Napoleon Solo, Iron Honor headline 19-horse Haskell Stakes nominations

Napoleon Solo and Iron Honor, the 1-2 finishers in the Preakness Stakes, headline 19 nominations for the 59th Grade 1 NYRA Bets Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park, and the list already sketches a race that could rearrange the 3-year-old pecking order. The Haskell is set for Saturday, July 18, in Oceanport, New Jersey, and its winner earns a Win and You’re In berth into the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Further Ado gives the nomination sheet another layer. The three-time graded stakes winner owns the Blue Grass and Kentucky Jockey Club and bounced back from a Derby disappointment with a win in the Matt Winn, making him the most established name on the page outside the Preakness exacta. The nominations also include other familiar sophomore runners, but the presence of Napoleon Solo, Iron Honor and Further Ado is enough to give the Haskell an early shape before final entries are drawn.

The race is only one piece of Monmouth’s July 18 showcase. Haskell Day will also feature the United Nations, Molly Pitcher, Monmouth Cup, WinStar Matchmaker and Wolf Hill Stakes, with purses set at $500,000 for both the United Nations and Molly Pitcher, $350,000 for the Monmouth Cup, $300,000 for the WinStar Matchmaker and $100,000 for the Wolf Hill. That makes the stakes program around the Haskell worth $2.65 million and gives horseplayers several graded-stakes angles beyond the main event.

Monmouth Park says its 2026 meet will include 36 stakes worth almost $6 million, and the Haskell remains the centerpiece of that schedule. The track set a record all-sources handle of $21,999,963 on Haskell Day in 2025 and drew 41,876 fans, the biggest Haskell crowd at Monmouth since 2015, a standard that underscores how much attention July 18 can command.

The Haskell first ran in 1968, and its record book still carries sharp benchmarks. Equibase lists Cyberknife’s 1:46.24 in 2022 as the fastest time since 1976, while Mandaloun’s 18 1/4-length victory in 2021 stands as the largest winning margin in race history. With the Breeders’ Cup World Championships scheduled for Oct. 30-31 at Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky, the Haskell winner will leave Monmouth with a direct line to the fall championship stage.