[2] Ardross first raced for Ireland's Paddy Prendergast and, after his death, was bought by Charles St. George and trained by Henry Cecil in England, winning fourteen of his twenty-four starts, thirteen of them coming at Pattern level.
Ardross finished unplaced over ten furlongs on his racecourse debut and then created a 50/1 upset when winning the Group Two Gallinule Stakes at the Curragh by two lengths from Palace Dan.
As a result of his success, he was required to carry a seven-pound weight penalty when he was sent to England to contest the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot.
[3] Ardross finished unplaced over ten furlongs on his first appearance as a four-year-old and was then moved up in distance for the Saval Beg Stakes at Leopardstown Racecourse.
Starting the 5/6 favourite and ridden for the first time by Lester Piggott, he appeared beaten two furlongs from the finish but produced a strong late run to win by one and a half lengths.
On his final appearance of the season, Ardross was sent to France for the Prix Royal Oak over 3100 metres in which he finished third to the three-year-old filly Gold River.
Drawn disadvantageously in 24 of 24 on the wide outside he started at odds of 11/2 and proved the best of the British challengers, finishing fifth behind Gold River, Bikala, April Run, and Perrault.
Among the horses finishing behind Ardross were Argument, Akarad, Kings Lake, Blue Wind, Cut Above, Detroit, Ring the Bell, and Beldale Flutter.
His only opponents were the French-trained horses El Badr and Tipperary Fixer, first and second in the Prix du Cadran, the Irish six-year-old Noelino and the Swedish-trained Dzudo, making up the smallest field for the race in sixty years.
He missed the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Dianond Stakes before returning to form with comfortable wins in the Geoffrey Freer Stakes and the Doncaster Cup.In the autumn he ran second in his last try, and final race ever, at winning the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe where he was narrowly beaten a head by the French filly Akiyda.
In their book A Century of Champions, based on a modified version of the Timeform system, John Randall and Tony Morris rated Ardross a "superior" Ascot Gold Cup winner and the third best British or Irish trained horse foaled in 1976 behind Troy and Kris.