Pyledriver (GB) (Harbour Watch {Ire}) will turn back to a mile and a quarter for the Oct. 17 G1 Qipco Champion S. after finishing third in Saturday's G1 Pertemps St Leger.
“He's come home safe and sound,” said trainer William Muir on Sunday. “I wondered whether the race might have taken a bit out of him, but he's eaten everything and he's in great shape.”
Pyledriver won the G2 King Edward VII S. and the G2 Great Voltigeur S. earlier in the season.
“I don't want to be dogmatic and say he didn't stay,” Muir added. “He didn't stay quite as well as the first two, but I felt he was closing again at the line and at the end of the day he's been beaten a length and a neck,” Muir added. “He couldn't quite go through the gears like he did at York. It didn't help that he got a bump and ended up out on a wing on his own, but that's racing. The Champion S. was the plan and I don't see any reason to change it. I think he'll be fine back at a mile and a quarter and if it did come up heavy ground, he'd handle that and it would mean you'd nearly need to stay a mile and a half well to win, which he obviously does. He is still a bit weak, which I've been telling everyone all year. He'll be some horse next year, I promise you.”
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