[2] As a yearling he was offered for sale and was bought for 1800 guineas[3] by Jack Jarvis on behalf of Laurence Philipps, 1st Baron Milford.

Flamingo's dam Lady Peregrine has a half-sister to Omar Khayyam and became a very influential broodmare whose other descendants have included Aloma's Ruler, Septimus and Cirrus des Aigles.

[6] Later in July, at Sandown Park he was ridden by Charlie Elliott (jockey) the National Breeders' Produce Stakes which was then the most valuable two-year-old race in England.

Flamingo ended the season with earnings of £7328, making him the most financially successful juvenile in England,[8] and was regarded with Fairway as one of the two leading contenders for the following year's Epsom Derby.

[10] In the Free Handicap, an assessment of the best two-year-olds to race in Britain he was assigned a weight of 122 pounds, making him the fourth-best horse of his generation behind Fairway, The Hermit II and Buland.

[12] Flamingo began his second season by taking the Column Produce Stakes at Newmarket in April winning by a neck from Sans Changer, to whom he was conceding fifteen pounds in weight.

[20] Flamingo returned to the track in late August and won the Great Yorkshire Stakes over fourteen furlongs at York Racecourse carrying a weight of 135 pounds.