Napoleon Solo may not have won the Aug. 29 Travers Stakes (G1), but he did earn a tremendous amount of respect his connections felt was due all along as a result of his brave runner-up finish.
Trainer Chad Summers has told anyone who would listen since last fall that Napoleon Solo was among the best, if not the best, of his crop. Still, despite being America's lone grade 1 winner at both 2 and 3 from the crop, he was still left at fourth choice in the Travers betting.
Critics have constantly called his quality into question, beginning with the decision by his connections to skip the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) last year. Those critiques were further sparked after Napoleon Solo ran fifth in his first two starts of the season and his beating a perceived weak field in the Preakness Stakes (G1), a test that did not feature the top runners from the Kentucky Derby (G1), Luckily, the son of Liam's Map has answered those critics by running his heart out every time.
Saturday's Travers was a perfect example of that as Napoleon Solo defeated most of the crop's top members, including Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Golden Tempo, falling only a half-length short when nailed in the final strides by the up-and-coming Leading Change.
"I'm just proud of him," Summers said. "I know odds don't mean anything, but it's been frustrating to me to be the (third) choice in the Haskell and fourth choice in the Travers with what his résumé and CV is and has been as far as winning the Champagne, winning the Preakness, and second in the Haskell. I feel like yesterday, maybe, he finally started to earn some of the respect that I feel like he was deserving of."
Summers takes the blame for the two early-season defeats, knowing they ran him before he was ready out of necessity to get on the Derby trail when fifth in the Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) and losing training time with a hoof bruise in the final tune-up before his fifth in the Wood Memorial (G2). Remove those two races and the colt is 3-for-5 with two grade 1 wins and two grade 1 placings by less than a length.
In the Travers, Napoleon Solo entered the first turn wide with Hall of Famer John Velazquez aboard for the first time as it appeared Manny Franco might go for the lead with Leading Change. However, Napoleon Solo ended up in command and eventually took heat from Sea Strike entering the stretch. He turned that rival away, but was taxed just enough for Leading Change to get by him by the end.
"He showed up, he ran his race," Summers said. "He put away Sea Strike, who was kind of the buzz horse going into this race. I think he showed what we've been saying all along. We know why he ran the two races he ran, the two fifth-place finishes earlier in the year; we've been very transparent about it. When he's Napoleon, he showed up every single time."
Asked whether there was anything that could have gone differently Saturday, Summers said he would have preferred to go :46 4/5 for the opening half mile instead of :47 4/5, perhaps giving Napoleon Solo a bit more separation that would not have allowed Sea Strike to get to him as early as he did. Still, he did not fault Velazquez for the ride and gave full credit to the job done by Brad Cox to get Leading Change into the Travers winner's circle in just his third career start.
Cox similarly praised the talent of Napoleon Solo Sunday morning and the work done by Summers and his team.
"Napoleon Solo ran really good, and he's a very good horse," Cox said. "I saw him in the paddock at Monmouth, and they've done a good job with that horse. That horse looks really, really good, holding his weight, and he's tough."
With the Emir of Qatar's Wathnan Racing owning Leading Change, Summers said he looks forward to a likely overseas rematch this winter in the $20 million Saudi Cup (G1), with Espoir USA's Napoleon Solo having the Feb. 13 race as his major target. To get there, Summers plans to make his next start in the Breeders' Cup before having another start before the Saudi Cup.
Exiting the race in great order, Napoleon Solo will ship Aug. 31 to Summers' barn at Belmont Park and will likely travel to Keeneland in enough time to have one breeze over the track before the Oct. 30-31 Breeders' Cup World Championships. Whether he runs in the $7 million Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) or the $1 million Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) will likely not be determined until the final days before entries are taken.
"Our goal is to get there (Saudi Cup), and we'd like to go through the Breeders' Cup," Summers said. "Whether that's the (Dirt) Mile or the Classic, we'll let the chips fall where they fall; see the fields, and see how everything's going."
The gray colt proved he could handle the Classic's 1 1/4-mile distance Saturday, invalidating another of his critics' claims. Keeneland also has a shorter stretch, and the 1 1/4-mile Classic has played well to Napoleon Solo's front-running style in the three editions held at the Lexington track.
