G1 Coronation Cup hero Pyledriver (GB) (Harbour Watch {Ire}) exited his victory in the Listed Churchill S. in good order and his next target remains the G1 Longines Hong Kong Vase on Dec. 12.
“He was fantastic on Sunday morning,” said trainer William Muir, who trains with Chris Grassick. “He moves so beautifully and he's like a dressage horse the way he trots away. He's got so much bounce–he's perfect.
“He lost a wee bit of weight but I thought he would. He was quite over his racing weight so I knew it would bring him down a little bit. He'll put a bit back on then he'll level off as to where we have to have him.
“He was 12 kilos above his racing weight for the Coronation Cup. And he was heavier when he went first time out to Newmarket and I said to everybody it wasn't my main objective and he went there at 480 kilos. On Saturday, he was 489.
“Hong Kong Vase is next. His plane goes on Dec. 3. He'll have to have a few days in quarantine when he gets there. He can walk round and do light exercise in the barn or in the quarantine area. Then we'll have three or four days before the race to do what we've got to do.”
The La Pyle Partnership runner opened his season with a good second in the G2 Jockey Club S. on May 1 prior to his June 4 Coronation Cup win. A small setback ruled out the 4-year-old for much of the summer.
“He's such a competitive horse,” Muir added. “You knew he'd run well but you thought if anything catches him out, it will be the race fitness at the end against race-fit horses, but it just showed he's still all there and he didn't get hurt before.
“That's the good thing. He never got hurt when he had this little setback, and it was small. I tried to emphasise to everybody it wasn't much but I don't want to make it a lot. If you'd have kept going you may have got way with it, or you may have ended up having a fairly big problem.”
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