Del Mar racetrack
Tasso raced seven times at age two in 1985, scoring five wins with one second and one third. After misbehaving in the post parade, he finished third in his first start on May 31, 1985 in a maiden special weight race at Hollywood Park in California. He returned nearly two months later with a win in a similar race, then followed up with a victory in a 1-mile allowance race at Del Mar racetrack. On September 11, he stepped up in class to enter the Grade I Del Mar Futurity, where he was ridden by Laffit Pincay Jr. to a close win over the filly Arewehavingfunyet. He was then shipped to Keeneland race track in Kentucky, where he first finished second in an allowance race and then won the Breeders' Futurity Stakes.