Three days before the Preakness Stakes-G1, trainer Chad Summers considered the abundance of early speed among the 14-horse field and mapped out a trip for Napoleon Solo and jockey Paco Lopez.
"You're going to have to ride for position into the first turn; if Paco does this, as good as the horse is feeling right now, he's going to be in front," said Summers with a subtle move of his hands. "I don't want it. If somebody else wants it more, give it to them and we'll just kind of sit in the pocket. He's not a need-the-lead horse. He's an, 'I'm-fast-enough-to-be-there' horse. Ideally, he's got somebody to sit off of for a half-mile and Paco can put him to bed early and then see if somebody catches him."
Napoleon Solo ran like he heard every word.
The son of Liam's Map stalked hometown favorite Taj Mahal early, rolled past on the final turn and made it stand up through the stretch to win by 11⁄4 lengths over Iron Honor with Chip Honcho third after 13⁄16 miles in 1:58.69 at Laurel Park May 16. It was the first classic win for Summers, Lopez and owner Al Gold's Gold Square stable.
Subbing for the under-construction Pimlico Race Course, Laurel hosted a limited crowd of 4,800 but proved to be a capable understudy with solid fields throughout stakes-filled cards Friday and Saturday and the most Preakness starters since 14 also went postward in 2011. All-sources wagering handle on Preakness Day was $106.9 million -- about $3 million shy of 2025 at Pimlico.
The only Grade 1 winner in the field, Napoleon Solo wasn't exactly a secret but came in with two 2026 starts that spurred as many questions as answers. The gray colt, bred in Kentucky by John Gunther and Eurowest Bloodstock, won both starts as a 2-year-old including a romp in the Champagne Stakes-G1 in October. Thinking about the Kentucky Derby-G1, Summers and Gold bypassed the Breeders' Cup Juvenile-G1 to point for a 3-year-old campaign.
Like many a horse trainer's best-laid plans, Summers' GPS for Napoleon Solo lost its signal though he made Gulfstream Park's Fountain of Youth-G2 Feb. 28.
"Unfortunately we got started a couple weeks later than we wanted to," said Summers. "We ran in the Fountain of Youth, and he probably wasn't ready for it, but I didn't think you could go to the Derby off of one prep race."
Fifth behind Commandment, Napoleon Solo moved forward and was pointed for the Arkansas Derby-G1 at Oaklawn Park a month later. He trained well, made the program, did everything but ship.
"The blacksmith went to shoe him, and sure enough, he's got a heel bruise and we have to scratch," Summers said. "We missed five days of training, then trained him in an egg bar shoe."
Still trying to get to Kentucky on the first Saturday in May, Summers turned to one more points race -- the Wood Memorial-G2 at Aqueduct April 4. Assigned the inside post in a field of 12, Napoleon Solo broke on top, set a pressured pace ahead of Talk to Me Jimmy through 6 furlongs and yielded late to finish fifth again.
"I felt comfortable enough to get to the Wood to try and just get enough points to get in [the Derby]," said Summers, whose horse ended up with 25 qualifying points, enough for the also-eligible list but not enough to guarantee a spot in the gate. "We didn't think it was going to be his best effort, but to try and make the Derby, you needed to get points. I didn't feel like we were bringing a horse over there that had no chance, and I thought he was brave there. You get post one, the other speed horse is in post two, you've got to go, you've got to defend the rail in that position, and it just kind of got to us late."
Fifth in his only two starts around two turns, Napoleon Solo had also yet to fully answer the distance question, but Summers wanted one more try -- with no delayed training, no bar shoe, no chasing a race he couldn't enter.
"Once we didn't have the points originally to get into the Derby, this was the most logical path to go down," the trainer said of the Preakness. "You move forward and you see how he trains."
Napoleon Solo practically shouted his readiness to tackle Laurel. He breezed four times at Belmont Park after the Wood, a half-mile in :48.26 April 17, 6 furlongs in 1:11.42 April 24, another 6 furlongs in 1:10 May 2 and a final half-mile in :48.06 May 9. Summers loved what he saw, especially those longer moves in the middle.
"I've never had a horse work 1:11 and 1:10, back-to-back weeks, and he gallops out a mile in 1:36; and most horses can't run 1:36," he said. "He doesn't train like a sprinter, even though he's brilliantly fast. When they breeze like that, to me, they're just telling you, 'Hey, give me one more shot.' "
Derby winner Golden Tempo and runner-up Renegade bypassed the Preakness, leaving Ocelli (third), Incredibolt (sixth) and Robusta (14th) to make the two-week turnaround between classics along with Derby gate scratch Great White. Napoleon Solo started as the 8-1 fourth choice behind the undefeated (and Laurel based) Taj Mahal from the barn of Maryland's leading trainer Brittany Russell, Virginia Derby winner Incredibolt and maiden-but-Grade 1-placed Ocelli. Morning-line favorite Iron Honor drifted to more than 8-1 for trainer Chad Brown.
Pre-race talk centered on the forward running style of most of the field. All but three looked like up-front types, on the lead or near it, which theoretically would play to the strengths of Ocelli, Incredibolt and longshot Bull by the Horns.
From the inside post, Taj Mahal and Sheldon Russell broke running. The son of Nyquist, once in the barn of Bob Baffert for an ownership group headed by SF Racing and including Marylander Matt Dorman's Determined Stables, came in off three wins over the track -- a 6-furlong maiden Feb. 6, the 1-mile Miracle Wood two weeks later and an easy score in the Federico Tesio at 11⁄8 miles April 18. Untested in graded company, Taj Mahal looked like a legitimate Maryland-based Preakness contender while trying to become the first Tesio winner since Maryland-bred Deputed Testamony in 1983 to also capture the Preakness.
The $525,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase rolled away from the gate and into the first turn while building a quick lead. From post 10, Lopez gave Napoleon Solo free rein and the gray angled to the two path a length behind the leader on the turn. Everyone else backed off. Taj Mahal covered the first quarter-mile in :22.66. Behind him, Napoleon Solo found a rhythm as Lopez kept his hands down and his head high. The half-mile split came in :46.66 and nobody mentioned a pace battle setting things up for closers again. Talkin, Chip Honcho and Iron Honor filled the third, fourth and fifth spots as Ocelli and Incredibolt dropped back to 11th and 13th.
"The more we looked at it, we said there's a lot of speed in the race, but the fractions that they run aren't really speed fractions; they're :47s and :48s," said Summers afterward. "We felt like his biggest asset is his cruising speed. He has a high cruising speed . . . We just hoped somebody would give us a little target in front. We were planning, if nobody else went there, then we would have been :22 and 4 and in front. That was the plan. We weren't going to take his biggest asset away from him."
They didn't have to as Napoleon Solo relaxed behind the leader, put enough distance on the closers early and allowed Lopez to dictate everyone else.
The jockey said go on the turn and Napoleon Solo drew alongside the leader after 6 furlongs in 1:12.08. Everyone tried to match the move but failed as Lopez took seven looks behind him -- left, right, left, right, right, left, left -- between the quarter pole and the eighth pole. Napoleon Solo never looked anywhere but down the track as he built a cushion on Iron Honor and maintained it through the finish.
"I've watched Paco for a long time, that's Paco being Paco," Summer said of the ride. "He rides every horse with so much confidence, whether it's a match race at Parx or a Grade 1 in the Preakness. One thing we talked about yesterday, talked about today was just ride this horse with confidence . . . He had enough horse underneath him to get the job done."
Chip Honcho ran evenly to finish 31⁄4 lengths behind the runner-up. Ocelli wound up fourth, a neck in front of Incredibolt. Taj Mahal faded to 10th. The $1.2 million Preakness payday pushed Napoleon Solo to $1,560,520 for his career, while giving him three wins in five starts.
Summers and Gold watched from the paddock along with trainers Brittany Russell (Taj Mahal), Riley Mott (Incredibolt) and Whit Beckman (Ocelli). As the race unfolded, the noise grew from the crowd in front of one overhead television screen. The other three just got quieter.
"Wow, we won the Preakness," came a loud, sustained declaration as the horses galloped out after the finish. Part pride, part relief, all joy, it was Gold, soon in a long bearhug with Summers.
Summers felt all that and more.
"I just feel like I'm proud of the horse," he said. "I felt like the horse deserved it. I feel like I let the horse down with his two fifth-place finishes in those two starts. I felt like I let Gold Square down trying to get to the Derby. So it's just an omen to get back here, and then, this is the icing on the cake to get the victory for sure."
A trainer since 2017, Summers reached a peak with Grade/Group 1-winning New York-bred Mind Your Biscuits, whose career included major scores at Saratoga, Santa Anita, Belmont Park, Churchill Downs and Dubai (twice) while earning $4.2 million. As a bloodstock agent, Summers helped Gold purchase Grade 1 winners Cyberknife, Howard Wolowitz and Full Count Felicia among others. They mainly raced for other trainers, but Summers won a career-high 20 races in 2025 while fueled by additional Gold Square runners.
Napoleon Solo joined the squad from deep in Book Two at Keeneland September in 2024. Consigned by co-breeder Gunther's Glennwood Farm, Hip 1081 caught Summers' eye.
"He was a little bit immature, but he was a cool horse," said Summers, whose prior racing jobs included posts at Horse Racing Radio Network and Thoroughbred Times magazine. "He X-rayed perfectly clean, everything was good. It was the end of Book Two, you have the day off the next day, and then Book Three is the following day. Sometimes you get rewarded by looking at every horse."
Summers originally had another client in mind for the colt, out of the stakes-winning Scat Daddy mare Atomic Blonde. Glennwood bought Atomic Blonde's dam Volver (Ire) for $22,000 as a broodmare in 2011. She produced seven winners, led by Napoleon Solo's dam, whose nine-start career included three wins, topped by Gulfstream Park's South Beach Stakes in 2020. Atomic Blonde's first foal, a Without Parole (GB) gelding named Lawless Ways, had yet to start by the time Napoleon Solo made the Keeneland catalog.
Pedigree wasn't necessarily attracting Summers anyway, but he told Gold about the horse and got a predictable answer.
"You want him?" Gold said. "Go get him."
Looking for more clarity on a price point from the seller, Summers went back to the Glennwood consignment.
"They were up on the top hill, like Barn 47, 48, whatever and this is like 5:30, 6 o'clock at night and I don't know what he's going to cost," said Summers. "We don't know where he's going to fall."
Summers saw Gunther at the barn -- actually Barn 43 but the point remains -- and started asking questions.
"What's the reserve? I've got to know where I've got be. Am I here all night or should I go home?"
Gunther said the reserve was $39,000. Summers stayed and was probably the only bidder at $40,000. That Keeneland session included 231 horses sold. The six-figure list went 203 deep. Just 13 sold for less than $50,000. One, the eighth least-expensive horse of the day, won the Preakness.
"He was like 20 or 30 hips from the end of the day, and I think people went to dinner," Summers said. "Originally the horse's name was going to be No Mail Today because I said he was a Sunday horse, not a Saturday horse; he was too cheap."
Once the colt started making progress with Jorge Villagomez in Florida, Gold went with Napoleon Solo, a character in the 1960s TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Using that sales price to his advantage, Summers ran Napoleon Solo in a restricted maiden race at Saratoga Aug. 8. He won by 51⁄4 lengths.
"We liked him right away and he started being one of the ones that we kind of were more precocious about," said Summers while watching his stable star train at Laurel. "People ask me why I ran him in the maiden auction race first time. Why wouldn't I?"
Two months later, Napoleon Solo rewarded that decision with a win in the Champagne and -- despite the two losses to start 2026 -- Summers tried to remain confident in his decisions. At Laurel, he trained Napoleon Solo later than the other Preakness and Black-Eyed Susan runners in hopes of finding a quieter track; he used a round pen as a way to disperse energy and laughed at the horse's rapport with exercise rider Emily Ellingwood.
"She wishes he'd buck more, I wish he'd buck less," Summers said. "If he wants to train happy, train happy. Don't train like an idiot, but train happy. He sees other horses and he wants to go get them. It's not that he's mean, he's just a very happy horse . . . He's at least coming to the race the right way. I feel like I've done my job as best I can possibly do it, and my team has done their job as best they can possibly do it. We're going to let Saturday prove out for whatever proves out."
Napoleon Solo took care of the rest.
