Preakness Stakes (Grade 1)
NAPOLEON Solo showed the speed that had won him the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes by six and a half lengths last season as he captured the $2 million Preakness Stakes by a length and a quarter at Laurel Park on Saturday.
The race has existed since 1873, but the 151st edition was the first to be held at Laurel Park, close to the race’s usual home, Pimlico Racecourse which is being rebuilt. The Laurel track is then scheduled to close to just a training centre when Pimlico is back in business.
It was a dream come true to win an American Triple Crown race for owner Al Gold and it was also a first victory in a Triple Crown race for the rider and trainer, Paco Lopez and Chad Summers.
Despite being the only Grade 1 winner in the 14-horse field, Napoleon Solo had questions to answer after two consecutive fifth-place finishes this season.
“I’m still in a little bit of disbelief. I felt like the horse deserved it. I feel like I let the horse down with his two fifth-place finishes in his first 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 this is the icing on the cake to get the victory,” trainer Chad Summers said afterwards.
Biggest asset
Summers added: “We felt like his biggest asset is his cruising speed. We just hoped somebody would give us a little target in front. That was the plan, we weren’t going to take his biggest asset away from him.”
Napoleon Solo, a grey/roan son of Liam’s Map took up the running after the favourite Taj Mahal broke from the rail and led early. Napoleon Solo tracked him before moving into the lead on the far turn.
Iron Honor emerged with a run in the straight but never got close enough to threaten as Napoleon Solo stayed on to stop the clock in 1m58.69secs. He was given a 96 Beyer figure for the Preakness win in a race, albeit at a different track, slow compared to all recent Preakness runnings.
The two Kentucky Derby runners Ocelli and Incredibolt finished fourth and fifth.
Gold’s previous big success was with dual Grade 1 winner Cyberknife who was trained by Brad Cox.
Bred by John D. Gunther and Eurowest Bloodstock, the winner had been a Keeneland September purchase for only $40,000.
The July 18th Grade 1 Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park is the target, the owner winning it with Cyberknife in 2022.
On the Friday, the main race for fillies, the Grade 2 Black Eyed Susan Stakes was won by the favourite, the Saffie Joseph-trained My Miss Mo. Ridden by Tyler Gaffalione, the Uncle Mo filly, who had missed the Kentucky Oaks, won by a length and a quarter
THE US turf scene has lacked stars recently but the four-year-old gelding Burnham Square, (also by Liam’s Map out of a Scat Daddy mare like the Preakness winner) had made a strong statement in his last two runs.
Whitham Thoroughbreds’ gelding again ran out an easy winner of the Grade 3 $235,000 Louisville Stakes at Churchill Downs for trainer Ian R. Wilkes and jockey Brian Hernandez Jr.
It was a terrific weekend for the Lanes End sire Liam’s Map who won the 2015 Grade 1 Woodward Stakes and Las Vegas Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.
Coming off an over nine-length victory in the Grade 2 Elkhorn Stakes last month at Keeneland, the gelding was sent off at 1/5 odds against five rivals. Burnham Square justified the support with a four-and-three-quarter-length victory in the mile and a half grass contest.
Hard held in fifth place early by jockey Brian Hernandez Jr., Burnham Square got in gear over the final half-mile and pulled away under a hand ride. “Good horses like that – they make everyone look good,” Hernandez said.
The victory was Burnham Square’s fourth at the graded level. He won the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes and Holy Bull Stakes on dirt as a three-year-old in 2025.
Confrontation with the best of the European turf challengers is on the agenda as trainer Ian Wilkes said future targets include the Arlington Million at Colonial Downs before a start at Kentucky Downs ahead of the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Keeneland. He has earned $2,141,405 to date.