Shamexpress will return to Australia after finishing seventh in the Group 1 July Cup (1207m) at Newmarket in England on Saturday night.

Shamexpress will return to Australia for the Spring Racing Carnival after two runs in Europe. Photo by: Sarah Ebbett

Just like his ninth place finish in the King’s Stand Stakes (1006m) Shamexpress faded in the final stages of the race with the steep uphill climb on the tricky Newmarket circuit proving too difficult for the O’Reilly colt.

Trainer Danny O’Brien said that Shamexpress will return to Australia and is hopeful that his experience overseas will have him primed for his 2013 Spring Racing Carnival campaign that is set to include a couple of the major Group 1 sprints.

”You might see him Cox Plate Day, and maybe the Patinack [Stakes] during Melbourne Cup week,” O’Brien said.

”He’s thrived and we will see the benefit of it when we bring him back to Australia in the spring.”

Despite finishing out of the money in both his European starts O’Brien said he was happy with the performances of the rising four-year-old and has no regrets embarking on the overseas assignment.

”Everything here went 100 per cent, the horse settled here and thrived here, and probably he’s run to his rating,” O’Brien said.

”I suspect if he was in this race with 52 kilos it probably puts him right in the finish.

“He has still got to find three or four lengths to win a big group1 like the July Cup, but I am not put off travelling at all.

“I would rather go here than Queensland.”

The July Cup was won by English-trained Lethal Force who cemented his reputation as the top sprinter in Europe after his victory in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes (1207m), the race won by Black Caviar in 2012, at Royal Ascot last month.

Shamexpress may get the opportunity for a rematch with Lethal Force on home soil with connections considering bringing the English sprinter to Australia for the Group 1 Patinack Farm Classic (1200m) in November.