[7] The colt was unraced as a two-year-old and had leg problems that made him difficult to train, leading one report in the Illustrated London News to claim that he took "more walking exercise than any Derby winner on record".

Ridden by his trainer's uncle, the forty-four-year-old Sam Day, Pyrrhus The First was not among the early front-runners, but had moved up to join the leading group on the turn into the straight.

Sir Tatton Sykes, who had made up a great deal of ground after being left behind at the start,[10] was sent into the lead by his jockey Bill Scott a furlong from the finish, but Day produced his colt with a strong run in the stretch to overtake the Guineas winner in the last strides and win by a neck, with Brocardo third.

[11] Later reports claim that Scott had missed the start because he was drunk and was in no condition to ride a finish,[10] making Sir Tatton Sykes an unlucky loser.

He walked over in the Foal Stakes at Winchester Racecourse when no other horses opposed him and in October, his owners paid a forfeit of £100 when he failed to appear for a scheduled match race at level weights against a Grimston,[11] a four-year-old colt who had won the Gold Vase.

He won the Cup at the Bibury Club meeting and then beat the Duke of Richmond's Red Hart (the previous season's leading money winner)[17] by a head in a one-mile Sweepstakes at Goodwood on 29 July.

[19] At Canterbury on 22 August, he ran a dead-heat with the filly Alpheia in a two-mile Queen's Plate, with The Oaks winner Miami in third, and then won the run-off "in a canter".

[11] Pyrrhus The First retired to Harrison's stud at Easby Abbey in Yorkshire, where he stood at a fee of 10 guineas and was advertised as "the best untried stallion of the present day".