Pyledriver targets St Leger glory
PYLEDRIVER will seek Classic glory in the Pertemps St Leger – in preference to a challenge for the Grand Prix de Paris.
Trainer William Muir has been weighing up the two races since his stable star’s emphatic victory in the Group Two Sky Bet Great Voltigeur Stakes at York nine days ago.
But coronavirus quarantine rules have persuaded Pyledriver’s owners, Guy and Huw Leach and Roger Devlin, to send their colt to Doncaster on September 12.
Muir said yesterday: “The way that COVID-19 is in France, and we have to isolate, is going to make life very difficult.
“The boys have said to me, ‘Let’s head to the Leger.We got the horse for fun.We won’t be able to go to France because we’ll have to quarantine and we can’t be running our businesses.
“They like the fun of going to the races and enjoying it, so why not?” Royal Ascot’s King Edward VII Stakes hero has to prove his stamina over the Leger’s one mile, six furlong and 115 yards.
But Muir added of the son of Harbour Watch, a general 7-2 chance for the final Classic: “Would he have got beaten with two more furlongs to run the other day?
“Probably not.The owners are quite comfortable because if he does stay, we’ve got a different angle for next year as well.”