Australian sprinter Shamexpress will being preparations for his 2013 Spring Racing Carnival campaign in the United Kingdom.

Shamexpress will return to work in the United Kingdom before coming back to Australia for the Spring Racing Carnival. Photo by: Race Horse Photos Australia

Trainer Danny O’Brien has made the unusual decision to keep the 2013 Newmarket Handicap (1200m) winner in work overseas and bring him back to Australia when the first international contenders arrive on September 28.

O’Brien told Racing Victoria that keeping the rising four-year-old in work in the United Kingdom allows him to continue his campaign without interruption.

“If we didn’t stay there we wouldn’t have been able to keep working him,” O’Brien said.

“He would have had three weeks quarantine and two weeks at Eastern Creek, whereas this way he can have an uninterrupted run at the spring.

“He’ll come up out with the first shipment and he’ll arrive back at Werribee on Grand Final Day.

“We’ll work him at Werribee until we bring him back to Flemington.”

Shamexpress failed to fire in the United Kingdom, finishing ninth in the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes (1005m) during the Royal Ascot meeting and seventh in the July Cup at Newmarket (1207m), but O’Brien is confident that the O’reilly colt has taken a great deal of good out of his international experience and will return to Australia a better horse.

The Group 1 Manikato Stakes (1200m) at Moonee Valley on Friday October 25, the night before the Cox Plate, and the Group 1 Patinack Farm Classic (1200m) at Flemington on November 9 are expected to be the major 2013 Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival goals for Shamexpress.