Napoleon Solo is all alone in winning Grade 1 Champagne

New York

Napoleon Solo led the Grade 1, $500,000 Champagne Stakes every step of the way. In doing so he upset 2-5 favorite It’s Our Time in the one-turn mile at the Belmont at Aqueduct fall meet.

Napoleon Solo broke quickly and opened up a clear, one-length margin as the field of nine 2-year-olds raced up the backstretch. He extended his lead at each call to finish the race with a time of 1:34.57 on the fast main track.Trainer Chad Summers did not expect Napoleon Solo to get to the lead in a field that had other horses whom he figured would go to the front. Hall of fame Jockey Joel Rosario took advantage and set fast fractions of 22.53 and 44.24 with the gray son of Liam’s Map.

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“You don’t have a lot of horses that go 44 and change and keep going,” Summers said. “He did it. It wasn’t really the plan, but Joel said he just broke so easy, and he had so much horse in hand. He thought with the way the track is playing, let’s just go ahead.”

Heading up the backstretch, Napoleon Solo settled comfortably in front. He was followed by the It’s Our Time, Curtain Call and Universe, who were in a group spread across the track.

“I thought honestly he would sit third or fourth, but he broke so well, and I don't try to take anything away, because it was easy for him,” Rosario said. “I kind of went to another plan after that. It looked like he was doing it nice and easy, so I just rode, him and hopefully no one was faster than him.”

Napoleon Solo kept extending his lead while going quickly from one length ahead to 2 1/2 to five at the stretch call. He hit the finish line with a 6 1/2-length advantage. The fractions were impressive for these lightly raced 2-year-olds as they went 1:07.88 for six furlongs and then 1:20.90 after seven.

The others just could not keep up with Napoleon Solo, who was named for the lead character in “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” television spy show of the 1960s.

It’s Our Time was the odds-on favorite based on his 17 3/4-length maiden victory at Saratoga in August. The best that he could do was fourth place, 8 1/4 lengths behind the winner.

“Look, the horse on the lead ran superb,” said Tom Amoss, trainer of the losing favorite. “That three-quarter time is outstanding. We were trying to win the race constantly in chase mode, and it eventually caught up to us (the) last eighth of a mile. We did the dirty work, and it was a lot better than a real fourth-place finish. Nonetheless, the winner gets all the credit. He looked real good.”

Just short of 7-1, Napoleon Solo paid $15.94, $10.68 and $7.80. Talkin was 7-1 and rallied from seventh to complete a $2 exacta of $100.60. Universe was 18-1 and finished a $2 trifecta of $1,087.20.

As the Champagne winner, Napoleon Solo, owner Al Gold of Gold Square and Summers got the $275,000 winner’s share of the purse, 10 qualifying points for Kentucky Derby 2026 and a slot in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Oct. 31 at Del Mar.

"We’ve been trying to get Grade 1 horses and trying to get to the Kentucky Derby,” Summers said. “We were there with Cyberknife a few years ago. I’m just so happy for Al and his family (with) the time, effort and money they put into this. He loves his names, horses and the game. To have a horse like this is inspiring.”

The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile is 27 days away, and Summers was not certain of his plans.

“I don’t know. Look, (with) a race like the Juvenile, you want to go,” Summers said. “But that was a fast time with a young horse who has only run two races. We will look at all the numbers, see how the numbers come back, get together with Al. Once again, the Breeders’ Cup is in California, I wish it was on the East Coast once or twice. Get on a plane and get over there, there’s a lot of things to take under consideration.”