Wood Memorial more than a Derby shot for Napoleon Solo

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Saturday’s Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial figures to be a future-defining race for Napoleon Solo.

More than just trying to accrue qualifying points for the May 2 Kentucky Derby, Napoleon Solo’s performance in the 1 1/8-mile Wood Memorial likely will dictate whether the son of Liam’s Map continues racing long or shortens up to races run around one turn.

Napoleon Solo won both of his races at 2, a maiden at six furlongs and Grade 1 Champagne around one turn. He was sensational in the Champagne, setting fast fractions and still winning by 6 1/2 furlongs. He ran a mile in 1:34.57 and earned a 95 Beyer Speed Figure.

Horses coming out of the Champagne are 2 for 12 since, with both wins recorded by Stradale and both at six furlongs.

Napoleon Solo made his 3-year-old debut in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth. He didn’t break well, chased fast early fractions and faded to fifth, 11 3/4 lengths behind Commandment. That horse came back to win the Grade 1 Florida Derby.

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“You got to go another sixteenth of a mile after you tired going a mile and a sixteenth. That’s going to be the question we’re going have to answer,” trainer Chad Summers said Wednesday at Belmont. “But I think it’s the right racetrack and the right field to answer the question and hopefully we’ll have a lot of answers on Saturday night with what and who he is.

“If he does what he’s capable of doing, is it going to surprise me [if he runs well]? No,” Summers added. “If he gets a little tired and doesn’t want to go a mile and an eighth and is an Allen Jerkens horse down the road, we’ll find out.”

The Allen Jerkens is a Grade 1 race going seven furlongs run in late August at Saratoga.

Napoleon Solo was entered in but scratched from last Saturday’s Grade 1 Arkansas Derby. Napoleon Solo worked a fast five furlongs from the starting gate at Palm Meadows on March 19. He emerged from that work with a slight issue on the bulb of a heel, Summers said, causing him to miss two days of training. Summers eschewed working the horse again, deciding to gallop him into the Wood.

“Is it ideal to not have that last work? No, but I’m not losing any sleep over that,” said Summers, who trains Napoleon Solo for Al Gold. “I thought the way he worked out of the gate was what I needed to see. He was toiling a little bit when he worked five-eighths before the Fountain of Youth. This time, I thought he worked good.”

Kendrick Carmouche, who rode Napoleon Solo in two of his three starts, made a commitment to ride Courting in the Wood. Paco Lopez, who returned Wednesday from an ankle injury that sidelined him two months, will ride Napoleon Solo.

Thirteen were entered for the Wood with probable race favorite Iron Honor drawing the extreme outside. The race will lose one starter as Ottinho will run in Saturday’s Grade 1 Blue Grass. Ocelli, who was also cross-entered in both races, will run in New York, trainer Whit Beckman confirmed Wednesday.

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