Napoleon Solo wins 151st Preakness in convincing fashion

Napoleon Solo was sensational as a 2-year-old, a victor in both his races, including a dominant 6 1/2-length win in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes.

The colt’s 3-year-old campaign was anything but smooth sailing for trainer Chad Summers and owner Al Gold. He ran in two key Kentucky Derby prep races, the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park and Grade 2 Wood Memorial Stakes at Aqueduct, and finished fifth in both.

On Saturday at Laurel Park, everything came together for the son of Liam’s Map out of the mare Atomic Blonde, showing his juvenile success was anything but a fluke. Immediately after the break, he moved from the No. 10 spot to sit just behind pace-setter and local favorite No. 1 Taj Mahal, conditioned by Maryland’s top trainer, Brittany Russell, and ridden by her husband, Sheldon.

Taj Mahal built a one-length lead heading into the backstretch and showed an eagerness to hold it. He went wire to wire in his dominant win in the Federico Tesio Stakes at Laurel Park to gain automatic entry into the second leg of the Triple Crown, gearing down on the far turn before taking off down the stretch to win by 8 1/4 lengths.

For a moment, Maryland racing enthusiasts held their breath, hoping the horse with the strongest local ties could hold off 13 rivals to win the state’s premier race. Brittany Russell would have been the first woman to train a Preakness winner, completing a Triple Crown sweep started by Jena Antonucci with 2023 Belmont Stakes winner Arcangelo and followed by Cherie DeVaux in this year’s Kentucky Derby with Golden Tempo.

And she would have been the first trainer primarily based in Maryland to capture the Woodlawn Vase since J. William Boniface, who campaigned Maryland-bred Deputed Testamony in 1983.

But Napoleon Solo sat just back and never lost sight of Taj Mahal, with two-time Preakness-winning trainer Chad Brown’s colt, No. 9 Iron Honor, following just behind.

On the far turn jockey Paco Lopez urged Napoleon Solo to push for the front, and the colt willingly moved to first place with ease. Just as Napoleon Solo grabbed the lead, jockey Flavien Prat called for Iron Honor to make his move.

Coming down the stretch with a 1 1/2-length lead, Lopez maneuvered his horse to the rail — for much of the day the middle of the track displayed unfavorable conditions for horses trying to make a late push — as Iron Honor tried to catch him running three-wide.

Prat tried to position Iron Honor closer to the rail in the final furlong, but he couldn’t make up enough ground and crossed the wire 1 1/4 lengths behind.

“We had a feeling that Sheldon was going to protect the rail, the way [Taj Mahal] had been breezing, the way he had been training,” Summers said. “So we said, ‘Let’s get a target, make the first move, don’t let them come get us, and then put the pressure on them at the end of the race.’ Paco executed the plan to perfection.”

No. 6 Chip Honcho finished third, then it was two Kentucky Derby runners, No. 2 Ocelli and No. 12 Incredibolt. Taj Mahal faded down the stretch to place 10th.

“He got away good, and they were moving along fine, but the winner also sat right on his flank,” Brittany Russell said. “He did what we thought he would do; he just didn’t kick on.”

The win gives Summers his first millionaire since Mind Your Biscuits, a talented New York-bred who finished second in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint in 2016 and followed with a win in the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes, both at Santa Anita in California.

Gold was quick to sing his trainer’s praises.

“He’s the best,” he said. “He wanted this. This is his dream. He loves the game, and I’m really happy for him. It’s awesome.”

Lopez, who has ridden strong contenders in the Breeders’ Cup but never had a horse perform as well as Napoleon Solo did in the Triple Crown series, first got the call to ride Napoleon Solo in the Wood Memorial. He kept the mount and delivered a flawless trip in one of the biggest spots in his career.

“It’s unbelievable. Twenty years I’ve been riding to be in a race like that, and I was able to pick up the right horse,” he said. “Chad Summers told me, ‘You’re on the right horse now, Paco,’ and he was right.”

The middle leg of the Triple Crown — held for one year at Laurel Park as Pimlico Race Course in Northwest Baltimore is rebuilt — drew 14 runners, the most since 2011. Much of the focus leading up to the race was the absence of Golden Tempo and just about every other serious Derby contender.

Ocelli, who came in third as a 70-1 shot, was the top finisher to make the trip to Maryland on the two-week turnaround, joined by Robusta (14th) and Incredibolt (6th).

The new shooters who showed up came with gaps in their résumés and question marks about their places in the sport’s upper echelon of 3-year-olds. Napoleon Solo certainly didn’t escape that billing with his uneven start to 2026.

Summers and Gold were hoping to get their colt into the starting gate at the Derby and targeted the Arkansas Derby in late March following the disappointing finish in the Fountain of Youth.

But Napoleon Solo developed a foot injury and needed time off. They had to pivot to the Wood Memorial in early April in the hopes a strong finish would get them enough points to get to Churchill Downs.

Even then, Summers said, they knew the colt wasn’t 100%. Napoleon Solo went to the lead early and tired in the stretch, but Lopez came out of the race thinking Napoleon Solo could handle a longer distance like the Preakness.

Gold himself didn’t seem sure. During the post-race news conference, he asked the reporters in the room if anyone felt his horse could go 1 3/16 miles. Few raised their hands.

Summers put his colt to the test on the training track in the lead-up to the race, putting two 6-furlong breezes between two 4-furlong workouts in preparation for the trip to Laurel.

It now looks like a masterstroke of horsemanship.

The next big target for the colt is the Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park, the signature race in Gold’s home state of New Jersey. How they get there is to be determined, Summers said.

Even as he was basking in his colt’s win, Summers seemed to believe Napoleon Solo will still have his detractors. He said he’s ready for the challenge.

“Everyone said he wasn’t as good as he was in the Champagne. This was a win here,” he said. “People will say it wasn’t against the best of the best. We’ll find out the rest of the year.”