Multiple Group One winner and superb yardstick to William Muir & Chris Grassick, Pyledriver now looks set to not be seen again this season until the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Paris Longchamp.
The now five year old has been a real success story for the fairly small yard over the last two year, making his seasonal debut in June 2020 when finishing second at Kempton, but since then improving with every run and showing he is a real black type performer.
He headed to Royal Ascot for his second start of the season and he was a shock winner of the Group Two King Edward VII Stakes.
The colt was given a Derby entry and went to Epsom but having being bumped in the big field early on he ran no race and as a far as Muir was concerned they drew a line through that run.
He proved how special he can be next time out when taking the Group Two Great Voltigeur Stakes at York's Ebor meeting, being eased down in the final stages.
The St Leger was next on the agenda and with many pundits fearing he would not stay, they were proved wrong as the three year old finished a length third behind winner Galileo Chrome.
Although seeing out the marathon trip his trainer believes he is best over 1 mile 4 furlongs, but he did not give his best running on his final start of that season when only seventh of 10 in the Group One Champion Stakes at Ascot.
Back for another term last year the son of Harbour Watch finished a decent second in the Group Two Jockey Club Stakes at Newmarket behind the smart Sir Ron Priestley.
With that run under his belt Muir, as ever, was bullish about the chances of his star in the Group One Coronation Cup last term at Epsom and in a very gritty fashion, he got back up late on when passed by Al Aasy to land the Coronation Cup.
Monster performance! Pyledriver lands the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth QIPCO Stakes for PJ McDonald and @Muir_Grassick 👏 pic.twitter.com/xm8b2nqYqf
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) July 23, 2022
Having a setback after that event he was next seen back in November winning the Listed Churchill Stakes over 1m2f and that was used as a prep run for his second in the Group One Hong Kong Vase.
Given a break again he returned in Riyadh at Group Three level and ran no race at all, but bounced back in a big way last time out in the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan where he was a close fourth behind some smart stars.
Sent to Epsom looking to retain his Group One Coronation Cup he was outclassed by the Owen Burrows trained Hukum, who found an extra clear close home to put the race to bed.
Running well in defeat the team were happy with Pyledriver's run and were bullish as ever about him for the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot in July even being the outsider at 18/1.
He went to surprise many and outrun those odds to win the valuable event and Muir has now nominated the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe as his next big target for the season, with him set to not be seen again before that event.
(Credit ATR) The hander said: “Pyledriver is in super shape – he’s jumping out of his skin,” said the trainer.“I said to the lad who rides him I wanted to give him a break, but he said ‘God, I had a job to stay with him this morning’. He’s jumping and kicking and squealing and is in really good order.
“The plan is straight to the Arc. If there was any reason to give him a run, and this is so far at the back of my mind, there is the September Stakes at Kempton if we wanted to do that.
“I don’t want to do that. I want to go straight to the Arc, then after that it will be one or the other of the Breeders’ Cup or Japan and then on to Hong Kong.”