Shot went quickly round short course (8)
I believe the answer is:
sprouted
'shot' is the definition.
('sprout' can be a synonym of 'shoot')
'went quickly round short course' is the wordplay.
'went quickly' becomes 'sped' (I've seen this before).
'round' is an insertion indicator.
'short course' becomes 'rout' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'sped' enclosing 'rout' is 'SPROUTED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for sprouted that I've seen before include "Germinated - grew leaves" , "Put forth shoots, began to grow" .)