Haskell Stakes odds point to pace battle at Monmouth Park

Napoleon Solo gives the 2026 Haskell Stakes a built-in pace question, and the rest of the field will be built around how far he can carry that speed over 1 1/8 miles at Monmouth Park. The Grade 1, $1,000,000 NYRA Bets Haskell Stakes is set for Saturday, July 18, with the post-position draw scheduled for Tuesday, July 15, and the early read is clear enough for bettors: this race is going to be won or lost by trip.

Monmouth Park has framed the race as the centerpiece of its summer, and for good reason. Haskell Day will start with a first-race post time of noon, gates will open at 9 a.m., and the card will include five additional stakes races, highlighted by the Grade 2 United Nations. General admission is $15, with free commemorative Haskell hats, a Best Hat and Best Dressed Couple contest, a $400,000 guaranteed Pick 4 ending in the Haskell and a $300,000 guaranteed Late Pick 5 all on the menu.

The betting shape matters because the Haskell is more than a Saturday feature at the Jersey Shore. Breeders’ Cup labels it a Win and You’re In race for the Breeders’ Cup Classic, so the winner gets an automatic starting-gate berth and a direct line into the championship conversation. That is why the race has long served as a bridge from the Triple Crown season into the late-summer 3-year-old division, where one big win can reshape the rest of the campaign.

Napoleon Solo is the horse most likely to set the tone, while Iron Honor, Crude Velocity and Baby Vino are the names hovering around the kind of race setup that can turn a mile and an eighth into a stamina test. If Napoleon Solo clears and controls the fractions, the others will need to decide whether to chase or save ground and hope the pace comes back. If one of the stalkers lands the right trip, the final furlong could belong to the horse that spent the least energy early.

The Haskell’s history only sharpens the stakes. Monmouth reported that Journalism won the 2025 renewal in front of 41,876 fans, and the day produced a record all-sources handle of $21,999,962 for the third straight year for a non-Breeders’ Cup event. Monmouth’s own facts-and-figures sheet lists the track’s all-time single-day attendance record at 60,983 on Haskell Day, Aug. 2, 2015.

The race has also been a familiar launching pad for elite 3-year-olds. Breeders’ Cup says Bob Baffert owns a record nine Haskell victories, and Bayern, American Pharoah and Authentic each won the Haskell and the Breeders’ Cup Classic in the same 3-year-old season. With Monmouth’s 81st live season running from May 9 through Sept. 13 and Haskell Preview Day already held on June 13, the track has built the summer around a race that still decides far more than one afternoon at Oceanport.