Bred and owned by Sir John Jacob Astor and trained by Dick Hern he showed great promise a two-year-old in 1972 when he won his first three races before looking a somewhat unlucky loser when finishing third in the Royal Lodge Stakes.
Sharp Edge began his racing career in the Kennett Maiden Stakes over six furlongs at Newbury Racecourse in July and won by one and a half lengths from the Bernard van Cutsem-trained favourite Noble Decree.
On his next appearance, the colt won the Home Ales Stakes over the same distance at Nottingham Racecourse but was not particularly impressive as he had to be driven out to prevail by half a length from Prince Gourmet.
In a rough and unsatisfactory race, he was repeatedly blocked as he attempted to obtain a clear run before finishing strongly to take third place behind Adios and Noble Decree.
The form of the race was subsequently boosted when Noble Decree won the Observer Gold Cup and in the winter of 1972/1973 British bookmakers made Sharp Edge the 8/1 second favourite for the 2000 Guineas.
His participation in the 2000 Guineas on 5 May was in doubt until overnight rain softened the track but he produced a very good effort to finish third of the eighteen runners behind Mon Fils and Noble Decree with Thatch in fourth place.
After being restrained towards the rear of the sixteen-runner field, he made rapid progress in the straight, took the lead approaching the final furlong and won by three lengths from Midsummer Star with similar gaps back to Dapper and Klairvimy in third and fourth.
[5][6] There was no International Classification of European two-year-olds in 1972: the official handicappers of Britain, Ireland and France published their own ratings of horses which had raced in those countries.