Tyrnavos was a "very impressive looking"[2] dark-coated bay horse with no white markings,[3] bred in England by his owner George Cambanis.
[4] He was from the sixth crop of foals sired by Blakeney the winner of the 1969 Epsom Derby, who stood as a breeding stallion at the National Stud.
Cambanis named his colt after a town in Thessaly and sent him into training with Bruce Hobbs at the Palace House stable in Newmarket, Suffolk.
At York Racecourse later that month, Tyrnavos was moved up in distance to ten and a half furlongs for the Dante Stakes, a trial for The Derby.
[2] On 4 June, Tyrnavos was one of twenty-four colts to contest the 201st running of the Derby over one and a half miles on firm ground at Epsom Downs Racecourse.
The early stages were very rough and Tyrnavos was blocked and bumped several times before being forced to the wide outside on the final turn.
The field included Master Willie, Rankin, Pelerin and Garrido who had finished second, third, fourth and fifth in the Epsom Derby as well as Nikoli, the beaten favourite.
[9] The ground was firmer when Tyrnavos contested Britain's most prestigious all-aged race, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot a month later.