Big Game was a powerfully built dark bay horse standing 16.1 hands high,[1] bred by the British National Stud at Tully, County Kildare, in Ireland and leased for his racing career to King George VI.

Richards sustained a badly broken leg when he was kicked by a horse at Salisbury in May, and Big Game was partnered his other races that year by Harry Wragg, a jockey whose tactical skill and timing led to his being nicknamed "The Head Waiter".

On his next appearance, he contested the Coventry Stakes, a race traditionally run at Royal Ascot, but rescheduled to Newmarket, where a crowd of around 15,000[6] saw him win by five lengths from the future Derby winner Watling Street.

On his final start he moved up to six furlongs for the first time as he ran in the Champagne Stakes, which took place that year at Newbury instead of at its usual Doncaster venue.

He defeated Watling Street again, but the margin on this occasion was only a short head, leading some to speculate that Big Game was a horse with stamina limitations who would struggle in the following year's Classics.

[7] In the Free Handicap, a ranking of the season's best British two-year-olds, he was the highest-rated colt on a mark of 132 pounds, placing him second overall behind his stable companion, the filly Sun Chariot (133).

He raced just behind the leaders before taking the lead from Ujiji two furlongs from the finish and going clear in the closing stages to win easily by four lengths from Watling Street and Gold Nib.

The King and Queen, accompanied by Princess Elizabeth attended the race for the first time since the outbreak of the war, and anticipation of a royal victory was high.

Any chance Big Game had of lasting the distance quickly evaporated as he became anxious and distressed in the preliminaries and then fought the attempts of Richards to restrain him, refusing to settle in the early stages of the race.