Preakness 2026: Napoleon Solo spies path to old success

Laurel, Md.

Napoleon Solo might define inscrutable. At age 2 he looked like a world beater. At age 3 he has disappointed.

Maybe he was precocious. Maybe he is a one-turn horse. Maybe he had a couple bad days best left forgotten.

Hard to figure? Don’t tell that to Napoleon Solo’s trainer.

4 keys to betting Preakness 2026 undercard.

“Nope,” Chad Summers said. “His 2-year-old campaign, everything went right. His 3-year-old campaign, everything’s gone wrong.”

There is no disputing that as Napoleon Solo tries to find his success of 2026 when he races Saturday in the Preakness at Laurel Park.

Owned by retired New Jersey real-estate millionaire Al Gold, the $40,000 gray colt by Liam’s Map has become the wise-guy horse this week. He brings that role to a classic race that lacks a certain identity since Golden Tempo became the third Kentucky Derby winner in five years to skip Maryland and scuttle the Triple Crown.

Summers spoke matter-of-factly at the Laurel Park stakes barn this week when he was asked about the 2025 ups and 2026 downs for Napoleon Solo.

“He's finally 100%,” Summers said. “You have little setbacks. You have little things. Training horses is not easy. They’re not cars. You want them to peak on a certain day. We were hoping it was going to be the first Saturday in May, but we’ll make it the third Saturday in May.”

There were no bumps on the trail for Napoleon Solo last year. He won on debut during the Saratoga summer and then by a jaw-dropping 6 1/2 lengths in the Oct. 4 Champagne (G1) at Aqueduct.

Then came nearly five months off. Napoleon Solo came back with a poor start and a distant fifth-place finish Feb. 28 in the Fountain of Youth (G2) at Gulfstream Park. The Arkansas Derby (G1) was supposed to be the next stop March 28, but that plan was scrapped after Napoleon Solo came out of a workout the week before with a sore heel.

Summers regrouped and aimed for the Wood Memorial (G2) at Aqueduct. Lacking a breeze the week before, the result April 4 was another fifth-place finish, leaving Napoleon Solo 15 places and 25 points below the Kentucky Derby cutline.

Even though dropouts were inevitable and the Pat Day Mile (G2) was considered, the decision finally was made to skip May 2 at Churchill Downs and aim for the Preakness.

“I think that he deserves one more opportunity,” Summers said. “I thought the Wood was a deceptively good race not being at his absolute peak.”

It appears there have been no problems getting Napoleon Solo ready for this weekend. He has not missed a breeze since the Wood. Working on the training track at Belmont Park, he was clocked the last four weeks going a half-mile in 48.2 seconds, six furlongs in 1:11.4, six furlongs in 1:10.0 and a half-mile last Saturday in 48.0 seconds.

“I’d say this is the best he’s been ever in his life,” Summers said.

Napoleon Solo arrived from New York on Sunday afternoon and galloped each morning just before Laurel Park closed training at 10 a.m. EDT. That was the case even on Thursday, while the annual alibi breakfast was happening behind the grandstand glass. As the chicken and waffles were getting chowed down and speeches revved up, Napoleon Solo was downstairs on the track. Other than his exercise rider Emily Ellingwood, he truly was solo.

“He goes out when nobody’s out there,” Summers said. “He can get aggressive. He can forget that he has four legs. Sometimes he thinks he has two. It’s just safer and better for everybody if he goes when the track is quiet.”

Napoleon Solo is one of the 11 Preakness horses who has shown early speed or stalked the leaders in past performances. With Paco López riding from post 10 in the field of 14, Summers expected nothing different Saturday from his colt who was 11-1 in the win pool Saturday morning.

“We’ll see what happens in the race,” he said. “We know our horse is the fastest horse. If he makes the lead, he makes the lead. If somebody wants it more than us, we’ll sit second or third.”

Then it is a question of whether Napoleon Solo can stay the 1 3/16-mile course.

“If we’re wrong, there’s plenty of shorter races the rest of the year,” Summers said. “But they only run these Triple Crown races once. You only get one chance as a 3-year-old. The way he ran as a 2-year-old, obviously, we wanted to make the Kentucky Derby. We felt like he was a Triple Crown contender the way he won the Champagne, a future stallion prospect.”

That autumn victory came with a 95 Beyer Speed Figure, according to Daily Racing Form. Punctuating his faith in the horse named for a 1960s TV character, Summers threw shade on voters who decided Napoleon Solo would not get a sniff of the 2-year-old male championship for 2025.

“His best performance of last year wasn’t good enough to make him an Eclipse Award finalist,” he said. “So we’ll see what that means.”