John Silvertand's health has taken a turn for the worse of late, but nothing was going to stop the former Bermuda resident from going to Pimlico to see the horse that is keeping him alive win the Preakness.

And rather fittingly for the steed with a movie-script history, Afleet Alex's Preakness victory on Saturday was full of high drama.

Twenty minutes after the favourite had won the second race of the Triple Crown series despite falling to his knees after a frightening collision, the 60-year-old former Burrows Lightbourn sales manager confessed: “I've got the shakes.”

The story is now an increasingly familiar one. Silvertand's daughter Lauren nursed the horse, whose life was in the balance for the first 24 hours, back to health using a Coors Light bottle with a nipple on the end.

Although the former RAF pilot then lost ownership of the now $10 million valued horse by the toss of a coin, he has credited Afleet Alex with giving him the hope to stay alive despite being told he just had months to live more than three years ago.

And Silvertand, listed as the breeder but not an owner, found himself surprisingly in the winner's enclosure following the four and three-quarters length dramatic victory.

“It's not my position to be with the owners, but they insisted I come up, so I came up,” the instigator of the Bermuda Hockey Festival told the Palm Beach Post, now his local newspaper in Florida.

“I don't force myself on people. There were enough in the winner's circle without having me around. Then they grabbed me and brought me up.

“My 15 minutes of fame went to an hour. I didn't expect to be here this long, so it's wonderful for me.”

On Thursday, Silvertand was leaning against coming to the 130th edition of the race because he wasn't feeling well.

He had learned that the amount of cancer present in his bloodstream had risen after a long period of encouraging lows but on Friday morning he went ahead with the trip in the hope he'd start feeling better as soon as he landed in Baltimore.

Although he had pains in his midsection the day of the race he “really didn't notice them because of what's going on.”

But things could have been so different were it not for Jeremy Rose's athleticism and Afleet Alex's determination to win.

He was gathering momentum, coming off the far turn and looking ready to romp home, but in an instant was cut off by Scrappy T. The horses clipped heels in a frightening collision and Afleet Alex was forced to his knees.

“I didn't have that horrible lurch in my heart,” said Silvertand, who couldn't see the incident because of the sun's glare. “But I knew by the noise - or the lack of noise - that something had happened.”

Incredibly, Afleet Alex regained his footing and his drive. And in the span of few breathtaking strides, tragedy was averted and the courageous colt breezed home.

“I held on to the mane and he picked himself right up,” jockey Jeremy Rose said, “and from that point on, I knew we had it won.”

Silvertand is going in for more cancer tests this week but, typically for him, he is remaining confident - if the thought of Preakness victory was keeping him alive then his family and friends will be hoping that the reality will help do just that, and for as long as possible.

“Right away, he came over and hugged me and said, ‘Unbelievable, unbelievable,'” said Daniel Brittingham, the 15-year-old son of Bob Brittingham, one of Afleet Alex's co-owners in a group called Cash Is King.

“I didn't know what to say. I said, ‘Yeah.' I saw the look on his face, and I know this is his chemo right here.”