It may be late in the racing season but trainer Joe Pride is still ahead of schedule as he prepares to have his first two-year-old runner in 2013-2014.

Pride will start Shadow Lord on his home track at Warwick Farm on Wednesday with the youngster showing the the trainer more than enough in two barrier trials.

"He is my first two-year-old runner for the season and it has come quicker than other years," Pride said.

But there could be a stable precedent for Shadow Lord to run well in the Drummond Golf Handicap when a line is taken through two former Pride-trained stars.

"I don't have many that race at two but the ones I have started early have turned out to be pretty good like Regal Cheer and Red Oog," Pride said.

Regal Cheer made her debut as a March two-year-old and won almost $900,000 in a career that included a Group One win in the Coolmore Classic.

Reg Oog stepped out in the closing days of the 2001-2002 season and went on to amass almost $1.2 million in stakes, thanks mainly to Group One wins in the Doomben 10,000 and the TJ Smith Stakes.

On paper, there is nothing in his pedigree to suggest Shadow Lord will make a similar impact on the racetrack but Pride's eye for a good horse should be respected.

"I have an opinion of him and hopefully he lives up to it," the trainer said.

Along with a corresponding fixture at Sandown in Melbourne, the midweek meeting will be notable for a low-key change at the helm of one of Australia's most prominent stables.

John O'Shea will saddle up in his first runners for Darley since taking over from Peter Snowden.

Nightingales will step out for O'Shea in the TAB Quaddie Handicap at Warwick Farm while Alaska drops in class to run for his new trainer in the Heading Out Hair & Beauty Handicap at Sandown.