Only one Preakness: Napoleon Solo takes his shot
“There’s only one Preakness,” says trainer Summers
Frank Vespe
May 15, 2026
Napoleon Solo led most of the way in the April 4 Wood Memorial before tiring to fifth, albeit just a couple of lengths behind winner Albus.
But it was his second consecutive off-color outing, both around two turns, leading Chad Summers, who trains the Liam’s Map colt for Al Gold’s Gold Square LLC, to ask:
“Does that mean that he’s just a one turn miler, or does it mean that he got tired and has a chance to move forward? That’s what we’re going to find out [in Saturday’s Grade 1, $2 million Preakness Stakes].”
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It’s not merely an academic question. The sophomore’s Champagne win, as a two-year-old, was the single most impressive performance to date by any horse entered in the Preakness, this year at Laurel Park.
In the Champagne, contested last October at Aqueduct, Napoleon Solo set punishing fractions before drawing off to win by 6 ½ lengths and earn a 95 Beyer speed figure. That fig is tied for the highest Beyer earned in any race by the 14 Preakness starters.
Moreover, Napoleon Solo’s six-furlong time in the Champagne of 1:07.88 was less than two fifths of a second off Kelly Kip’s longstanding track record of 1:07.54. Especially for a two-year-old, it was a tour de force.
A repeat of that sort of effort would likely lead to a blanket of Black-Eyed Susans and plenty of champagne toasts.
In two starts this year, he was a well-beaten fifth in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth at 1 1/16 miles – in a race won narrowly by Commandment over Chief Wallabee, with next out Bayshore winner Solitude Dude in third – and fifth again in the 1 1/8-mile Wood Memorial.
So it’s fair to wonder if he’s distance-limited. Heck, even Summers does. But what Summers does know is this: his horse has excuses for the seemingly off-color outings.
“His first race was a prep by design,” the trainer said. “His fitness level was where we felt comfortable enough to give him a chance in the Fountain of Youth, but we knew he was going to kind of move forward from there.”
So far, so good.
“His two subsequent works were really, really good,” Summers said of a pair of five-furlong moves. “We got excited. We entered in the Arkansas Derby, and he came up with a heel bruise. And, you know, we missed the Arkansas Derby. We missed five days of training. We missed a workout.”
That left the Wood as, he said, “a last hurrah to try and make the Derby.”
He didn’t, of course, but it wasn’t a bad outing.
He led under pressure through six furlongs in 1:12.04, disposing of his pace rivals before tiring in the last eighth. Along with Napoleon Solo, Wood show horse Ocelli and seventh-place finisher Iron Honor, the beaten favorite that day, both are entered in the Preakness.
“We put away [Talk to Me Jimmy], the other speed horse drawn right outside of us,” Summers said of the Wood Memorial. “We put away the Preakness morning line favorite in Iron Honor. So I thought he was brave in defeat.”
The time of the Wood was slow, but on the other hand, it produced Ocelli, who ran a terrific third in the Kentucky Derby, and Talk to Me Jimmy, who bounced back to be second in the Grade 3 Peter Pan.
And so you’re back where you started. Classic distance? Or one-turn miler?
Napoleon Solo’s distance Tomlinson of 385 is one of the best in the race, but it’s also true that more of his pedigree leans middle distance than classic. Sire Liam’s Map’s biggest win, for example, was in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, and dam Atomic Blonde’s lone stakes win came at 7 ½ furlongs.
On the other hand, he’s worked speedily four times since the Wood. Summers says he’s galloped out well in all of them, looking like a horse who’ll go farther.
He has speed to burn and, with plenty of distance to the first turn, ought to be able to find a comfortable spot under jockey Paco Lopez. And then? That’s when we’ll find out.
So Summers isn’t quite willing to throw in the towel just yet.
“You get one opportunity to run these Triple Crown races,” he said. “There’s plenty of opportunities for sprints and miles and seven-furlong races. There’s only one Preakness.”
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