Jockey PJ McDonald credits Pyledriver’s win in last month’s Hardwicke Stakes with having saved what would otherwise have been a disastrous year for him.
Now he is looking to the ever popular six-year-old to repeat last year’s win in Saturday’s King George VI and Queen Elizabeth QIPCO Stakes at Ascot and become just the third multiple winner of Britain’s premier all-aged middle-distance event, following Swain and Enable.
This year’s King George VI and Queen Elizabeth QIPCO Stakes, one of 35 races in the QIPCO British Champions Series, is the most competitive renewal in recent memory. Despite the late defection of last year’s Derby winner Desert Crown following another setback it features seven Group 1 winners in a field of 11, including the first two in the Derby, yet Pyledriver, an 18-1 chance a year ago, is rightly among the market leaders.
McDonald won a Scottish National on Hot Weld as a conditional jump jockey in 2007 before switching to the Flat, where he was something of a slow burner until linking up with John Dance’s Laurens, on whom he won four Group 1s. Having driven up and down the country in pursuit of more than 100 winners three years in a row, a retainer with Dance changed his life, taking the pressure off and enabling him to spend much more time with his wife and two children.
It was a massive blow then when Dance’s assets were frozen in the spring while officials from the Financial Conduct Authority investigated reported serious regulatory and operational issues regarding his businesses. McDonald’s life was changed overnight, hence his relief after being reunited with the long-absent Pyledriver at Royal Ascot for what proved easily his biggest win so far in what would otherwise have looked a pretty meagre 2023.
In open betting for Saturday’s race last month’s Epsom principals Auguste Rodin and King Of Steel, are prominent in all lists. They were separated by just half a length at the end of last month’s Betfred Derby, where the runner-up, a 66-1 chance and making his debut for Roger Varian, was reeled in only very late after quickening clear.
Auguste Rodin, who bids to join Galileo and Adayar among the most recent Derby winners to follow up at Ascot, has since won the Irish Derby. He was a top-class two-year-old, when he won on soft and heavy ground, and he is even better this year, but he made surprisingly hard work of beating stable companion Adelaide River at The Curragh.
He is joined here by stable-mates Bolshoi Ballet, Luxembourg and Point Lonsdale – all high-class winners in their own right – as Aidan O’Brien seeks a fifth win in a race he last won back in 2016 with Highland Reel.
Whereas Auguste Rodin struggled somewhat at The Curragh, King Of Steel went on from Epsom to record a stylish win in the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot, despite that race not going to plan.
His rider Kevin Stott, who describes Saturday’s race as “probably the Flat race of the season so far”, can’t wait for Saturday and said: “The first and second in the Derby going at it again for the first time since is a massive thing, but it’s definitely not just a race between the two three-year-olds.”
He added: “I look at the Derby replay now and again but I wouldn’t have changed a thing. We just got run over by a better horse on the day.”
While the prevailing softish ground should not be too much of an issue for any of the principals, one who looks sure to revel in it is Hukum, who won the 2021 Cumberland Lodge Stakes by a wide margin the last time he had the chance to run on similar ground.
Hukum suffered a setback after beating Pyledriver decisively in last year’s Coronation Cup but looked better than ever when winning Sandown’s Brigadier Gerard Stakes from Desert Crown on his first appearance since.
Jim Crowley has always had faith in the Owen Burrows-trained six-year-old and said: “I’ve always raved about Hukum and it was great to get him back in the Brigadier Gerard, where it was a top performance to beat Desert Crown over the shorter trip.
Emily Upjohn also merits the greatest respect. She impressed over course and distance in easy ground last October in the QIPCO British Champions Fillies’ and Mares’ Stakes and had far too much speed in the Dahlbury Coronation Cup for last year’s Derby third and Irish Derby winner Westover, too free when favourite here last year, who has since won the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud.
She has since given the outstanding three-year-old Paddington a run for his money over a shorter trip in the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown. Dettori currently shares his record seven King George wins with Lester Piggott. This will be his last chance to take the record outright.
The field is completed by Hamish, who has yet to win in better than Group 3 company but is a proper mudlark and gave star stayer Kyprios a race in a soft-ground Irish St Leger last year.
KING GEORGE VI & QUEEN ELIZABETH QIPCO S.-G1,
£1,250,000, 3yo/up, 11f 211y
Saddle Cloth HORSE SIRE OWNER TRAINER JOCKEY WT
1 Bolshoi Ballet (Ire) Galileo (Ire) Mrs J Magnier, M Tabor, D Smith & Westerberg Aidan O’Brien Sean Levey 135
2 Deauville Legend (Ire) Sea The Stars (Ire) Boniface Ho Ka Kui James Ferguson Oisin Murphy 135
3 Hamish (GB) Motivator (GB) B Haggas William Haggas Richard Kingscote 135
4 Hukum (Ire) Sea The Stars (Ire) Shadwell Estate Company Ltd Owen Burrows Jim Crowley 135
5 Luxembourg (Ire) Camelot (GB) Westerberg, Mrs J Magnier, M Tabor & D Smith Aidan O’Brien Seamus Heffernan 135
6 Point Lonsdale (Ire) Australia (GB) D Smith, Mrs J Magnier, M Tabor & Westerberg Aidan O’Brien Adam Kirby 135
7 Pyledriver (GB) Harbour Watch (Ire) La Pyle Partnership William Muir/Chris Grassick P J McDonald 135
8 Westover (GB) Frankel (GB) Juddmonte Ralph Beckett Rob Hornby 135
9 Emily Upjohn (GB) Sea The Stars (Ire) Lloyd Webber, Tactful Finance, S Roden John & Thady Gosden Frankie Dettori 132
10 Auguste Rodin (Ire) Deep Impact (Jpn) M Tabor, D Smith, Mrs J Magnier & Westerberg Aidan O’Brien Ryan Moore 124
11 King Of Steel Wootton Bassett (GB) Amo Racing Ltd Roger Varian Kevin Stott 124
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