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. 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. Immediately after the break he moved up 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 decent lead heading into the backstretch, a run that mirrored his dominant win in the Federico Tesio Stakes at Laurel Park to gain automatic entry into the second leg of the Triple Crown.

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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.

But Napoleon Solo sat just back and stalked the front-runner, never losing sight of him, with two-time Preakness-winning trainer Chad Brown’s colt Iron Honor following just behind.

On the far turn, jockey Paco Lopez urged Napoleon Solo to challenge Taj Mahal, and the colt willingly pushed for the front and passed his challenger. Just as Napoleon Solo grabbed the lead, jockey Flavien Prat called for Iron Honor to follow in pursuit.

Coming down the stretch, Lopez maneuvered his colt to the rail — the middle of the track displayed unfavorable conditions for horses trying to make a late move for much of the day — as Iron Honor tried to catch him running three-wide.

Prat tried to move Iron Honor closer to the rail, but it was too late.

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“It takes a team to get this done. He had everything go wrong his 3-year-old year and we just kind of stayed the course, stayed the course,” Summers said. “He had a lot of critics out there that told us to just shut up. We just kept with it and it worked out today.”

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 it up with a win in the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes, both at Santa Anita in California.

Owner Al Gold was quick to sing Summers’ 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 some 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 in the Wood Memorial in April. He kept the mount in this spot a flawless trip in one of the biggest spots in his career.

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“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.”

This story will be updated.