In the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes he was employed as a pacemaker but after he established a big lead his more fancied opponents were unable to catch him and he won at odds of 33/1.
As a son of the Hungerford Stakes winner Inchinor, Summoner was a representative of the Byerley Turk sire line,[3] unlike more than 95% of modern thoroughbreds, who descend directly from the Darley Arabian.
[8] The colt was then stepped up sharply in class for the 2000 Guineas over the Rowley Mile at Newmarket on 6 May in which he started a 25/1 outsider and came home ninth of the 27 runners behind King's Best.
Twelve days later he contested a similar event at Doncaster in which he was ridden by Hughes and stated the 7/1 third favourite behind the Henry Cecil-trained Pythio who had won the Britannia Stakes in 1999.
At the end of the year Summoner was bought by Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin organisation and was transferred to the training stable of Saeed bin Suroor.
Summoner, who started the 33/1 outsider and was ridden by Richard Hills, had not been among the original entries for the contest and was supplemented for a fee of £25,000 to act as a pacemaker for his stablemate Noverre, the 2/1 favourite.
He was ridden by Richard Hills who had created a huge upset in the race seven years earlier when he rode the supposed pacemaker Maroof to victory at 66/1.
By this time his ownership had passed to Sheikh Mohammed's wife Princess Haya and he was being trained in Abu Dhabi by Ali Rashid Al Rayhi.
On his second start for his new connection he won the Listed First Gulf Bank National Day Cup on 19 December[17] but he failed to win in ten subsequent races.