BY BROCK SHERIDAN
Crown’s Way Racing announced through their X (formerly Twitter) account that Florida-bred Shards, who they own in partnership with NBS Stable and Kevin Marko, has drawn into the field of the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint to be run Friday at Santa Anita. The field will be officially announced Monday when the Breeders’ Cup conducts the post-position draw for all 14 races for this year’s 40th running of the Breeders’ Cup World Championship featuring purses and awards of more than $31 million. Five Breeders’ Cup races, all for 2-year-olds, will be conducted Friday while Saturday’s program features nine Breeders’ Cup races highlighted by the Grade 1, $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Shards was listed as number 16 and third preference on the list of also-eligibles for the $1 million Juvenile Turf Sprint released Wednesday by Breeders’ Cup officials.
Trained by Kelsey Danner, Shards was most recently third in the $243,000 Indian Summer going five-and-a-half furlongs on the turf at Keeneland on Oct. 8, finishing behind winner Committee of One and runner-up Amidst Waves, who are both listed among the pre-entries for the five-furlong Juvenile Turf Sprint.
Shards, a chestnut son of Pleasant Acres Stallions’ Bucchero, won his third career start by five lengths against special weight maidens sprinting five-and-a-half furlongs on the turf course at Colonial Downs on Sept. 7.
Out of Cynthia’s Fury, by Utopio (Jpn), Shards was bred in Florida by Craig L. Wheeler and was a $175,000 purchase by NBS Stable and John Ballantyne out of the Tom McCrocklin consignment at this year’s Ocala Breeders’ Sales March Sale.
He has one win, one second and two thirds in four career starts with earnings of $70,750.
Return to the Oct. 29 issue of Wire to Wire
