How great was Alleged ?
class comparison
- #1In class of Sea Bird
- #2In class of Nijinsky
- In class of Sir Ivor
- In class of El Gran Senor
- Better than Sir Ivor
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This year on 4th May we commemorated the 50th birthday of the super colt Alleged, born in 1974, who became the first horse to win 2 consecutive editions of the Prix de L’Arc De Triomphe .The colt carves a permanent niche amongst the all-time great middle distances horses to have set foot on the racing track in Britain and Ireland. I attribute his success, a great deal, to the training of maestro Vincent O’Brien , at Ballydoyle.
Alleged was late bloomer in the 1977 racing season, missing all the British classics and plum events, before the St.Leger. Alleged won the Great Voltegieur stakes in emphatic fashion by 7 lengths against a high class field , underlining his championship material .However he was beaten by the Queen’s Dunfermline in the St.Leger, who fading out in the last furlong, after virtually having the race at his mercy, and virtually cruising home .Dunfermline at 10-1 odds upset the applecart of Alleged, having the advantage of a pacemaker
Alleged avenged that defeat in the Arc where he stride away from Balmerino, snatching the lead 2 furlongs out, to win effortlessly by 3 lengths. Dunfermline finished 4th .Alleged was thus crowned’ horse of the year.’
In 1978 Alleged made his debut in May, with a win on jarred going at the Curragh and went on to win the Prix d’Orange in record time.2 weeks later in the Arc ,Alleged manifested the class of a thouroughbred at it’s supreme height, on most challenging soft ground. The manner or ease with which he cruised away from the filly Dancing Maid, made him comparable or on par with past superstars like Ribot, Sea Bird and Mill Reef. Lester Piggot’s golden touch, played an important role in the triumph, whose judgement of pace was exemplary . On the day of the Arc, he could have joined the very greatest. To me, the racing world, greatly missed clash between Alleged and The Minstrel, with the latter r being a dual Derby and King George winner, in 1977.
Alleged was awarded a timeform rating at 138, on par with Nijinsky and 136 by the International classifications. Very rare in flat racing has a great champion peaked at the fag end of 2 consecutive seasons. In my personal book I would rank Alleged just a notch behind Nijinsky and a whisker below Sir Ivor and El Gran Senor ,weighing all factors ,amongst O Brien’s great horses. Strange that Owner Robert Sangster, rated El Gran Senor , ahead of Alleged.
As I’ve said before very first day racing saw him hammer the Derby runner up by 10 lengths in the voltigeur. Had he not run in the leger would have retired unbeaten. Won two top class arc renewals. Always be one of my favourites.
He can’t go in the class of Sea Bird or Nijinsky but conflicted over whether to bunch him in with Sir Ivor or not.
He didn’t have Sir Ivor’s brilliance (who won 2000g, Derby, Champion Stakes & Washington DC International and was also placed in the Eclipse, Irish Derby and Arc as a 3yr old) but Alleged is the last colt to go back to back in the Arc and that is a huge accomplishment in of itself.
I would class him as a better overall racehorse than El Gran Senor (option not listed) simply because EGS’s standing rests purely on his admittedly brilliant 2000g win – his Derby and Irish Derby form isn’t on par with Alleged’s Arc wins and we didn’t see EGS again after the Irish Derby but I very much doubt he would have won the 1984 Arc (the English/Irish classic crop didn’t cut much ice in it).
Even though Alleged is rated higher than both Sir Ivor and El Gran Senor by Timeform, the only option I can realistically pick is the ‘In Sir Ivor’s class’.
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