stables of Mark Jones, heading back to their original owners. The outcome was looking similar for the 4yr-old Courage Under Fire mare Curve for a while, too.
''Curve has been going home several times, but Regan [Todd] has done a fair bit of work with her, so he deserves all the credit.
''[Curve's] mad, quite honestly. It's not the greatest trier in the world, but it wasn't the strongest field in the world.
''It was a relief on my part, because the people in [the syndicate] have been fantastic. We've had no real luck all the way - I'm really indebted to them for being so good about it.''
McNamara set up the syndicate because he wanted to race another horse, and get more people into the industry with a one-off payment, so they were not weighed down with monthly costs.
''People pay once, and they own as much of the horse as the next person and someone else gets that winning feeling, without $2000 bills every month for one person. I told them straight up `if you want to get rich, don't buy a share'. This is for fun. It's the best feeling in the world to own a horse, and that's what I aimed it at - and luckily, now I can say I have.''
Owners in the syndicate come from around New Zealand and Australia and there are even two owners in Malaysia, along with a couple of more familiar names.
''[Race commentator] George Simon is in it and [netball great] Irene Van Dyk has got a share - we roped her in.''
The interest in McNamara's first syndicate encouraged him to set up a second syndicate of 100 shares, which has Ataahua Tiki with Motukarara trainer Stephen McNally.
''She was supposed to go to the trials on Tuesday but they got rained out, so she is on the comeback path also.''
