In 1994 Barathea won the Breeders' Cup Mile at Churchill Downs and was named European Horse of the Year at the Cartier Racing Awards.

[3] He was sired by the fourteen times champion Sadler's Wells, his dam being the successful racemare Brocade, winner of the Prix de la Forêt.

He reversed the Craven form with Emperor Jones and Wharf, and proved the best of the British colts, but was no match for the French champion, Zafonic, who beat him into second place by three and a half lengths.

[10] The summer saw Barathea being tried as a middle-distance performer, but he failed to stay the distance when fading into fifth place in the Derby[11] and was the well-beaten favourite behind Opera House in the Eclipse.

A narrow defeat to the three-year-old Distant View in the Sussex Stakes,[14] was followed by a disappointing effort behind East of the Moon in the Prix Jacques Le Marois.

In the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, Barathea defeated several of the best European milers including Bigstone, Distant View and East of the Moon, but was unable to catch the front-running 66-1 outsider Maroof.

Luca Cumani constructed a replica of the Churchill Downs track layout at his base in Newmarket, giving the colt experience of the tight circuit, and shipped him out earlier than the other British runners in order to acclimatise.