Premonition was a bay horse bred at the Dunchurch Lodge Stud in Warwickshire by his owner, Brigadier Wilfred Penfold Wyatt.
Following a consultation with Chamier's trainer Vincent O'Brien, Rickaby lodged an objection to the winner on the grounds of "boring" in the closing stages.
In the St Leger at Doncaster in September, Premonition started at odds of 10/1, with Aureole, who was also trained by Boyd-Rochfort being made favourite at 6/4, and the French-trained Northern Light, winner of the Grand Prix de Paris also being strongly fancied.
[4] Ridden by Eph Smith, Premonition stayed on strongly in the straight to take the lead and won going away by three lengths from Northern Light, with Aureole in third.
To assist his preparation, Wyatt purchased a supposedly ordinary French horse named Osborne to act as his training partner and pacemaker.
His season began successfully as he won the Yorkshire Cup in impressive style[6] by three lengths from Eastern Emperor, Childe Harolde and Osborne.
Before the race, Boyd-Rochfort told Osborne's rider, an inexperienced jockey named Royce Burrows, to set the pace for Premonition, the 1/8 favourite, and to "be second if you can".
[8] Premonition never recovered his best form, finishing unplaced in both the Ascot Gold Cup and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
[9] In their book A Century of Champions, John Randall and Tony Morris rated Premonition an "average" St Leger winner.