Preakness winner Napoleon Solo settles in at Monmouth for Haskell bid
Napoleon Solo walked off a van at 10:25 a.m. and into Barn 21, turning Monmouth’s Haskell into a test of calm after a Preakness win.
Napoleon Solo was the first major name to land at Monmouth Park for the Haskell, stepping off a Sallee van at 10:25 a.m. ET on July 12 and settling into Barn 21 after a walk down the shedrow. The move was low-key by design. Chad Summers wants the Preakness Stakes winner to absorb the setting, keep his routine quiet and carry his classic form into the next grade 1 target six days later.
That target is the $1,000,000 Haskell Stakes on Saturday, July 18, at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, New Jersey, a 1 1/8-mile dirt race for 3-year-olds that sits near the center of the summer stakes calendar. The Haskell card will include five additional stakes, led by the Grade 2 United Nations, and the race again carries Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series status, with the winner earning a “Win and You’re In” berth to the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Monmouth had 19 nominations on July 7, a list that included Napoleon Solo, Iron Honor and three-time graded stakes winner Further Ado.
The Haskell picture already has shape. Baby Vino, Further Ado, Iron Honor, Ocelli, Star Sweeper and The Puma are among the expected runners, a group that should give horseplayers a workable read on the early pace and where the pressure might come from. Napoleon Solo returns with Paco Lopez aboard again, and that continuity matters. Lopez is still looking for his first Haskell victory in 11 tries, while Summers has made clear the plan is to keep the colt relaxed between races rather than chase a sharper prep.
Napoleon Solo has earned that approach. He won the 151st Preakness Stakes on May 16 at Laurel Park, went off at 10-1 and took command in the homestretch to hold off the favored Iron Honor. The Preakness drew 14 starters, the largest field in 15 years, and gave Napoleon Solo a stakes résumé that now reaches beyond one hot afternoon. Owner Al Gold had already pointed to the Haskell as the next stop, and now the colt will try to turn a quiet arrival at the Jersey Shore into another major Saturday statement. Journalism’s late rally to win the 2025 Haskell is the recent reminder that Monmouth’s midsummer centerpiece can still produce a race with lasting weight.
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