Starting the 4/5 favourite against ten opponents, he took the lead a furlong out and won "comfortably" by three and a half lengths from Captain Le Saux.
On his only other appearance of the year he started 1/3 favourite for a minor event at Leicester Racecourse in October but was beaten five lengths into second by Young Ern.
After being restrained by Eddery in the early stages he took the lead approaching the final furlong and won by half a length from the Richard Hannon-trained Revelation (later to win the Prix Eugène Adam).
On his first appearance of the season he was ridden by Frankie Dettori in the Duke of York Stakes on 18 May and finished second, three lengths behind the four-year-old Lake Coniston.
[9] At Royal Ascot on 22 June, So Factual faced Lake Coniston again in the Cork and Orrery Stakes and started the 9/2 second favourite in an eleven-runner field.
On 17 August, Dettori resumed his association with So Factual when the horse was one of eight runners to contest the Group One Nunthorpe Stakes over five furlongs at York.
Approaching the final furlong, Dettori switched the horse left and took the lead from Mind Games and Hever Golf Rose as Ya Malak began to make rapid progress along the stands-side rail.
Despite hanging to the right in the closing stages, So Factual kept on well to win by one and a half lengths from Ya Malak, with Hever Golf Rose taking third ahead of Sharp Point.
[11] So Factual bypassed the remainder of the European season before being sent to Japan to contest the Sprinters Stakes at Nakayama Racecourse on 17 December.