[3] St. Frusquin's dam Isabel was a successful racehorse, winning eleven races before being retired to stud, where the best of her other progeny was the Richmond Stakes winner St. Gris.

Ridden by Tommy Loates, who became his most regular jockey, he showed inexperience by hanging to the left after taking the lead but held on to win by a neck from Gulistan.

[5] He followed up with victories in the £2,000 Sandringham Cup at Sandown on 27 June, beating Labrador easily[6] by three lengths, and the Chesterfield Stakes at Newmarket on 18 July[7] before an attack of rheumatism interrupted his season.

[14] His winnings for the season totaled £9,622[1] and he entered the winter break as 11/4 favourite for the following year's Derby, ahead of Persimmon and the Duke of Westminster's colt Regret, who was being talked of "a second Ormonde".

[16] St. Frusquin began his three-year-old season by winning the Column Produce Stakes at Newmarket on April, making "mincemeat" of the opposition despite conceding at least thirteen pounds to the other runners.

With both Persimmon and Regret withdrawn from the race after performing poorly in training,[18] St. Frusquin was made one of the shortest-priced favourites in the history of the Classics, starting at the unusual odds of 12/100.

[20] The ground at Newmarket in the spring of 1896 was reported to be "like iron", a fact put forward later in the season as a contributory factor in St. Frusquin's career-ending injuries.

[25] One rumour, which stated that Rothschild had instructed that St. Frusquin should not be trained to peak fitness for the race in order to facilitate a "Royal" victory, was both reported and attacked in the British press.

St. Frusquin was restrained by Loates in the early stages before moving forward to overtake Persimmon in the straight and after a "very exciting"[27] race during which he displayed "the utmost gameness"[28] he defeated the Derby winner by half a length, with Regret third.

[1] Shortly after his win at Sandown, St. Frusquin was being prepared for the St Leger when he was injured in training, sustaining serious injuries to the suspensory ligaments in his forelegs (initially reported as a tendon strain).

[34] In August 1896, the Live Stock Journal described St. Frusquin as "one of the best horses of the century, his great courage and resolution making him worthy to compare with Isinglass, Donovan and Ormonde.