PJ & Pyle shock a star cast at Ascot
THE most glittering prize in British Flat racing served up the most heart-warming result as Pyledriver, the colt nobody wanted when he failed to attract a single bid at the yearling sales, landed the £1.25million King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes.
The 18-1 shot powered home by two-and-three-quarter lengths from German-trained 2021 Arc winner Torquator Tasso with Mishriff, who fluffed the start, a gaping eight lengths further back in third.
Further in arrears in fifth and sixth, beaten 18 and 15 lengths, were the highly-touted three-year-olds, Irish Derby winner and 13-8 favourite Westover and Oaks runner-up Emily Upjohn.
Pyledriver provided the biggest win in the career of 40-year-old former jump jockey PJ McDonald, who in 2007 landed the Scottish Grand National on Hot Weld.
The least surprised man on the track was Willie Muir, 64, who has trained in Lambourn since 1991, the last two in partnership with Chris Grassick.
In just under 150 seconds Pyledriver won £708,000, more than Muir has done in any of the entire seasons he has been training.
Muir has endured some rollercoaster moments with Pyledriver,
including an unplaced run in the 2020 Derby and missing out on a £2.6m pot when the colt was unlucky and narrowly beaten in the Sheema Classic in Dubai in March.
But he has remained chief cheerleader for the colt who gave him his first Group One race win in last season’s Coronation Cup at Epsom.
Muir said: ‘I honestly believed he would win from two weeks ago after I saw him work. When this horse is right he is a beast and I knew he was ready.
‘Westover was breathtaking in Ireland and he ran a fantastic race (when third) in the Epsom Derby but he had never beaten Pyledriver. This is a tough race and when they went hard they set it up for us because it was a case of who was going to come home hardest.
‘I am proud of him and all my whole team. We are a small yard and to get a horse like this is what you dream of.’
In his moment of glory Muir spared a thought for his brother-in-law and Pyledriver’s regular jockey Martin Dwyer. He has been sidelined since
March after suffering a serious knee injury in a fall on the gallops.
Muir could have turned to a bigger name than McDonald but stayed loyal to a rider who has now won both races in which he has ridden Pyledriver.
Muir said: ‘If Martin came back tomorrow he would ride him. He has made this horse exactly what he is and told PJ how to ride him.’
McDonald added: ‘Me and Martin had a gamer plan for the last couple of days and everything panned out. I can’t believe it.’