In September, Ibn Bey was sent to Italy for the Group One Gran Premio d'Italia over 2400 metres at Milan and won the race by ten lengths form Jung.

On his final appearance of the season, the colt ran poorly in the Irish St. Leger at the Curragh, finishing sixth of the eight runners behind Eurobird.

He was then moved up in distance for the Henry II Stakes over two miles at Sandown Park Racecourse and finished fifth, more than thirteen lengths behind the winner Sadeem.

In July he was dropped in class and distance for a Listed race over fourteen furlongs at Lingfield Park Racecourse and defeated the odds-on favourite Mountain Kingdom (winner of the Ormonde Stakes and Yorkshire Cup) by two lengths.

Ibn Bey took the lead soon after the start and drew away from his opponents in the straight to record his fourth consecutive victory, winning by six lengths from Mondrian.

He led the field for most of the way, but was overtaken in the straight and finished sixth behind the New Zealand mare Horlicks who won in a world record time of 2:22.2.

In June he was ridden by Mick Kinane in the Gran Premio di Milano, but finished fourth, more than twelve lengths behind the winner Tisserand.

In July Ibn Bey was reunited with Quin and returned to Germany for the Grosser Preis von Berlin in which he faced a field which included Mondrian as well as the German Derby winner Karloff.

[11] Ibn Bey and Mondrian met for the third time in the Grosser Preis von Baden in September and on this occasion the German horse won.

He raced in second place behind the three-year-old Thetford Forest (later to win the Sun Alliance Novices' Hurdle) before taking the lead two furlong from the finish.

Ridden by a local jockey, he was held up in the early stages and despite making some progress in the straight he never reached the leaders and finished eighth behind the Australian gelding Better Loosen Up.