ESPN Horse Racing

"Just an amazing story, isn't it?" trainer Tim Ritchey said outside his barn at Churchill Downs. "We're just so fortunate to have a horse like this. Everything is just falling into place, plus we have an opportunity to help some that are less fortunate."

John Silvertand, the 60-year-old breeder who lives in Lake Worth, Fla., said doctors gave him about three months to live because of colon cancer that had spread to his lungs and liver. It's been 2 1/2 years and counting.

"The horse keeps me going," Silvertand said in a telephone interview. "I truly believe he's helping me in my battle."

Silvertand, a former pilot in Britain's Royal Air Force, plans to drive to the Derby with his wife, Carolyn, and 12-year-old daughter, Lauren. "Have to drive," he said. "Too many Afleet Alex hats to take on the plane."

The hats are just part of the Afleet Alex merchandise also being sold to raise money for Alex's Lemonade Stand for Pediatric Cancer Research. Each hat has a small lemon image on the side, and Afleet Alex's saddlecloth also will have a lemon image.

Alexandra Scott, the daughter of Jay and Liz Scott of Wynnewood, Pa., was diagnosed with cancer two days before her first birthday, in 1997. She opened the lemonade stand when she was 4, hoping to raise $1 million for her hospital.

The touching story quickly gained national interest, and donations started pouring in. Alexandra was 8 when she died Aug. 1. Chuck Zacney, managing partner of Cash Is King Stable, owners of Afleet Alex, was so moved by the story that he pledged $30,000 to the charity. Then he e-mailed the Scotts, asking if they'd like to be part of the team, with a portion of Afleet Alex's earnings going to the cancer charity.

On Tuesday morning at Churchill Downs, a breeding season to Afleet Alex's sire, Northern Afleet, was auctioned for $37,000 -- all of it going to Alex's Lemonade Stand. The winning bidder was B. Wayne Hughes, who owns two horses trying to beat Afleet Alex in the Derby, Greeley's Galaxy and Don't Get Mad.

The charity so far has raised more than $1.6 million.

The lemonade stand opened Tuesday on the backstretch, and Liz Scott was in awe of what's been happening.

"It's incredible. It's taken it to a different level for me," she said. "This will be the first year that she's not here, so this was a really important year for me.

"She loved horses, but she never actually met one. She had pictures of them and she read books. She would think this was really very cool and I'm sure if she was here on Derby day, she'd be all decked out with her hat and her outfit. She was really into that kind of stuff."

Zacney and his four co-owners arrived at Afleet Alex's barn Tuesday, full of stories about how lucky they've been with the first horse they bought together. And they talked about how they named Afleet Alex -- three of the owners' children are named or nicknamed Alex.

"You can't dream this," the 43-year-old Zacney said. "All the owners, we all have a pretty positive spin on life, and we want to share this with everyone. Doing all this, and with the lemonade stand and with John being part of it, is just great."

Afleet Alex, meanwhile, is coming into the race in fine form. He has won six of nine races, with two runner-up finishes, for earnings of $1,315,800. He worked a half-mile Tuesday morning in his final tuneup before the Derby.

Afleet Alex won the Arkansas Derby by a record eight lengths on April 16, less than a month after finishing sixth in the Rebel Stakes. After the race, Ritchey said Afleet Alex had a lung infection.

This was the same horse that went several days without his mother's milk after his birth in Florida in May 2002. With his mother unable to nurse her foal, Silvertand's daughter fed the horse out of a Coors Lite bottle with a nipple on top. A few days later, a nurse mare arrived and Afleet Alex was on his way to the races.

Then there's the saga of jockey Jeremy Rose. He was aboard Afleet Alex for the first six races, but Ritchey retained John Velazquez for the Triple Crown trail. Rose was aboard for Afleet Alex's 3-year-old debut, a victory in the Mountain Valley Stakes, but Velazquez was the rider in the Rebel.

However, Velazquez committed to riding Bandini in the Blue Grass on the same day as the Arkansas Derby, putting Rose back on Afleet Alex.

"It was put out of my hands," Rose said. "I'm just glad I got a horse to ride in the Derby."

Two years ago, high school pals from upstate New York watched their gelding Funny Cide win the Kentucky Derby. Last year, it was Smarty Jones, who nearly died in a starting gate mishap, winning the Derby and becoming the "people's horse."

Is Afleet Alex next?

"He may be," Ritchey said. "He's going to have to prove himself, but he's a horse that had to overcome things. America seems to like a sports star that overcomes adversity and goes on and becomes successful."

Watch the Kentucky Derby on NBC this Saturday at 5 p.m. ET

Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press