Noalcoholic was a "big, strong"[2] bay horse with a white blaze bred in France by his owner, William du Pont III's Pillar Stud.
His sire Nonoalco won the 2000 Guineas and the Prix Jacques Le Marois in 1974 and stood as a breeding stallion in Europe before being exported to Japan.
On what was intended to be his final start, he won a handicap race over 2100 metres at Longchamp Racecourse in May and was then sent to England to fulfill quarantine requirements.
[4] On his debut for Pritchard-Gordon he started a 33/1 outsider for the Queen Anne Stakes (then a Group Two race open to horses aged three and over) at Royal Ascot and belied his odds by finishing second to the three-year-old Mr Fluorocarbon.
In July he attempted to record his first victory in England when he contested the Listed Van Geest Stakes over seven furlongs at Newmarket Racecourse.
Ridden by George Duffield, who became his regular jockey, he started at odds of 100/30[5] and won easily beating Scarrowmanwick by two and a half lengths.
He was then stepped up to Group One level and started second favourite for the Prix Jacques Le Marois at Deauville on 15 August but finished sixth behind The Wonder.
[4] On his return to England, Noalcoholic contested the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (then a Group Two race) at Ascot in September and finished second to the 50/1 outsider Buzzard's Bay, with Mr Fluorocarbon and the Irish 2,000 Guineas winner Dara Monarch among the other beaten horses.
He began the year by finishing second in the Doncaster Mile Stakes in March and was then unplaced in the Prix du Muguet after being boxed in and denied any kind of clear run in the closing stages.
In the official International Classification he was rated the fourth-best older horse in Europe behind the middle-distance performers All Along, Diamond Shoal and Time Charter.