William Muir on his Ascot contender Pyledriver
All 15 horses still engaged in Saturday’s King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot share at least one thing in common, specifically a level of ability which thoroughly entitles them to their place in the line-up for what is shaping up to be arguably the deepest renewal of the midsummer showpiece in recent memory.
As for their differences, the King George field makes for an interesting case study into what it takes to become a champion, featuring several contenders for whom greatness might have been predicted from the day they were born, compared to at least one who has rather stumbled upon it by mistake, for want of a better phrase.
Take Auguste Rodin, for example, a son of Japanese superstar Deep Impact and the Galileo mare Rhododendron, a Group 1 winner at two, three and four. Expectations for Auguste Rodin were surely high from the day he first passed through the gates at Ballydoyle, and definitely so from the day he first stepped foot on a racecourse.
Sent off favourite in six of his seven starts to date, Auguste Rodin was a 9/2-shot when getting his career back on track with an authoritative win in the Derby at Epsom, the biggest SP he's ever returned having flopped the time before when backed for the 2000 Guineas like defeat was out of the question.
And then in the other camp you have a horse like defending King George hero Pyledriver, the six-year-old who seems to have been underestimated every day of his life.
By an unfashionable stallion in Harbour Watch and out of La Pyle – a two-time winner on the Flat in France before making five starts over hurdles on these shores when trained by Philip Hobbs – Pyledriver was bought back by his breeders for just 10,000 guineas as a foal having failed to attract any outside interest.
Sent into training with William Muir as a two-year-old, Pyledriver's career on the racecourse now spans 19 starts, during which time he's defied the odds – both figuratively and literally – to climb right to the top of the sport.
From his 50/1 debut victory at Salisbury to his bid for a third career Group 1 success on Saturday, it's fair to say it's been quite the journey, with the highlight thus far coming when Pyledriver sprung an 18/1 surprise in last year's King George.
Well, perhaps it was a shock to everyone else, but not co-trainer Muir, who expects his stable star to be overlooked again when he tries to become only the fourth multiple winner of the King George after Dahlia (1973 and 1974), Swain (1997 and 1998) and Enable (2017, 2019 and 2020).
"It's got to be up there," Muir replied when asked how that Ascot afternoon ranks among the highlights in his training career to date. "It’s one of the biggest and the best races in the calendar over the years. Watching the race growing up, I can still picture Grundy and Bustino coming up that straight and what a wonderful spectacle it became.
"I went there thinking he would win last year. I said it in the papers before you boys even had a chance to think about it. We’ve been big prices all the way through his career and we’re going to get to double-figures before Saturday. We'll be 10/1, 12/1 or 14/1 by Saturday, of course we will.
"Perhaps it’s because we’re a smaller stable, perhaps that’s what it is. I don’t know and I don’t mind to be honest. Pyledriver can’t read the paper. He's not worried about it and nor am I."
Generally a 7/1-shot in the ante-post betting for the King George, Pyledriver could well be trading at double-figures come the weekend if all the others stand their ground but, as he's proved so many times in his career, you dismiss him at your peril, not least following his impressive comeback victory in the Hardwicke Stakes last time.
Making his first appearance on a racecourse for nearly a year, Pyledriver was among the market leaders at the Royal meeting, returning an SP of just 7/2. Muir, however, was uncharacteristically downbeat about his prospects of winning beforehand, very much expecting his charge to need the run.
"He's hard fit now which he wasn’t when he went to Royal Ascot," Muir explained. "I couldn’t envisage him winning the Hardwicke, because any other horse I’ve ever trained during my career couldn’t have done what he did.
"He jumped out of the stalls and he was really relaxed sat in second. It was only when Jamie Spencer’s horse went past that he got set alight, until P.J. [McDonald] dropped him in behind Ryan [Moore] and then he was fine. And then when they turned into the straight he grabbed hold of the bridle and said ‘come on, game on’.
"But he wasn’t keen the whole way through the race. He did it a little bit in snatches and that was probably because he hadn’t run for so long. That what's surprised me [winning after so long off], because I know honestly how much more there is to come."
Pyledriver was already in control of the Hardwicke when wandering off a true line under pressure late on, something he'd done before in a couple of his races. Last year's King George was another case in point and so too the St Leger in which he finished third as a three-year-old.
Muir is dead set against the notion that Pyledriver is in any way a difficult ride, however, instead suggesting that the horse deserves credit for continuing to give his all when others probably would have cried enough.
"I think anybody could ride him because he’s a very willing partner," Muir said. "People like to write that he’s got funny little ways about him, but he hasn’t wandered in every race he’s run in.
"He’s wandered in a couple, including in the Leger when he didn’t get the trip and in the Hardwicke when he wasn’t hard fit. I think it’s when he’s on empty and he’s trying to give you everything that he does it. He’s rolling around because he’s got nothing left in the tank, but he’ll give you everything he’s got in there.
"If I was running against Linford Christie I’d be struggling like mad, but I’d dig in and try. I wouldn’t beat him and I’d probably run around all over the place."
Dangers aplenty in titanic King George clash
Luckily for Muir, he doesn't have a 100-metre face-off with an Olympic athlete to worry about at Ascot on Saturday, but there is certainly some tough opposition lining up to try and seize Pyledriver's King George crown, not least the aforementioned Auguste Rodin.
Muir clearly has the utmost respect for the dual Derby winner and co, but he also left no doubt that he wouldn't swap Pyledriver, whose versatility with regards conditions promises to stand him in good stead.
"It’s a very, very good race looking at it on paper because there’s so many strong horses in there," he began. "Auguste Rodin has won two Derbies and in our Derby he was ultra impressive, maybe not quite so impressive in the Irish Derby.
"Reading what everybody writes in the papers, I don’t know whether he will end up being there because of the ground if we get all the rain that’s talked about. Aidan [O’Brien], who is a master, did say he got beat in the Guineas because of the ground, so I cannot think for the life of me he’ll be there if the ground goes soft, but then Aidan has other fantastic horses.
"King of Steel obviously finished second in the Derby and he looks a very good horse in his own right. I could go on about them all, but I can also say that our performance last year was a worthy performance. And the ground isn’t a worry for our horse. It could be heavy and it won’t make a difference."
A winner of eight races on ground ranging from good-to-firm to soft based on Timeform's descriptions, Pyledriver has already been the horse of a lifetime for Muir, Chris Grassick and the whole team at Linkslade Stables in Lambourn, with his total career earnings fast approaching £2 million.
There would be no better way to smash through that milestone than by winning his second King George – a race worth £708,875 to winner – and Muir made it clear it would be a proud moment for all concerned should another memorable chapter be added to this remarkable story on Saturday.
"It would mean everything, of course it would," he summed up. "If this horse could win another race like that, back-to-back, the whole team here should stand up and take a bow because it’s a team effort. You’d be very proud of it and you could stick your chest out.
“We’ve got to go and do it, but he’ll go the races, he will run a big race and we’ll be very proud of him. I couldn’t answer the question ‘how would you feel?’ if he won it again, because it’s something you wouldn’t do too many times in a yard like this in a lifetime."
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