His dam, Alcazar was a French-bred daughter of the Ascot Gold Cup winner Alycidon and won one minor race at Newmarket Racecourse.
[2] As a yearling Petingo was bought for 7,800 guineas by the veteran trainer Frederick Lakin "Sam" Armstrong, who had enjoyed his greatest success in the late 1940s with the classic winners My Babu and Sayajirao.
[3] Armstrong was acting on behalf of the Greek shipping company director Captain Marcos D. Lemos in whose royal blue and white colours the colt raced.
After a break of two months he returned at York Racecourse in August when he was moved up in class to contest the Gimcrack Stakes (now a Group Two race).
Ridden by Lester Piggott, Sam Armstrong's son-in-law,[5] he was made the 7/4 favourite[6] and won very easily by six lengths from Cheb's Lad.
When Petingo appeared for the first time as a three-year-old he was ridden by Joe Mercer in the Craven Stakes (now Group Three) at Newmarket in April.
Petingo and Joe Mercer moved past the front-running So Blessed to take the lead two furlongs from the finish but was overtaken by Sir Ivor in the closing stages.
At this time it was announced that Lemos had sold a 90% stake in the horse to the Irish breeder Tim Rogers and would retire to stud at the end of the season.
The independent Timeform organisation were even more impressed with the colt, giving him a rating of 135 which made him not only the season's best two-year-old, but the best horse of any age to race in Europe in 1967.