Ribocco was a small, powerfully built[1] bay horse bred at the Idle Hour Farm in Paris, Kentucky by Mrs J. G. (Margaret) Rogers.
Ribocco made his racecourse debut in July when he won a maiden race at Newbury and returned to the same course a month later to win the Washington Singer Stakes.
Ribocco ran on strongly to challenge for the lead a furlong from the finish and take second place, beaten two and a half lengths by the favourite, Royal Palace.
At Ascot in July, Ribocco started favourite for Britain's most important weight-for-age race, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
Ribocco's prize money for finishing third in the Arc de Triomphe took his earnings to £155,669, passing the record for a British or Irish racehorse set by Santa Claus in 1964.
He stood at stud at Evans' Buckland Farm in Virginia, where he met with modest success as a sire, with the best of his progeny including Ripon (John B. Campbell Handicap).