 He was purchased for US$100,000 by Teruya Yoshida for his father Zenya Yoshida, a Japanese racehorse owner/breeder who operated Shadai Farm in Shiraoi, Hokkaido.His new owner decided to race the colt in France and turned him over to trainer John Cunnington, Jr. at the Great Stables in Chantilly.Racing at age two, Northern Taste won the Prix Thomas Bryon at Saint-Cloud Racecourse and the Prix Eclipse at Maisons-Laffitte Racecourse where the following April 1974 he would return to win the Prix Djebel.