Napoleon Solo

And one of the things that's interesting, and I had a story in today's Blood Horse Daily about Chad Summers.

So Chad Summers bought Napoleon Solo, this year's Preakness Stakes winner, at the Keeneland sales two years ago for only $40,000.

Last year, he bought a really nice horse called Howl's How's Al today? Who won a stake at Kentucky Downs this year.

And of course, Napoleon Solo, as fans may remember, originally raced for Al Gold of Gold Square.

He sold the horse for big bucks after the Preakness stakes.

So now they're reloading and they're playing on a whole nother level.

For September 17, we're off tomorrow.

We'll be back in Book 3.

He, he s- in my opinion, didn't fire, but I will say his last two, I don't mind either of the efforts.

He was a, you know, the runner-up finisher in the Preakness behind Napoleon Solo.

He couldn't get in front of him in his following start.

But his Haskell, I, I didn't hate the performance.

[laughs]

Yeah, he was one of those horses that was contesting a very fast pace in the Wood Memorial this spring.

The other two that were up on the pace that day were Napoleon Solo and Iron Honor, two horses that have gone on to do some really nice things since then.

Talktomejimmy, maybe not quite as much success.

As far as the quality of the field, I don't think.

We're not going to get Napoleon Solo.

We're not going to get Golden Tempo, Leading Change, any of those horses.

But I do think this will be a good gauge to see where the rest of the division is, I think.

He was riding sensational.

Our friend of the show, Chad Summers, when we were talking to him the morning after Napoleon Solo finished second to Manny Franco aboard Leading Change in the Traverse, He said, man, he's riding so good right now.

I don't think we would have lost to Travers if any jockey other than Manny Franco was on that horse.

And so that's the kind of respect that he has from the trainers right now about how great he's riding.

I think he had 30,000 on renegades.

So he, uh, and, and then mud didn't mud have Napoleon solo.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm sure there will be a few words, too, and I joked to somebody, he feels like the Rodney Dangerfield of horses.

He just has no respect, and so he's a horse that just continues to get the job done, and what's so interesting is he reminds me so much of a horse like Sierra Leone, who ran up here in Saratoga a few years ago, and people love betting on Sierra Leone, but shockingly golden tempo went off as the fourth choice in the belmont stakes after winning the kentucky derby he isn't sold as the morning line favorite but second choice renegade always attracts so much attention at the betting windows it's going to be a really great race because you also have the quickness winner napoleon solo versus like the puma and really some x factors like leading change in sea strike taking a shot at the first time against brady stakes company

a lot of horses that like to get on with it in in that race surely that'll just play the golden tempo strengths again won't it

Right.

I mean, it would appear that there's going to be plenty of pace, especially when you have somebody like John Velasquez on Napoleon Solo is going to go straight to the front.

Seastrike and leading change are going to sit right off the pace.

So there's going to be honest enough fractions for horses like Renegade and Golden Tempo to run into.

I don't know if it was Lindsay's decision.

She says that, you know, Paco's worked this horse from day one, but he rode this horse so well to be taken off after winning a grade one race the way he won it and beating Paco on Napoleon solo.

I just feel really bad for Vargas.

Yeah, and the way he won it, slipping through along the inside.

I mean, you can blame Paco for that maybe, but still.

I mean, his ride was really the difference in the race, getting through inside of Napoleon Solo.

But then you remember that the only reason he was riding the horse in the Haskell to begin with is that Paco chose to ride Napoleon Solo instead.

So there's a lot to unpack there.

Mike, I do wanna take a look at that Time Form U.S. Pace Projector in the lower right-hand portion of the screen.

You see that the number two, Leading Change, shown second to Napoleon Solo.

How do you see this horse getting ridden? Because I think it's a bit of a tricky task from an inside post position with Napoleon Solo, who we'll get to next, drawn right to his outside.

The thing with this race is, a- and I, I agree with the Pace Projector, in just that there's not a ton of horses that you sort of feel like are gonna be out of there running and going up towards the front in this race.

And so if nothing else, I mean, Manny Franco, who he hasn't make, made that many mistakes during this meet [laughs] he's just gotta come out running and go forward.

And, and if he has to sit second to Napoleon Solo, so be it.

it.Up next is that likely speed, the number three Napoleon Solo.

Winner of the Champagne during his two-year-old season, and attracted a lot of buzz coming out of that victory given how dazzling he was on, uh, with that romp, going 44.1 to the half mile, completing the one mile distance in 1:34.2, 95 Beyer as a two-year-old.