After winning two of his four starts as a two-year-old, at Newmarket and Pontefract, he finished third in the Sandown Classic Trial at Sandown Park in April 1997, before winning the Lingfield Derby Trial and being touched off by a short head by Benny the Dip in an extremely tight finish to the 1997 Epsom Derby.
Silver Patriarch started favourite for the 1997 Irish Derby, but finished a disappointing fifth to Desert King, beaten thirteen lengths.
He then came second to Stowaway in the Great Voltigeur Stakes at York, beaten half a length, before winning the St Leger at Doncaster, for which he had started 5-4 favourite.
As a four-year-old he finished a narrow second to Romanov in the Jockey Club Stakes at Newmarket, but won the 1998 Coronation Cup from Swain at Epsom in June, succeeding over the course and distance where he had been so narrowly defeated the previous year.
He remained a consistent performer, though he was well beaten in the 1998 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot, won by Swain for the second consecutive year.