Gregorian was an "attractive, tall, lengthy"[2] brown horse with a white star and snip bred in Florida by H T Mangurian Jr. As a yearling he was put up for auction and sold for $280,000.
His sire Graustark had a brief but promising racing career before becoming a very successful breeding stallion whose progeny included Prove Out, Key To The Mint, Avatar and Jim French.
He got the better of Sea Chimes in a struggle for the lead and turned into the straight with a clear advantage but was overtaken in the closing stages and finished third behind Ela-Mana-Mou and Hello Gorgeous.
The colt was then dropped in class and started favourite for the Royal Whip Stakes at the Curragh but ran poorly and was beaten into third place by the five-year-old mare My Hollow.
When the colt returned to England for the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot Racecourse he was ridden by Tommy Murphy as Piggott opted to partner the filly Mrs Penny.
The other fancied runners were Corvaro (Prix Eugène Adam) from France, Cracaval (Chester Vase) from England and the filly Racquette (third in The Oaks).
The favourite was subject to a late jockey change with Tommy Murphy, having broken his ankle in the previous race, being replaced by George McGrath.