ARCADIA, Calif. - The trainer Kelsey Danner thinks her first Breeders’ Cup starter, Shards, can do more than pick up some pieces Friday in the $1 million Juvenile Turf Sprint. Shards needed defections from the main body of the field to make the Juvenile Turf Sprint, but he belongs. Shards was a sharp Colonial Downs maiden turf sprint winner in his third start before weaving his way through traffic to finish third, beaten a neck, in the Indian Summer Stakes, a Keeneland turf sprint Oct. 8. Shards has progressed race by race - the way Danner prefers. Danner, 36, has an old-school mentality when it comes to developing young horses. The concept of useful defeats once was a standard in the practice. Now, everyone seems to want a flashy debut winner. Shards was decent in his debut, finishing third in a Gulfstream Park dirt sprint after being purchased for $175,000 at the OBS March 2-year-old sale this past spring. “Because he came from the sale, he was fast. He breezes well really, does things easily, and physically he was at the point of being ready to run. Mentally, it’s taken him a while,” Danner said. Danner has been around the track all her life. Her father, Mark Danner, operated a successful stable in the Midwest, and her cousin, Douglas Danner is an active trainer. Danner began exercise riding for her father at the age of 16 and went on to work as an assistant for Wayne Lukas, Carl Nafzger, and Ian Wilkes. Danner then spent five years as Wayne Catalano’s assistant before becoming a trainer herself in 2017. :: Breeders' Cup Shop: DRF Past Performances available now Danner won nine races her first full year, solid, and since has steadily improved her lot. She trains 50 horses, split now between Churchill Downs and Turfway Park and during the winter between Turfway and the Palm Meadows Training Center in Florida. In 2022, she trained 29 winners with stable earnings over $2 million for the first time; she’s certain to end 2023 with greater earnings than that, and with a good final two months could surpass her 36 winners in 2021. Moreover, Danner has won six stakes this year, double her career total before 2023. “I have better stock this year and I had a little better stock last year, and now they’re 3-year-olds,” she said. Shards, an attractive son of the young stallion Bucchero, a turf sprinter, is not the first Danner horse in a Breeders’ Cup race. Doug Danner sent Free Thinking out to finish 11th in the 2006 Mile. Danner, with good reason, believes Shards can better that. Shards improved in his second start when switched to grass, but after taking a lead at the furlong grounds, he was run down late, albeit by a good horse, Air Recruit. His third start, Shards figured things out. Settling in fifth, he made a big run from the three-sixteenths pole and won by five lengths. Breaking from post 1 in the Indian Summer, Shards fell too far behind early and had to alter course several times while finishing fastest and galloping out in front. :: Get Breeders' Cup Clocker Reports from Mike Welsch and the DRF Clocker Team when you purchase a BC VIP Package! “I thought it was pretty damn good. I thought he ran a winning race - which is pretty much why we’re here,” said Danner. On her current trajectory, regardless of how Shards performs, Danner will be back. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.