[6] Quiet Fling's dam Peace showed good racing ability, finishing second to Full Dress in the 1,000 Guineas Trial Stakes and being rated 113 by Timeform.

She was a very successful broodmare whose other foals included Intermission (Cambridgeshire Handicap), Peacetime (Sandown Classic Trial), Peaceful (Bessborough Stakes) and Armistice Day (Prix Exbury).

On his only appearance as a two-year-old, Quiet Fling contested the Houghton Stakes over seven furlongs at Newmarket Racecourse in October and finished second of the twenty-four runners, beaten half a length by Bygone.

[3] On his first appearance of 1976 Quiet Fling was ridden by Lester Piggott and started at odds of 5/1 for the John Porter Stakes at Newbury in April.

He tracked the leaders before taking the lead two furlongs from the finish and won by two lengths from the French-trained Rouge Sang (later to win the Gran Premio di Milano), with Libra's Rib (Princess of Wales's Stakes) in third.

After being restrained by Piggott at the rear of the field, Quiet Fling produced a strong late run in the straight, took the lead a furlong out, and won by half a length from Libra's Rib.

[4] In the spring of 1977, Quiet Fling's early preparation was badly interrupted by a respiratory infection and he did not appear until June, when he attempted to repeat his 1976 win in the Coronation Cup.