With Ascot getting ready to stage its midsummer showpiece on Saturday, William Muir will always remember the 2022 renewal when his Pyledriver delivered as the outsider of the field.
He already had one Group One win on his record, in the Coronation Cup at Epsom the year before, and that was hardly a flash in the pan because as a three-year-old he had won the King Edward VII Stakes and Great Voltigeur in the covid year of 2020 when the Derby took place after Royal Ascot.
Pyledriver took Muir and training partner Chris Grassick all over the world, to Hong Kong, where he picked up almost £500,000 for finishing second in the Vase, Saudi Arabia and Dubai, where he finished a luckless fourth.
But it was in Berkshire where he appeared to be a 7lb better horse than anywhere, adding a Hardwicke Stakes to his King Edward and King George triumphs.
“Funnily enough I was only watching it the other day. I don’t think he got the credit he deserved you know, he was very impressive,” said Muir.
“People can say what they like, but he beat a field of well-touted horses. It was a proper King George, you had the German horse who had won the Arc (Torquator Tasso), the favourite was Westover who had won the Irish Derby, Mishriff had won all over and Emily Upjohn.
“The two that went off in front (Broome and Westover) set it up perfectly for him really. He was a very talented horse.
“The times he gave us in Hong Kong and Dubai were amazing. He should have won in Dubai, it’s well documented Frankie (Dettori) came back in and apologised and said he should have won.”
Unfortunately Pyledriver never ran again the season after his King George win, having thrown his hat into the ring for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, but he proved what he was made of when, after almost a year off, he won the Hardwicke first time out.
“I lived with that horse every day and bringing him back to win the Hardwicke first time out was the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” said Muir.
“When he ran in Hong Kong he finished second to a very good Japanese horse in Glory Vase who came down the middle of the track and our lad couldn’t see him.
“When we were leaving on a private plane, Ryan Moore asked me on the way home what we were going to do next with him. I said we were thinking of the Neom Cup in Saudi but Ryan said not to go as he’d win the Sheema Classic.
“Now of course what happened in Saudi was nobody’s fault, he nearly got wiped out by a faller. But I couldn’t go out there as I tested positive for covid the day before.
“Somehow he was sound after it but it triggered a little pore at the back of his knee which would flare up now and again.
“When he came back to win the Hardwicke he’d only had two gallops. I told everyone he couldn’t win as he hadn’t done enough work, just a lot of steady stuff and swimming but it just shows you how much talent he had.
“When he left to go Coolmore (to stand as a National Hunt stallion) that was a sad day, you’re always looking for the next one.”