King Of Change sets the record straight with cosy QEII win

King Of Change settled an old score with 2,000 Guineas winner Magna Grecia and eclipsed 14 others when landing his first win at the highest level in the mile championship.

Six months on from finishing second to the O'Brien runner at 66-1 in the Newmarket Classic, the 12-1 chance gained compensation in style to hand Richard Hannon a first win in the feature with old foe Magna Grecia only 14th.

Off a generous early pace set by eventual fourth Veracious, King Of Change appeared from the pack two furlongs out, but jockey Sean Levey looked to have gone for home plenty early enough considering the conditions when going to the front below the distance.

Through a slow-motion final furlong, Levey had enough up his sleeve to hold the late surge of fancied French raider The Revenant by a length and a quarter with 40-1 chance Safe Voyage in third.

The victory was a third Group 1 success for Levey and his second in two weeks after landing the Sun Chariot Stakes at Newmarket on Billesdon Brook.

Sean Levey: 'He's gone through the race like a different class of animal'

Hannon said: "People thought I was a little bit petulant after the 2,000 Guineas for not celebrating being second, but we've always thought the world of this horse and to be second in the Guineas is a great run, but you don't remember those. Now he'll be remembered and it was all about next year anyway."

A son of Farhh, who won the Champion Stakes in the mud on the same card in 2013, King Of Change reappeared from a summer break only last month to win a Listed race at Sandown, which was all part of the plan.

Hannon revealed: "We gave him the summer off as he'd had a hard race at Newmarket and we thought the ground would be too firm at Royal Ascot. Although it was soft there, which was a bit annoying, we stuck to our plan and he went to Sandown last month and then here. I'm not going to lie, I thought he'd win or go very close today."

Owned by Rabbah associate Ali Abdulla Saeed, King Of Change will have races such as the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes and another crack at the QEII Stakes on the agenda next year.

King Of Change (Sean Levey) beats The Revenant in the QEII StakesCredit: Edward Whitaker

After receiving his trophy from the Queen, Levey said: "That was a massive performance and he's gone through the race like a different class of animal.

"When he ran in the Guineas people thought it was a bit of a fluke. But when he came in the autumn he was a massive stamp of a horse. We were worried about the ground but the way he's been working all he had to do was handle it. I said to Richard that I'd ridden Toronado and Sky Lantern at home and neither of them gave me a feel like him."

Levey thought his main danger was The Revenant and he was right. The latter's trainer Francis-Henri Graffard said: "I hate being second. He came from the back and was staying on but he just got beaten.

"The winner won easily but we had to make up a lot of ground. He has run an excellent race and we are proud of him. He's never been out of the first two in his career and he will stay in training.

Benbatl had been backed into 7-2 favourite but struggled in the latter stages and finished last.

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