Considering he is named after a television spy, it should come as no surprise that the grade 1-winning 3-year-old Napoleon Solo's career has been filled with thrills, drama, and plot twists.
A year ago, everything was perfect for the son of Liam's Map .
He scored by 5 1/4 lengths in his debut in a 6-furlong restricted maiden race last August as his connections wisely took advantage of his $40,000 purchase price at the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.
Then he turned in the most dazzling stakes victory of the year by a 2-year-old. He romped in front-running style by 6 1/2 lengths in the one-turn mile Champagne Stakes (G1) after covering 6 furlongs in 1:07.88, a clocking just .32 of a second off the track record.
After skipping the Breeders' Cup to focus on a 3-year-old campaign, the page turned to 2026.
Which has been totally imperfect.
Slowed by minor setbacks, the freakishly fast Napoleon Solo has started twice and faded to fifth at two-turn distances in both starts, the Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) and the Wood Memorial (G2).
"Everything went right as a 2-year-old," trainer Chad Summers said, "but everything has gone wrong as a 3-year-old."
Summers and owner Al Gold are hoping for another plot twist May 16 when Napoleon Solo runs in the $2 million Preakness Stakes (G1), the famed middle jewel of the Triple Crown, being contested at Laurel Park while Pimlico Race Course is rebuilt.
"He's doing really well and bounced out of his recent works great," Summers said. "He's eating to the bottom of his feed tub. He's giving us all those good, positive signs you want to see going into a big race."
It seems likely that Napoleon Solo will have an impact on the Preakness in one way or another, whether he reverts to his 2-year-old form or continues his 2026 slide.
In a large field filled with several front-runners, Napoleon Solo looms the speed of the speed who may dictate the early fractions under jockey Paco Lopez. Perhaps he can control the 1 3/16-mile test on the front end and power away in the stretch like he did in the Champagne. Or maybe he helps to set fast enough fractions that exhaust the early leaders and bolster the cause of the closers.
Either way, his keen early speed promises to make him a center of attention in the early stages and a pivotal player in a bulky field.
Even this year, while his staying power has been questioned, the brilliant speed has been there. He registered a speedy :22.92 opening quarter-mile while setting the pace in the 1 1/8-mile Wood Memorial before losing by a little less than three lengths, and some incredible recent works indicate his speed should be even sharper and on full display in Maryland.
Running over the deep training track at Belmont Park April 24, Napoleon Solo zipped 6 furlongs in 1:11.42, a blazing time rarely seen over that surface. A little more than a week later, he topped that feat. On May 2, he was clocked in 1:10 for 6 furlongs, a time that prompted a veteran New York trainer to say, "You never see that kind of a work there. It takes a very, very fast horse to do that."
As Gold, who races as Gold Square, put it, "That was a Bob Baffert-style workout."
Off those two works, and galloping out a mile in 1:36 May 2, it's hard to imagine Napoleon Solo being anywhere but the lead or battling for it in the early stages of the Preakness.
"His works since the Wood indicate to us he's getting back to himself. Everything went wrong since the winter and then he had a heel bruise," Summers said. "It's good to see him do what he's capable of doing and hopefully we'll see something closer to what we saw last year as opposed to what we've seen this year."
Summers said the fast works have only stoked his confidence.
"There's 10 different ways to skin a cat. Sometimes you worry when they work fast. But good horses will do it. It's how they do it. You don't want it under a drive or under duress," he said. "(In the April 24 work) he worked in company, and we thought he would go slower by himself (on May 2) but he just cruised and went faster."
As for why Napoleon Solo is in the Preakness instead of a shorter stakes, Gold raises his hand.
"Me and all my friends are old enough for Social Security. Let's take a chance," the New Jersey native said. "People don't know how far he might run, so they might let him go, thinking they can catch him."
Summers also sees the Preakness as a litmus test for how far the colt bred by John D. Gunther and Eurowest out of the Scat Daddy mare Atomic Blonde can carry his speed when he is completely fit. Setbacks that delayed his 3-year-old debut until Feb. 28 and a heel bruise before the Wood Memorial had Summers playing catch-up in hopes of running in the Kentucky Derby (G1). Now he believes his colt is on equal footing with 3-year-old rivals.
"We felt there might be other factors behind where he finished in his last two starts. He only has this one opportunity to run in the Preakness. If he turns out to be a one-turn horse, there's plenty of opportunities, and we can get back to that later in the year. We felt he deserved this opportunity," Summers said. "We were training with an egg shoe before the Wood and were training just to make the race rather than win it. That's difficult to do. Now that he can train like he wants to, it goes a long way. He's a handful. After the Wood, we pulled the shoes off for a week. Since he's back in his old shoes, he's back to his old self."
Whether that "old self" is the Napoleon Solo of 2025 or the Napoleon Solo of the last few months could hold the key to whether this equine spy uncovers a winning formula and gets his rivals to cry "U.N.C.L.E."
