Napoleon Solo works, but yet to be confirmed for Travers
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Though trainer Chad Summers stopped short of confirming Napoleon Solo as a starter for the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers, everything appears to point to the Preakness winner facing Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Golden Tempo in the Midsummer Derby at Saratoga on Aug. 29.
On Thursday, just before sunrise, Napoleon Solo worked a half-mile in 47.64 seconds over Saratoga’s main track, getting his final quarter in 23.36. He then proceeded to gallop out five furlongs in 59.93, six furlongs in 1:12.18, seven furlongs in 1:25.18, and cover a mile in 1:40.31. Jockey Emily Ellingwood, Napoleon Solo’s regular work rider, was aboard for the solo move.
That was Napoleon Solo’s third workout since his second-place finish to Baby Vino in the Haskell Stakes on July 19.
“This one looked kind of similar to the last work before the Preakness I thought,” Summers said. “He’s put on weight since he’s come over here, he’s really doing well. He’s touting himself. I don’t think you can have three better breezes than he’s had since the Haskell. . . . He worked nine days out because you know he’s going to do too much, but he was pretty quick.”
If he joins the Travers field, Napoleon Solo would face Golden Tempo for the first time, as well as Kentucky Derby runner-up and Jim Dandy winner Renegade, Haskell winner Baby Vino, Tampa Bay Derby winner The Puma, Indiana Derby winner Leading Change, Southwest Stakes winner Silent Tactic, Curlin Stakes winner Sea Strike, Louisiana Derby winner Emerging Market, and possibly Kentucky Derby third-place finisher Ocelli.
“To me, it’s the deepest Travers we’ve seen in a long time from top to bottom if everybody shows up,” Summers said.
That lineup leaves a void in the Grade 1, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby at Parx run just three weeks after the Travers on Sept. 19. Among the horses being mentioned for that race are Further Ado, Commandment, and Our Moneyman.
“You’d be 4-5 in the Pennsylvania Derby for a million dollars, Grade 1, going a mile and an eighth,” Summers said. “Here you’re 8-1 going a mile and a quarter going against two horses [Golden Tempo and Renegade] who are proven at the distance.”
Summers said he would discuss the plan with the principals of Espoir USA, an international group that bought Napoleon Solo for an undisclosed sum from owner Al Gold following the Preakness.
Though Golden Tempo is the clear division leader, having won two-thirds of the Triple Crown, Summers believes a victory by Napoleon Solo in the Travers could at least keep him in the conversation for a divisional championship moving into the fall.
“Listen, if you’re not in the Travers, you’re not champion,” Summers said. “If you win the Travers, it’s a conversation piece. I still think it goes through Golden Tempo no matter what, he’s won two classic races. Even if we were to run in the Travers and win the Travers, you got to do the next step and beat older horses in the Breeders’ Cup.”
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