Up And Coming Victory For Shards

Shards came with a strong run in the final furlong to land the Group Three Up And Coming Stakes over six and a half furlongs at Royal Randwick, Australia, on Saturday, August 22.

The three-year-old son of Medaglia d'Oro, trained by John O'Shea and partnered by James McDonald, was slightly slow into stride but soon recovered to race in third as stable companion Inner Circle, with Tim Clark up, led the eight-strong field along at a good pace.

He was asked to progress as they straightened up with a quarter-mile remaining but it took another furlong for Shards to produce his run, finishing well to cut down Voilier who gained the advantage from Inner Circle inside the final furlong.

Shards won by a long neck in 1m 16.31s on good going, with Inner Circle coming home last, three and a half lengths back.

John O'Shea said: "It was a good effort albeit Shards was a bit ring rusty, slow away and then just took a couple of strides to get into his rhythm in the straight.

"He let down strongly from the 200-metre mark to run down the leaders in good style and still has plenty of improvement left in him, so it was nice to win.

"As the races get longer up to a mile, I think he will really come into his own.

"Inner Circle raced a little bit fresh, being his first time with blinkers and a month between runs stepping out to 1,300 metres here. It was still a good effort and I will drop him back in distance, change of tempo and I am sure he is ready to win."

James McDonald added: "I got into a nice spot. Shards was a little bit slow to begin but he got into a nice enough spot and he did the rest for me.

"I thought I was in a bit of trouble 300 metres for home but as soon as he heard horses come to his outside he was a lot better."