KING Of Change was a worthy winner of the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot on Saturday. He travelled well through his race for Sean Levey, he picked up nicely when his rider went for him, and he stayed on well all the way to the winning line.

The Farhh colt is a wholly likeable individual, who probably didn’t get the credit that he should have got for finishing second in the Guineas, a 66/1 shot who raced on the stands’ side. He is progressive, he is an exciting talent, and it was a really good training performance by Richard Hannon to get him to Ascot in that form, good enough to beat very good older milers, on only his second run since the Guineas and just the sixth run of his life.

He probably would have won even if he hadn’t come across The Revenant inside the final furlong. The runner-up probably wouldn’t have caught him. He may have been idling in front too and he may have found more if the French horse had got closer, but we never got the chance to find out.

Ground

The Revenant was making ground as they raced inside the final furlong. Francis Graffard’s horse was gaining on the leader, momentum up, when King Of Change came across him, first taking him to his left and then running across him, interrupting his momentum.

It was good race riding by Sean Levey, given that the rules are as they are. He switched his whip from his left hand to his right hand when he realised that The Revenant was closing. The head-on was fairly revealing. He moved from about three horse-widths off the inside rail inside the final furlong to about 10 or 12 horse-widths off it by the time he reached the winning line.

It is almost certain that King Of Change would have won anyway, but the rider took no chances. That’s maximising your chance of victory. As above, it’s clever race-riding under the rules as they stand.

The winning distance was over a length, so there was hardly an eyelid batted. It didn’t make any difference to the result, was the conclusion, and that is almost certainly the correct conclusion.

It doesn’t mean that there isn’t an issue though. The issue is with the rules. The rules should discourage this type of ride. These days, they encourage it.