Pyledriver bidding for a fairytale Classic win
SOME of the best Flat horses in Europe chase glittering prizes this weekend but there is little doubt that the most popular winner will be Pyledriver if he can land the Pertemps St Leger at Doncaster.
The unfashionably-bred colt, who no one wanted when he was offered for sale as a foal, has already added a splash of colour to a disrupted season with impressive wins in the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Great Voltigeur Stakes at York.
The successes have been the biggest in the career of jockey Martin Dwyer since he landed the 2006 Derby on Sir Percy. Owner-breeders Roger Devlin and brothers Guy and Huw Leach have since received, and turned down, ‘life-changing offers’.
The only disappointment came in the Derby when Pyledriver’s race was over virtually as soon as it had begun, when he ended up in an impossible position at the back of the field.
The blip never dented the faith and confidence of trainer Willie Muir, who will once again be at the wheel of his horsebox when he drives Pyledriver from his 26-horse stable in Lambourn to take on some of racing’s biggest operations in the world’s oldest Classic.
Muir believes Pyledriver, whose sire Harbour Watch was a sprinter who only raced three times as a two-year-old, and dam La Pyle, a hurdler beaten over 70 lengths on her final race at Fontwell, will stay the St Leger’s one mile, six-and-a-half furlongs.
Muir said: ‘I am looking forward to it. We are going into uncharted waters with the distance, but people raised exactly the same doubts when we went from a mile and a quarter to a mile and a half. I am very relaxed about it.
‘I thought we had a great chance in the Derby and it all went wrong. We were the meat in the sandwich and got knocked out of the race. You have to get up and shake yourself down. If it hadn’t happened, we would have placed if you watch him from a furlong and a half out. Some thought I was being too bullish but his win in the Voltigeur proved it. The Derby was a disappointment but it was a blip.
‘We’re not a fashionable yard, but if we happen to win a Classic, what an achievement for a small yard.’
Pyledriver shares favouritism at 11-4 with Irish Derby winner Santiago, one of three Aidan O’Brien entries and the mount of Frankie Dettori.
Santiago subsequently finished third to Stradivarius in the two-mile Goodwood Cup, but the race did not go to plan with O’Brien reckoning the son of Galileo did too much too soon when racing a ‘gear too high all the way’.
The way Hukum hit the line when winning the one mile, five-and-a-half furlong Geoffrey Freer Stakes at Newbury makes it hard to believe he won’t stay and the classy Owen Burrows-trained Royal Ascot winner looks a big danger to all.
The best outsider could be David Simcock’s 22-1 shot Mohican Heights. The Derby did not work out for Jamie Spencer’s mount but he was an eye-catching third to Pyledriver at Royal Ascot.
Leopardstown’s Irish Champion Stakes, signature race of Irish Champions Weekend, features the world’s highest-rated horse, Charlie Appleby’s Ghaiyyath, winner of the Coronation Cup, Eclipse and International Stakes — plus 2019 French Derby winner Sottsass.
O’Brien runs three, led by last year’s winner Magical, the International Stakes runner-up. But Ryan Moore has chosen to ride Japan, who races for the first time since finishing last of three to Enable in the King George.
Japan was subsequently found to be lame with sore soles on both front feet.