This may be redboardish but I hadn't paid that much attention to this race but a straightaway mile race would not seem to fit AK's style or profile very well. Kind of like asking Mariano Rivera to start and go 7 in his final game.
IMO he was a very good horse who did some unique things in his career but i don't see how he could be considered a Hall of Fame horse considering that he won less than half his starts and only 3 stakes races. Sure 2 of them were the top of the top (though hardly great editions of those races) and the 2nd in the BC mile was also great effort under less than ideal circumstances but when your 4th best race was at Turfway I'm not sure that you have done enough. He is more or less the horse racing version of Bret Saberhagen
http://www.baseball-reference.com/pl...aberbr01.shtml