Napoleon Solo targets Preakness Stakes, stays in Triple Crown mix

Napoleon Solo is skipping the Kentucky Derby grind and heading straight for the Preakness Stakes, a decision that turns patience into strategy and keeps Chad Summers’ colt in the Triple Crown mix without forcing a premature peak. With the 151st Preakness set for May 16 at Laurel Park in Baltimore, the camp has chosen the route that may give Napoleon Solo the best chance to matter in the middle jewel rather than just show up for it.

Summers said April 27 that the 2025 Champagne Stakes winner was being aimed at the Preakness after he and owner Al Gold of Gold Square LLC weighed their options. That matters because the colt already owns elite credentials: he won the Grade 1 Champagne at Belmont at the Big A on Oct. 4, 2025, by 6 1/2 lengths in 1:34.57 under Joel Rosario. The victory earned him 10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points and a Win and You’re In berth to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, the kind of résumé that keeps a horse relevant even when the spring path gets adjusted.

The change in direction also says plenty about how Summers views the horse’s development. Napoleon Solo, a gray/roan colt foaled Feb. 17, 2023, by Liam’s Map out of Atomic Blonde, was purchased by Chad Summers, agent, for $40,000 at the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling Sale from Glennwood Farm. He was originally pointed to the Arkansas Derby, then rerouted to the Wood Memorial, where he finished fifth on April 4 after a troubled trip. Daily Racing Form reported that he had been dealing with a hoof bruise before that race, a factor that makes the decision to back off the Derby trail look less like avoidance and more like management.

That kind of campaign has become more common among horses with classic ability and enough time on their side. Preakness winners such as Rombauer, Early Voting and National Treasure arrived without the Derby’s wear and tear, and Napoleon Solo fits that modern profile: talented enough to belong, but better served by a cleaner, fresher path. If he comes to Laurel Park with his best form intact, he may prove more dangerous than if he had been thrown into the deepest spring field on the calendar.

The next steps are still flexible. Summers has also identified the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on July 18 as an early summer goal, with the Pat Day Mile, the Long Branch and other Laurel Park races on May 16 among the spring options. For bettors, the Preakness picture now has a recognizable stakes winner with room to improve. For Napoleon Solo, it is the chance to make the Triple Crown trail about timing, not just participation.