In the following spring he recorded his biggest success with an upset victory over The Minstrel and Nebbiolo in the Irish 2,000 Guineas but failed to reproduce the form and was well-beaten in his last three races.
After a slow start he made rapid progress approaching the final furlong but was hampered in the closing stages and finished third behind Brahms and Roman Charger.
The Minstrel started favourite ahead of Nebbiolo whilst the other runners included Artaius, Lordedaw, Ballad Rock, Roman Charger as well as the British challengers Bona-Mia and Pollerton.
Pampapaul was moved up in distance to contest the 198th running of The Derby over one and a half miles at Epsom Downs Racecourse in June but after tracking the leaders he was unable to make any progress in the straight and finished seventh behind The Minstrel.
Two weeks later he was dropped back in distance for the St James's Palace Stakes over one mile at Royal Ascot and finished fourth of the seven runners behind Don, Marinsky and Tachypous.
On his only subsequent appearance he was sent to France for the Prix Jacques Le Marois over 1600 metres at Deauville Racecourse in August and finished last of the seven runners behind Flying Water.
[5] There was no International Classification of European two-year-olds in 1976: the official handicappers of Britain, Ireland and France compiled separate rankings for horses which competed in those countries.
In the Irish Free Handicap or 1976, Pampapaul was assigned a weight of 122 pounds, making him the fifth-best juvenile of the season behind Cloonlara, Godswalk, Padroug and The Minstrel.