Pyledriver Eyes Clash With Adayar in King George

William Muir says Pyledriver  has earned his chance to contest the top middle-distance races in Europe as he revealed the Coral Coronation Cup (G1) winner was "90%" likely to miss the Hardwicke Stakes (G2) at Royal Ascot in favor of meeting Cazoo Derby (G1) hero Adayar  in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth QIPCO Stakes (G1). 

In the aftermath of a June 4 neck triumph over Al Aasy , a first at group 1 level for Muir and Chris Grassick, the trainer had seemed keen to go to the royal meeting, with Pyledriver as short as 4-1 for the Hardwicke.

However, after evaluating last Friday's race and assessing Pyledriver's condition since his return home, Muir now believes it highly unlikely his stable star will be seen in June and that the 4-year-old will instead be saved for a mouthwatering clash with Adayar on July 24, and the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (G1) firmly in sight later in the year. 

Muir said: "He's 90% not going to run in the Hardwicke unless he starts knocking my door down doing something spectacular saying, 'You've got to run me.' Unless that happens, I think it's very unlikely he'll run and he'll go straight to the King George." 

Muir cited lessons learned from last season when Pyledriver ran a below-par seventh in the QIPCO Champion Stakes (G1) in what was his sixth run of the campaign, just a month after his placed effort in the Pertempts St. Leger (G1).

"When I came home on Friday night and sat down with my wife to watch the Coronation Cup, I actually thought it was a war," he said.

"It was a real tear-up, so my thoughts were that two weeks may be too quick a turnaround. So, why not wait seven and go to the King George?

"Our plan is to go the whole way through the season, not just have two races and that's it. I don't want punters to back him (for Royal Ascot) because he probably won't be running."

After winning a maiden group 1 30 years after sending out his first runners, Muir is now eager for a second before potentially taking on the greatest challenge of them all at ParisLongchamp in October.

He said: "The Arc is definitely on the agenda. If we thought we were going to struggle in these group 1 races we could have gone a different route, with the Canadian International (G1T), which is a great race in its own right and has great prize money, or maybe a group 1 in Germany.

"But we've done it in England now in one of the most prestigious races in the calendar, so we've got a ticket to go to the biggest races."