At age three in France, Blushing John won the Group 3 Prix de Fontainebleau at Longchamp over a distance of 1,600 metres (about 1 mile) in April.
In the late summer of 1988, Blushing John was sent to the United States to prepare for the 1988 Breeders' Cup Mile held the first Saturday of November at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky.