Pyledriver created history for his trainer William Muir at the weekend when landing the Coronation Cup and giving his handler his first ever Group One winner during his career.
The now four year old was a real success story for the fairly small yard last term having made his seasonal debut in June when finishing second at Kempton, but since then improving with every run and showing he is a real black type contender.
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 the season when only seventh of 10 in the Group One Champion Stakes at Ascot.
THE FAIRYTALE CONTINUES...
— The Winners Enclosure (@TWEnclosure) June 4, 2021
The horse who couldn't sell for £10,000 at the sales last year PYLEDRIVER battles bravely down the stretch to take out the Group 1 Coronation Cup 🐎🏆
😍 Some bargain he's turned out to be!
📹 @RacingTVpic.twitter.com/T2erwincVH
Back for another season this term 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 event at Epsom and in a very gritty fashion, he got back up late on when passed by Al Aasy to land the Coronation Cup.
Pyledriver seemed to give everything to win the race and it looks to have taken its toll on the gelding and Muir has expressed that he is likely to miss Royal Ascot for that reason.
(Credit ATR) “It took a bit out of him – he didn’t eat brilliant for two nights but he licked up last night,” said Muir.
“The first night he normally does leave a bit, but the second night he’s normally back on it, so it probably took a little bit out of him.
“He’s got a Group One now, so let’s hope we can keep going.
“Royal Ascot was going to be the next race. But he’s going to need to knock the door down for me to be going there – otherwise we’ll wait for the King George.“If he comes mad fresh by Monday when the confirmation stage is, then I’d think about it.
“But it was quite a battle on Friday. He might just need longer than two weeks to get back to his best. There’s no point going there if we’re not over this race.”