Purchased by The Thoroughbred Corp., he first raced from a base in England, where he was trained by Henry Cecil and ridden by jockey Kieren Fallon.
[3] He was then moved up to Group One class to contest Britain's most prestigious all-aged race, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
Ridden by American jockey Gary Stevens, the colt beat defending champion and future Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee Chief Bearhart by two lengths.
At age four in 1999, Royal Anthem finished second in the June 4 Coronation Cup to Daylami, a five-year-old who was his nemesis for the rest of the year.
In February 2000, the horse made his first start for Mott with a win in the Gulfstream Park Breeders' Cup Handicap under jockey Jerry Bailey.