Napoleon Solo works by himself for Haskell

Preakness winner Napoleon Solo breezed six furlongs in 1:11.33 Thursday morning as he continues preparations for the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell Invitational on July 18 at Monmouth Park.

Working by himself, under exercise rider Emily Ellingwood, Napoleon Solo, starting at the five-furlong pole, went in splits of 12.43 seconds, 24.05, 35.53, hit the wire in 59.11, and then completed the workout a furlong past the wire. He galloped out seven furlongs in 1:24.04 and a mile in 1:38.75.

It was Napoleon Solo’s third work since the Preakness, the second one by himself.

“You just got to keep him entertained. You can’t do the same thing with him or breeze in company all the time,” trainer Chad Summers said. “He’s gotten better about relaxing, he did that fairly easily today. We don’t need to gear him up too.”

Summers said Napoleon Solo would remain at Belmont and have his final two workouts for the Haskell over the training track. Tentatively, Belmont is expected to keep the training track open through July 12 before training is moved to the main track.

Summers was happy to see Chip Honcho and Ocelli, the third- and fourth-place finishers from the Preakness, finish one-two in last weekend’s Ohio Derby at Thistledown.

“I thought his form got flattered a little bit from the Ohio Derby with Chip Honcho and Ocelli running one-two,” Summers said. “At the end of the day we’re going to have to speak for ourselves.”

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