Beldale Flutter was a dark-coated bay horse with a narrow white stripe[2] bred in Kentucky by Warner L. Jones Jr.
In October, Beldale Flutter started a 14/1[6] outsider in a field of seven runners for the Group One William Hill Futurity over one mile at Doncaster Racecourse.
[3] Beldale Flutter began his three-year-old season in the Greenham Stakes, a trial race for the 2000 Guineas, run over seven furlongs at Newbury Racecourse in April.
[8] Beldale Flutter was then moved up in distance for the Dante Stakes over ten and half furlongs at York Racecourse in which he started at odds of 11/1.
Following his win at York, and reports of excellent performances in training, Beldale Flutter was promoted to second favourite for the Epsom Derby and was regarded as the only horse capable of challenging Shergar, who had been hugely impressive when recording wide-margin victories in the Sandown Classic Trial and the Chester Vase.
[10] A week before the Derby, Beldale Flutter threw his work rider and broke loose during training on the Long Hill gallop on Newmarket Heath.
[10] After a break of three months, Beldale Flutter returned in the Benson and Hedges Gold Cup at York, in which he was matched against older horses for the first time.
[8] In the official International Classification for 1980, Beldale Flutter was give a rating of 82, making him the sixth-best two-year-old colt in Europe, seven pounds below the top-rated Storm Bird.
[8] At the end of his racing career, Beldale Flutter was syndicated at £60,000 a share, and became a breeding stallion at the Banstead Manor Stud in Newmarket.
Other winners included Just A Flutter (Premio Vittorio di Capua) and Beldale Star (Blue Riband Trial Stakes).