Muir backing Breacher to go to the top

A jubilant William Muir hailed Breacher “the best I’ve ever had” following his successful debut in the opening race at Salisbury on Tuesday.

The Lambourn handler has enjoyed plenty of good days over the years, having trained top-class sprinter Averti in the 1990s and more recently saddled the hugely popular Pyledriver to win the Coronation Cup, the King George and twice at Royal Ascot.

It is seven years since the latter made a winning start to his career as a 50-1 shot for a Salisbury maiden – and after seeing Breacher (12-1) follow in his hoofprints by downing 4-6 favourite and Juddmonte blueblood Squadron, who is from the family of the great Dancing Brave, Muir could barely contain his excitement.

“I came here thinking if the horses are not sick he would win and he did, so happy days,” he said.

“He was entered at Sandown on Friday, but we said we’d come to Salisbury where Pyledriver won because it’s been a good track to me. I said ‘wherever he goes he’ll win, I don’t care what’s in it, if he’s right he wins’ – he’s the best I’ve ever had.

“The horses have been out of form and it’s difficult because they have a clean scope, then you blood test them and they look all right and then you run them and they run very poor and the next day their bloods are all wrong, so it’s very hard to pinpoint the problem.

“This horse a few days ago his bloods were good, but it reminded me of when I went with Averti first time. The horses had been out of form, Averti was going to Lingfield for the first Sunday racing ever and I said ‘if anything beats this I’ll have to pack up, because he’s a rocket’ and he duly flew clear.

“This horse worked with Ebt’s Guard before he went to Royal Ascot off level weights and he went at least as good as him not better. He finished fourth in the Hunt Cup off a mark of 104 and was giving weight to the three horses that finished in front of him, so we knew he had talent.”

Pyledriver went on to win the Listed Ascendant Stakes at Haydock before finishing down the field in the Royal Lodge at Newmarket later in his juvenile year.

Muir, who trains in partnership with Chris Grassick, expects Breacher to eventually have his sights raised, but is in no rush to formulate concrete plans.

“Pyledriver was very weak and when he went for the Royal Lodge he was gone and when he got into the dip he was like Bambi on ice. This horse is strong and I could have run him a month ago, but with the horses not being in great form I said we’d wait,” Muir continued.

“Even today the owner said to me ‘do you really want to run him when the horses are out of form’ and I said if we don’t run him now we’ll just put him away until the end of the year because he’s not just working the house down, he’s flying!

“I’m going to get the options on the table in front of me and I’m not going to rush him into his next race. He’ll have at least four to six weeks and then we’ll see where we go.

“I was talking to one of my owners the other day and he said ‘he could win the Triple Crown, he could be the first horse to do it since Nijinsky’. I said ‘yeah, let’s get carried away!’.

“He is bred to get a trip, but the one thing he has got is speed.

“There’s a lot to look forward to. It’s been a hard last six to eight weeks, but I’ve been doing it a long time and I just kept saying ‘let’s be patient’.

“This is what we do it for.”