Geelong then Flemington? Changingoftheguard’s Cup trail

Just reading the formguide about Changingoftheguard’s last start in the Metropolitan would be completely misleading.

“It is the best 56-1/4 length last, I have had anything to do with,” trainer Kris Lees said ahead of Wednesday’s Geelong Cup.

“He was going to be in the finish until he got stopped in the straight.”

“He is in the Melbourne Cup and needs to have another run before Flemington because he didn’t really have a hit out at Randwick, and I think the big track at Geelong will suit him.”

Changingoftheguard, who is an $11 chance in the Geelong Cup, has been a work in progress for more than two years for Lees and is starting to show his staying talent.

Before coming to Australia he ran fifth in an Epsom Derby and won “the Royal Ascot Derby” the King Edward VII Stakes under the care of Aidan O’Brien as a three-year-old. He added a placing in the Hardwicke Stakes as a four-year-old before being sent to Lees by Lloyd Williams and his family.

It took a year for Lees to produce him at the track in 2024, when he showed promise running fourth in the City Tatts Cup and being runner-up in the Colin Stephen Quality, but a setback saw him have to wait until this spring to show his full potential.

He started with a Flemington runner-up finish over 2530m before an all-the-way win in the City Tatts Cup before what can only be called a disaster in the Metropolitan.

Ridden back midfield in the Metrop, Changingoftheguard was travelling coming up the rise only to be stopped in his tracks with Ethan Brown having little option but to ease him out of the race.

“We have had to be patient with him but he is going really well,” Lees said. “I was starting to get excited in the Metrop because he looked like he was about to show what he can do.”

“Amazingly, he was fine considering the interference, so we are heading to the Melbourne Cup.”

“He is an out and out stayer and even with the topweight I expect him to be in the finish at Geelong.”