Tachypous was a "rangy, most attractive"[2] bay horse with white socks on his hind feet bred by his owner George Cambanis.
Tachypous was then moved up in class and distance and started favourite for the Coventry Stakes over six furlongs at Royal Ascot in June but ran very poorly and finished unplaced behind Cawston's Clown.
He had not fully recovered when he ran in the Richmond Stakes at Goodwood Racecourse at the end of July but produced a much better effort, finishing third to J O Tobin and Priors Walk.
Despite his lack of a recent run he had been performing impressively in training and was made the 5/1[7] joint favourite alongside the Michael Stoute-trained Etienne Gerard.
[6] On his three-year-old debut Tachypous contested the Greenham Stakes (a trial race for the 2000 Guineas) over seven furlongs at Newbury Racecourse in April.
The blinkers were left off when Tachypous was stepped up in distance and matched against older horses in the Eclipse Stakes over ten furlongs at Sandown Park Racecourse in July.
[2] Tachypous was retired from racing at the end of his three-year-old season and became a breeding stallion at the Tedfold Stud at Billingshurst, West Sussex.
There was no International Classification of European two-year-olds in 1976: the official handicappers of Britain, Ireland and France compiled separate rankings for horses which competed in those countries.