John O'Shea will wait until after next Saturday to decide if Up And Coming Stakes winner Shards will be a Golden Rose contender, such are the riches of Godolphin's three-year-old team.
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Shards looked to hit a little flat spot in the straight before getting into the clear and running down Voilier in the group 3. He was immediately shortened from $51 to $15 in the Golden Rose.
"We will only run two in the Rose and we have Exosphere and Holler running in the Run To The Rose next week," O'Shea said.
"He was very good because he has done that off just one trial but I think he is going to be more of a miler. We'll see how he goes at home and make an assessment which is the best way to go.
"Melbourne could be an option for him but he has always had ability. He could be the Caulfield Guineas horse."
Shards had been a late two-year-old for Godolphin and ran second to Press Statement before scoring at Rosehill in June.
"He had lovely residual fitness but as you saw in the enclosure he still had nice improvement and he was still a little bit ring rusty having only had the one trial," O'Shea said.
"He will improve dramatically and as the races get longer up to a mile, I think he will really come into his own."
Shards wanted to lay in behind Voilier for the first part of the straight and when James McDonald got him clear he let down quickly. He won by long neck in a race dominated by those on speed with Sebring Sun coming from last to run third 1 lengths away.
"He took a while to get going but when he went it was an impressive turn of foot," McDonald said. "He is very strong and is going to get better as he steps up in trip."
Getting into the clear will cost Godolphin its jockey for next weekend as McDonald was given a five-meeting careless riding suspension for checking Cannyescent as he made the winning move.
"I didn't know Kathy [O'Hara] was there and he just hit a flat spot and went [out two or three horse] so quick," McDonald told stewards before pleading guilty to careless riding. He will miss the ride on Exosphere next week and Havana Cooler in the Wyong Cup on September 4.
O'Hara, who was put in restricted room from about the 50m to the 200m mark, had a look at the video with a view to protesting despite running fifth. "He should have won," she said. "At least we know we have a group horse but the way he was coming it could have been today."
Hugh Bowman had to make a long run on Sebring Sun and rated his effort highly. "He was slowly away. That gave me no option but to ride him dead cold. Under the circumstances it was a winning performance that ran third," Bowman said.
