TOP OF THE PYLE!
Mcdonald reigns as Pyledriver springs a shock in King George
PYLEDRIVER proved the driving force behind a King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes upset that left the Classic generation humbled.
The five-year-old, trained in Lambourn by William Muir and Chris Grassick and ridden by Scottish Grand National winner PJ Mcdonald, traded as the 33-1 outsider yesterday morning in a market dominated by Irish Derby victor Westover and luckless Oaks runner-up Emily Upjohn.
But Pyledriver, whose odds had contracted to 18-1 at the off, laughed in the face of his outsider status at Ascot, powering to the head of the six-runner field leaving the home turn to beat the
German challenger Torquator Tasso, last year’s Prix de l’arc de Triomphe hero, by two and three-quarter lengths, with last year’s runner-up Mishriff eight lengths further back.
Westover beat just one of the sextet – Emily Upjohn – to the finishing line.
Popular Muir, who had saddled Pyledriver to success under his sonin-law Martin Dwyer – sidlelined by torn knee ligaments since March – in last year’s Group 1 Coronation Cup at Epsom, said: “I’ve been in this game a long time, and I could cry – I feel very emotional.
“I’ve got no words. This tops everything. This is everything.”
A freak groin injury forced Pyledriver out of the 2021 King George, and his first three races of the season – including his Coronation Cup defence last month – had ended in defeat.
But a defiant Muir went on: “He is a beast when he is ready – and I knew he was ready.
“Westover was breath-taking in Ireland and he ran a fantastic race [when
a luckless third] in the Derby. But he and Emily Upjohn had never taken on the older horses.
“I’ve seen this race through my years and when they went hard they set it up – it was who was going to come home hardest.
“I knew a furlong out, ‘It’s all over – they won’t catch him.”
Dwyer’s absence prompted
Muir to book Frankie Dettori for Pyledriver’s last two runs at Meydan and Epsom but the 64-yearold turned to Mcdonald, who lifted the Scottish National aboard Hot Weld in 2007.
Mcdonald captured the last of four Group 1 prizes aboard the Karl Burke trained Laurens in July 2019, admitted: “After her, I’m thinking, ‘I will never find another one like that.’
“Days like this – you just feel they are going to pass you by. Horses like that are so hard to find and I’ve come across them by luck.
“It’s poor old Martin’s misfortune. It’s turned in my favour this time, but I hope to God he makes a full recovery and gets back to sit on this lad before he retires, because he’s a special horse.”