He is owned by the Cash Is King Stable partnership, was trained by Tim Ritchey and ridden by Jeremy Rose.
Bred in Florida by John Martin Silvertand, Afleet Alex is out of the winning mare Maggy Hawk and counts multiple Grade 2-placed Unforgettable Max as a full brother.
Maggy Hawk has three foals of racing age, two runners, two winners and two stakes horses, including Afleet Alex.
At the outset, Afleet Alex faced adversity: his mother became ill 24 hours after his birth and could no longer nurse him.
[2] Silvertrand's daughter Lauren (then nine) fed the colt from a Coors Light bottle the day after his mother became ill.
[2] Considered an ugly duckling as a youngster, Afleet Alex turned into a handsome bay stallion who reached 16 hands (64 inches, 163 cm) at maturity.
[1] Afleet Alex started his three-year-old campaign by winning the listed Mountain Valley Stakes at Oaklawn Park in a fast time of 1:09.52 for six furlongs.
[8] He then finished out of the money for the only time in his career in the Rebel Stakes under jockey John R. Velazquez, and was later found to be suffering from a lung infection.
"[9] Coming off two strong wins and discarding his Rebel Stakes mishap, Afleet Alex was one of the favorites for the Kentucky Derby, run May 7, 2005.
Two weeks later, Afleet Alex won the second leg of the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico, leaving Giacomo third.
In his Preakness victory, Scrappy T, who was in the lead, swung out at the top of the stretch as a result of an aggressive smack of his jockey Ramon Dominguez's whip.
[8] The colt's fall campaign was derailed when he was found in late July 2005 to have a hairline fracture in his left front cannon bone, near the ankle.
The fracture was discovered very early, and the prognosis was good for Afleet Alex to return to his previous level of performance.
Later in the year, avascular necrosis (the dying of tissue in the bone, creating a brittle patch) was discovered and diagnosed.
Cash Is King Stable received a special Eclipse Award for its contributions to Alex's Lemonade Stand.