King of Change scores upset in Queen Elizabeth II Stakes

King of Change conquered the heavy going at Ascot and scored the biggest win of his career in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on Saturday.

King of Change raced midpack under jockey Sean Levey, began a move with a quarter-mile to run, split horses a furlong-and-a-half from the finish to take command of the straight-course mile, and had plenty in the tank to hold off a run from The Revenant, one of the favorites.

King of Changed ($25.80), drifted left into The Revenant’s path in the final half-furlong but crossed the finish 1 1/4 lengths the best, too great a margin to even consider a disqualification under English stewarding.

The Revenant was the only one of the race’s shorter prices to come close to running his race. Lord Glitters was ninth after lagging at the rear of the field for half the trip, while Magna Grecia labored home 14th and Benbatl was last of 16. All can use the course condition as an excuse since the rain-soaked Ascot straight course played so slow Saturday that it took King of Change 1:44.88 to cover the mile, about 6.25 seconds slower than par. Safe Voyage, a 40-1 shot, rallied from the rear to finish third while pacesetting Veracious held fourth.

Richard Hannon trains 3-year-old King of Change, who is by Farhh out of Salacia, by Echo of Light, for Ali Abdulla Saeed. Lightly raced King of Change won for the third time in just six starts and had shown his quality early this year when second of 19 behind Magna Grecia in the one-mile 2000 Guineas at Newmarket. Hannon kept King of Change away from the races until Sept. 19, when he won a listed race at Sandown that propelled him to his top-level score Saturday.