diff --git a/mongoengine/base.py b/mongoengine/base.py
index 6fb26cb7..500e4600 100644
--- a/mongoengine/base.py
+++ b/mongoengine/base.py
@@ -654,6 +654,7 @@ class TopLevelDocumentMetaclass(DocumentMetaclass):
                 keys_to_propogate = (
                     'index_background', 'index_drop_dups', 'index_opts',
                     'allow_inheritance', 'queryset_class', 'db_alias',
+                    'shard_key'
                 )
                 for key in keys_to_propogate:
                     if key in base._meta: