Napoleon Solo, the GI Preakness Stakes winner, has been sold to ESPOIR USA, Inc., but his racing road does not change: he will stay with trainer Chad Summers and remain pointed to the GI Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park on July 18.
The ownership change gives the colt a new set of connections, yet the immediate plan stays the same for a horse already proven at the top level. Napoleon Solo is a two-time Grade I winner, and the people around him are not altering the short-term campaign after the sale from Gold Square LLC, the stable that owned him before the deal.
What will look different is the gear and the colors. Summers said it will feel awkward putting different blinkers and different silks on the colt, though he emphasized that Napoleon Solo remains the same horse and said he is grateful to Al Golds for helping get him this far. He added that he appreciated the new owner allowing the team to keep the horse.
That continuity matters because the sale could have easily sent a Preakness winner in another direction. Instead, Napoleon Solo stays on the same Haskell path, with the next major test still circled for July 18 at Monmouth Park. For racing fans following the 3-year-old division, that means one of the season’s more accomplished colts will remain in the same barn as the campaign moves toward the stretch run.
The new connections are also thinking beyond this summer. They plan to race Napoleon Solo next year as a 4-year-old, and when his racing career is over, he will retire to Lane's End. For now, though, the message from Summers is clear: the ownership has changed, the look will change, but the horse’s immediate mission has not.
