It is the sort of characteristic which has made the six-year-old gelding from the team of Eglinton trainer John O'Shea a horse Amy Rees loves to drive.

"He's definitely my favourite, I'm hoping I'll be able to keep him when he retires, we'll see," she said.

"He always puts in 100 percent and if anything he's actually going the best now that he's ever gone, he's just in such a hard grade."

This season Sams Express has two wins and a pair of minors from 13 starts as he races against some quality rivals.

On Wednesday night at the Bathurst Paceway those rivals include recent Bathurst Mayors Cup winner Atomic Red - who should start as the hot favourite - and Mat Rue's Fouroeight.

Rees admits she is "not expecting him to be in the money", but she knows Sams Express will lack nothing in terms of effort and that his cause in the Barkers Butchery Pace (2,260 metres) will be helped by a barrier one draw.

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"He's drawn well, it is a very, very hard race, but he always puts in a good run," Rees, who first sat in the gig behind Sams Express in July 2018, said.

"From that draw over the longer distance, I don't think there will be as much speed on as there would be over the shorter distance, so we'll just come out as best we can and if we end up close enough he'll run on.

"If we end up three fence, it wouldn't surprise me if he could run top five."

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While Rees expects Sams Express to keep finding wins hard to come by due to his grading, he is likely to remain her favourite given the way he runs.

"He's in this weird in between grade. He really probably needs to lose a few points to really be competitive again, but he's the type of horse that because he tries so hard, he never really loses points," she said.

"He always puts in a good run and he's consistent, it's like he's his own worst enemy in that way because he doesn't really lose any points.

"It means he finds himself up there with the top guns, but that's alright, we have to race him somewhere."

The first of eight races for the meeting is set for 5.28pm.

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