[3] On his three-year-old debut Scottish Rifle finished second to Baragoi in the Blue Riband Trial Stakes at Epsom Downs Racecourse in April with Rheingold in fourth.
He met trouble in running on the descent to Tattenham Corner but stayed on steadily to finish sixth to Roberto who won narrowly from Rheingold with Pentland Firth in third.
He won the Earl of Sefton Stakes at Newmarket Racecourse in April, giving seven pounds and a one and a half length beating Royal Prerogative at odds of 10/1[5] with Baragoi in third.
On his next appearance, Scottish Rifle was sent to Royal Ascot for the Prince of Wales's Stakes and was beaten a neck into second place by the French-trained colt Gift Card.
Hutchinson had restrained the horse at the rear of the field for most of the way and his exaggerated waiting tactics attracted much criticism as he was perceived to have given his mount far too much ground to make up in the last quarter mile.
[6] In the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes three weeks later Scottish Rifle moved up to dispute the lead in the straight but then faded to finish seventh of the twelve runners behind Dahlia.
With Hutchinson recuperating from an injury he was ridden by Lester Piggott and produced a strong late run to win from Prominent (Prix Foy) and Club House at odds of 4/11.
[5] In October he was again ridden by Piggott when he contested the Champion Stakes over ten furlongs at Newmarket and finished seventh behind the Irish-trained three-year-old filly Hurry Harriet.
On his final racecourse appearance Scottish Rifle was sent to the United States as his owner accepted an invitation for the colt to represent Britain in the 22nd Washington D C International at Laurel Park.
[3] In 1972 the independent Timeform organization gave him a rating of 123, eleven pounds inferior to their highest-rated three-year-old colts Sallust and Deep Diver.
[2] In the following year he was rated 127 by Timeform (ten pounds behind their best Older Male Rheingold) and was the fourth highest money-winner in Britain behind Dahlia, Mysterious and Morston.
His best winners included Al Trui (Stewards' Cup), Amber Rambler (Future Champion Novices' Chase) and Arva, a filly who won the Czechoslovakian Triple Crown.