An extended campaign is on the cards for Shamexpress during the European summer and he is likely to race in only one of the sprint features at Royal Ascot.
The Newmarket Handicap winner is nominated for both the King’s Stand Stakes and Diamond Jubilee at Royal Ascot in June.
But trainer Danny O’Brien said the three-year-old colt would probably only run in the King’s Stand (1006m) on the opening day of the famous carnival on June 18 with the possibility of staying on during the European summer.
“He’ll run in the King’s Stand and then if he’s over there and in good form he might stay right through, run in the July Cup and maybe a couple of other races later,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien said Craig Newitt would ride Shamexpress in the King’s Stand.
Newitt won the King’s Stand Stakes on the Lee Freedman-trained Miss Andretti in 2007 and was aboard Shamexpress in his Newmarket win at Flemington last month.
It will be the third time O’Brien has travelled a sprinter to the Royal Ascot carnival. Glamour Puss was unplaced in both the King’s Stand and Golden Jubilee in 2006 while Star Witness finished second and third in the respective races in 2011.
O’Brien said Shamexpress was not going to stud in the spring so there was no need to rush him back to Australia after Royal Ascot, opening the option to stay on in the UK like Ortensia did last year.
The Paul Messara-trained Ortensia ran in the King’s Stand and July Cup before winning the Group Two King George at Goodwood and the Group One Nunthorpe Stakes at York, before being unplaced in the Haydock Sprint Cup.
“He’s only three. He’s going to be back here as a four-year-old, so we don’t have to rush back for a stud season or anything,” O’Brien said of Shamexpress.
“We can just see how the horse measures up in Europe over the summer.”
Shamexpress is continuing his Royal Ascot preparations at O’Brien’s Barwon Heads property and the colt will return to the trainer’s Flemington stables in the next week or so.
“He’s going super,” O’Brien said.
“He’ll have a jump-out in late May and he gets on a plane on the fifth of June.”
Shamexpress is one of three Australian-trained horses nominated for Royal Ascot.
Sea Siren is also entered for the King’s Stand and Diamond Julbilee while star colt All Too Hard, winner of Saturday’s Group One All Aged Stakes, is nominated for the Diamond Jubilee and the Queen Anne Stakes (1600m).
