On his first race as a three-year-old, Sadler's Wells met El Gran Senor on the racecourse for the first and only time, when he finished second to his stable companion in the seven-furlong Gladness Stakes at the Curragh. Frank McNulty, head of BBA Ireland would later comment, "I remember seeing him at the Gladness Stakes—when he walked into the ring I thought he looked absolutely magnificent, even though he was only the second string." Sadler's Wells next won the ten-furlong Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial and was then brought back in distance for the Irish 2,000 Guineas over one mile. In a closely contested finish, he won from the French-trained Procida and the favourite Secreto. The O'Brien trained Capture Him, whom Eddery chose to ride in preference to Sadler's Wells, finished fourth.