MGSW Pyledriver (GB) (Harbour Watch {Ire}) is vying for favourtism in the G1 Pertemps St Leger S. at Doncaster, as he is one of 15 horses to stand their ground in the final British Classic of the season on Saturday. A listed winner at two, Pyledriver was second in the June 3 G3 Classic Trial S. over the Kempton all-weather to open his 3-year-old account and captured the G2 King Edward VII S. at Royal Ascot by two lengths on June 16. The July 5 G1 Investec Derby did not go as planned with an unplaced run after denied a clear passage, but the colt bounced back with a 3 1/2-length win in the G2 Great Voltigeur S. at York on Aug. 19.
Said Muir, “He’s in great order and has done all the work he needs to do. As long as he stays like this for the rest of the week, I couldn’t be taking him there in better shape. I’ve always been a glass-half-full kind of person–my glass is always overflowing, to be fair.
“I think he will stay and I think we’ve got a great chance, but it is a horse race. I thought we had a great chance in the Derby, and it all went wrong, but you shake yourself down and go again…if this horse could go and win on Saturday it would be fantastic for the whole team and everyone around it.”
“The owners have turned down some big offers,” he continued. “If the offers had been accepted I don’t think he would have stayed in this country– places like Australia and Hong Kong wanted him really badly. If one person had owned him, you couldn’t have said no to the kind of offers we got–it was life-changing money–but there’s three of them, and they wanted to keep him.”
His charge’s plans, both for this year and next year are already taking shape. However, a crack at the 2020 G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe is not in the cards.
“He’ll go for the Champion S. at Ascot [on Oct. 17] after Saturday, as long as the horse is fine. That will be his last run of the year, because we’re not going abroad–it’s too difficult with the COVID.
“Next year is mapped out already in my mind. You could start off at Newmarket in the G2 Jockey Club S., then you’d go G1 Coronation Cup S. at Epsom, G2 Hardwicke S. at Royal Ascot, the King George [VI and Queen Elizabeth S.]–and at the back-end of the season, if we’re out of this COVID, we could go for the Arc.”
Aidan O’Brien could saddle as many as four horses in the Leger-G1 Irish Derby hero Santiago (Ire) (Authorized {Ire}), Irish Derby third Dawn Patrol (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), G1SP Mythical (Fr) (Camelot {GB}) and Tiger Moth (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who was second in the Irish Derby. Shadwell’s Group 3 winner Hukum (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) from Owen Burrows is also entered, as is Aug. 29 G3 March S. victor Subjectivist (GB) (Teofilo {Ire}) for Mark Johnston and stakes winner English King (Fr) (Camelot {GB}) from the Ed Walker yard. The latter could instead contest the Sept. 13 G1 Grand Prix de Paris.
“He’s in great form and is all set to run somewhere this weekend,” said Walker. “We’ll have a look at both races during the week, see what the ground is looking like and decide where we go. We’ll make a decision much closer to the time.”
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