[3] He was later acquired by Robert Charles de Grey Vyner and sent into training with Mathew Dawson at Heath House stable at Newmarket, Suffolk.

The race was run at an exceptionally strong pace[14] and Minting, ridden by John Watts, tracked the leaders in the early stages before moving up to dispute the lead with Ormonde just after half way.

Minting went a neck in front as the two colts drew away from the rest of the field, but Ormonde’s superiority became evident as he pulled away in the closing stages to win by two lengths.

Minting started at odds of 4/6 in a field which included The Oaks winner Miss Jummy and the French colts Sycamore and Upas, who had dead-heated for the Prix du Jockey Club.

Ridden by Archer, Minting was held up at the back of the field in the early stages as the outsider Polyeucte opened up a big lead.

[17] Minting had been strongly fancied since the start of the season[18] for the inaugural running of the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown in July but on the eve of the race he sustained a tendon injury in exercise, which ruled him out of the event.

The injury provoked such “sinister rumours” that Minting’s connections published the colt’s veterinary notes to prove their version of events.

Ridden by the veteran John Osborne, he won easily from St Mirin, who was receiving twelve pounds, with the Eclipse Stakes winner Bendigo finishing a remote third.

This performance, together with Ormonde’s worsening wind trouble (he had become a roarer), made the second meeting between the two colts in the Hardwicke Stakes three days later a much-anticipated one.

"[24] In June he returned to Royal Ascot for a much less competitive renewal of the Hardwicke Stakes in which he had no difficulty conceding 46 pounds to his only opponent, a three-year-old filly named Love in Idleness.

[28] In early 1888 the official handicappers rated Minting fifteen pound superior to the winners of the Derby (Merry Hampton) and the St Leger (Kilwarlin), and he was regarded as the best horse in training.