A cheaply bought foal, who almost died before he ever appeared on a racecourse, Birmingham developed into a "celebrated racer"[1] finishing first in twenty-four races from thirty-nine starts between July 1829 and June 1833.

At a time when British horse racing was centred on a small number of major racecourses, Birmingham was campaigned at relatively minor courses in the English Midlands before defeating The Derby winner Priam to record a 15/1 upset in the St Leger.

[3] As a foal, he was sold for 45 guineas to William Beardsworth, who built up a reputation in the early 1830s for winning important races with cheaply bought horses.

[3] Before he was sent into full training with Thomas Flintoff (or Flintoft), Birmingham sustained a serious injury and was ordered to be destroyed[7] but Beardsworth's wife pleaded for the horse's life and tended to him during his recovery.

Many of the courses he competed at, such as those at Knutsford, Lichfield[9] and Holywell have been closed for many years, whilst others such as Ludlow and Liverpool[10] no longer stage flat racing.

Birmingham began his racing career on 1 July 1829, when he finished unplaced behind a colt named Jonathan in a half-mile sweepstakes at Ludlow Racecourse in Shropshire.

Beardsworth argued that he was unaware of any obligation to run Birmingham in the race,[19] the entry having been made by the colt's previous owner, Mr Mytton,[20] but the Stewards of the Jockey Club took the view that the rules had been broken, and awarded the 1,000 sovereign prize to Cetus.

[21] On 17 September, two weeks after his runs at Warwick, Birmingham traveled to North Yorkshire to contest the St Leger Stakes at Doncaster Racecourse.

Despite his run of success, he was not considered one of the leading contenders and started at odds of 15/1 in a field of twenty-eight runners, although he was expected to be suited by the exceptionally wet weather and heavy ground conditions.

Ridden by the Irish jockey Patrick Conolly, Birmingham raced just behind the leaders as Emancipator set a strong pace which saw many of the runners struggling soon after half way.

[22] The state of the ground was put forward by some observers as an excuse for Priam's defeat, but the Sporting Magazine concluded that Birmingham was simply the better horse on the day.

[7] Three days later, over the same course and distance, and in even worse conditions, Birmingham started the odds-on favourite for a sweepstakes despite carrying a seven pound weight penalty for his classic win.

[24] The decision to run Birmingham twice at Holywell was criticised by the Sporting Magazine's correspondent, who felt that Beardsworth was subjecting the colt to "hard usage".

A week later he moved north to Lancashire for the spring meeting at Liverpool where his target was the Tradesmen's Cup, an all-aged handicap race with a total value of over 1,200 sovereigns.