PYLEDRIVER will soon be saying Auf Wiedersehen to British shores as he heads on a Group 1 mission to Germany.
Trainer William Muir resisted the temptation to take on Enable at Ascot on Saturday and will instead target the Preis von Europa with his stable star.
The colt was a hugely impressive winner of the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot for Muir and son-in-law jockey Martin Dwyer last month.
He was fancied for the Derby on the back of that success, but he was badly hampered in the early stages of the race and never able to land a blow behind tearaway winner Serpentine.
Muir backed off him for a short while after Epsom and is preparing him for a trip to Cologne on August 15 – though he admits he was tempted to run in the King George this weekend.
Muir told Sun Racing: “He’s in very good shape, he took the Derby run very well.
“Our race was over after about three furlongs, sadly. We got knocked over and Martin was forced to take a pull and he ended up right at the back.
“There is still loads to come from him, it’s obviously disappointing when you go to the Derby and don’t get a run, but you have to accept it and move on. It’s onwards and upwards from here.
“It would be a lie to say I wasn’t tempted to run in the King George, but the reason I didn’t was because he’s had three quick races already and I wanted to give him a little bit of a break.
“I thought to myself if I make the entry, I will run, so I didn’t give myself the option. It went through my mind on Saturday morning to enter him, but he is a big horse, his future is in front of him.
A turn-up in the King Edward as Pyledriver wins at 18-1
Mogul a disappointing favourite – the winner is around a 16-1 shot for the Derby now
pic.twitter.com/08Amr5FROe
— Sun Racing (@SunRacing) June 16, 2020
“He is still to get stronger, he has still got a lot of developing to do and I didn’t want to run him too quickly, I want to do what’s right by him. He’s gone to Kempton, Ascot and the Derby in the space of a month, so I just decided against it.
“He’s just having a quiet time at the moment and he won’t run again until August 15 when he goes to Cologne for the Preis von Europa.”
He continued: “It’s a Group 1 and it’s a good stepping stone. We could have gone for the Gordon Stakes, but we’d have a 5lb penalty, or we could go for the Voltigeur where we have a 3lb penalty.
“Giving English King 3lb at York doesn’t seem like the sensible thing to do, so we will head to Germany which gives him a nice six weeks between runs.”
Provided the son of Harbour Watch runs up to expectations in the Preis von Europa, a race won by Roger Charlton’s Aspetar last summer, he could run in France or head to Doncaster for the St Leger, for which he is a 16-1 shot with Betway.
Muir said: “If he runs well in Germany we will have a couple of options to consider.
“Because he won at Royal Ascot he has a free entry for the Grand Prix de Paris, but there is the St Leger to consider as well.
“We wouldn’t be able to do both, so it will be one or the other.”
SEE OVER £2,000 IN FREE BETS HERE
