Owned and bred by John W. Galbreath's Darby Dan Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, he was out of the mare Luiana and sired by the great European champion Sea-Bird, whose Timeform rating at 145 is the second highest in racing history, surpassed only by Frankel's 147.
John Galbreath and his wife owned a summer retreat at Manitoulin Island on the north shore of Lake Huron in Ontario, Canada.
Trained by Lou Rondinello and ridden by Ángel Cordero Jr., Little Current made four starts at age two but despite his breeding, showed little promise.
Because jockey Miguel Rivera had earlier committed to ride Rube The Great in the Derby, Bobby Ussery was aboard Little Current in the twenty-three-horse field, the largest in the race's history.
Leaving from post position 10, Little Current was last at the quarter pole and at the mile mark was still trapped behind the large field in seventeenth place.
Launching an explosive drive, the colt drove through the narrow opening, quickly caught the leaders, then stormed past them to win by seven lengths over Neapolitan Way and Derby winner Cannonade.
In a nine-horse field, Little Current sat nine lengths back in eighth place while Kentucky Derby winner Cannonade and Jolly Johu dueled for the lead.
He did not start again until August's Monmouth Invitational Handicap where, after being nearly 20 lengths behind the leader, he put on another explosive drive to finish second by a nose to Holding Pattern.
In order to first see how the colt could handle the grass surface he would run on in France, Galbreath entered him in the Lawrence Realization Stakes on Belmont Park's turf course.
He was eventually sent to stand at Buck Pond Farm in nearby Versailles, whose owners, Doug and Karen Arnold, acquired an interest in him.