AFTER two seasons at Derrinstown Stud, this year King Of Change is at his new abode, Starfield Stud in Co Westmeath.

He was an outstanding miler who was rated 126, only a pound below champions Too Darn Hot and Sottsass, by Timeform in their Racehorses of 2019, and his first foals last year were headed by a €50,000 son who was bought by Peter and Ross Doyle Bloodstock.

King Of Change was most consistent, and he was never out of the first two in both his seasons with Richard Hannon. He proved himself to be a really top-class performer with his victory in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot and his second place finish in the Group 1 2000 Guineas, retiring after just six starts with earnings of £766,138.

Second in both his starts as a two-year-old, King Of Change reappeared in a maiden over a mile at Nottingham at three. He won that so well that he was declared a runner in the Group 1 2000 Guineas at Newmarket.

In a large field of 19, he finished strongest of all to be second to Magna Grecia, almost two lengths clear of all the others who included Ten Sovereigns and Advertise.

King Of Change was rested until the autumn, when he reappeared in the Listed Fortune Stakes over a mile at Sandown Park in September, staying on strongly to win by more than a length from Turgenev and Silver Line.

He was sent to Ascot on Champions Day for the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and faced a strong field of 16 runners, including no less than eight previous Group 1 winners.

King Of Change ran on strongly to score by a length and a quarter from the French star The Revenant, with Safe Voyage a similar distance away in third place, ahead of the pacesetting Veracious. Trailing further back were Lord Glitters, Phoenix Of Spain, and the classic winner Magna Grecia.

Group winners

The Group 1 Champion Stakes was run at Ascot on the same day, and six years earlier that race had been won by Farhh, the sire of King Of Change.

One of the best sons of Pivotal (Polar Falcon), Farhh has done well as a stallion, with his other group winners including Group 1 Sun Chariot Stakes winner Fonteyn, Dee Ex Bee, who was also second in both the Group 1 Epsom Derby and the Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup, Move Swiftly and Wells Farhh Go.

Salacia (Echo Of Light), the dam of King Of Change, won at three and she has also produced Century Dream (Cape Cross), who scored in the Group 2 Celebration Mile at Goodwood and in two runnings of the Group 3 Diomed Stakes at Epsom. Her dam Neptune’s Bride (Bering) and grandam Wedding Of The Sea (Blushing Groom) were both group winners in France.

Race record

KING OF CHANGE (GB), Bay 2016. Jt 4th top rated 3yr old colt in England in 2019. Won three races, £766,138, over 1 mile, at 3 years including, Qipco Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, Ascot, Gr.1, Chasemore Fortune Stakes, Sandown Park, L, also placed second in Qipco 2000 Guineas Stakes, Newmarket, Gr.1.

At stud

Retired to Stud in 2021. First crop are yearlings.

Information

Stands at: Starfield Stud, Ballynagall, Mullingar, Co Westmeath, N91 K8Y9, Ireland.

Contact: Micheál Orlandi

Telephone: +353 83 8092299

Email: info@compasstallions.com

Web: www.compasstallions.com

Fee: €6,000