Napoleon Solo Wins the 2026 Preakness Stakes at 10-1

Napoleon Solo swept past 9-2 favorite Taj Mahal in the Laurel Park stretch on Saturday evening and won the 151st Preakness Stakes by 1¼ lengths. The 10-1 shot — bought for $40,000 at auction and trained by Chad Summers in his first-ever Triple Crown start — gave owner Al Gold and jockey Paco Lopez the second jewel of the 2026 Triple Crown season. Winning time: 1:58.69, the slowest Preakness in 75 years.

It was the first Preakness Stakes ever run at Laurel Park, with traditional host Pimlico Race Course shuttered for renovation. And it produced exactly the kind of result this wide-open race set up for: an overlay winner, a bombed-out favorite, and exotic payouts that rewarded patience over narrative.

How the Race Unfolded

Taj Mahal, trained by Brittany Russell and unbeaten in three career starts — all of them at this very track — set the pace as expected. The 9-2 morning-line chalk went through the opening half-mile in 46.66 seconds, a comfortable, ground-saving pace that positioned him perfectly on the rail. Heading into the top of the homestretch, he was still in front. The 138-year home track advantage felt real.

Then Napoleon Solo arrived.

Paco Lopez had his horse tracking comfortably in the middle of the pack through the backstretch. On the far turn, Lopez tipped Napoleon Solo to the outside, found clear running room, and let the horse run. By the time Taj Mahal hit the stretch wall — the place where horses who have run hard through the early fractions often flatten out — Napoleon Solo was already past him and pulling clear. He won comfortably, ears pricked, with more left in the tank.

Iron Honor (Flavien Prat up, Chad Brown trained) ran on to finish second. Chip Honcho (José Ortiz / Steve Asmussen) held third. Taj Mahal, the horse who had never lost anywhere, finished 10th.

Napoleon Solo: The $40,000 Horse

"To come here with a horse that Mr. Gold allowed me to pick out for $40,000 and get the job done on a stage like this, it's just unbelievable," trainer Chad Summers said on the NBC telecast after the race.

Summers had never saddled a starter in a Triple Crown race before Saturday. Napoleon Solo had finished fifth in each of his last two outings — hardly a form line that screams Grade I winner. But Summers saw something that the past performances didn't capture, bought the horse cheap, prepared him quietly, and delivered him to Laurel Park ready to run the race of his life.

Jockey Paco Lopez — one of the most accomplished and underrated mid-Atlantic riders of the last decade — rode a textbook race. Patient early. Decisive on the turn. Authoritative in the stretch. No wasted motion.

Official Finishing Order — 151st Preakness Stakes

1. Napoleon Solo (Post 10) — Paco Lopez / Chad Summers — 10-1
2. Iron Honor (Post 9) — Flavien Prat / Chad Brown
3. Chip Honcho (Post 6) — José Ortiz / Steve Asmussen
4. Ocelli (Post 2) — 4th
5. Incredibolt — 5th
6. Bully By The Horns — 6th
7. The Hell We Did — 7th
8. Great White — 8th
9. Robusta — 9th
10. Taj Mahal — 10th
11. Corona De Oro — 11th
12. Talkin — 12th
13. Crupper — 13th
14. Pretty Boy Miah — 14th

The Maiden Who Almost Made History

Ocelli finished fourth. That's worth noting. The maiden — a horse who had never won a race — needed a victory to become the first maiden winner of the Preakness since Refund in 1888, ending a 138-year streak. It didn't happen. But finishing fourth in a Grade I Preakness field as a horse without a win is a genuine performance, and the historic angle was legitimate enough that connections made the right call entering.

Betting Payouts

Napoleon Solo paid $17.80 to win, $9.80 to place, and $7.40 to show on a $2 base ticket. The exacta (10–9) returned $53.60. The trifecta (10–9–6) paid $597.10 for a $1 ticket. The superfecta (10–9–6–2) returned $2,377.80.

The winner's share of the $2,000,000 purse was $1,200,000. Iron Honor earned $400,000 for second. Chip Honcho took home $220,000 for third.

What's Next: The Belmont Stakes

The Triple Crown circuit closes at Saratoga Race Course on June 7 for the Belmont Stakes. Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo — who bypassed the Preakness and targeted Belmont directly — will be the horse to beat. Whether Napoleon Solo's connections point him toward the third jewel is unknown as of Sunday morning. The full Belmont picture will emerge when entries close in late May.

For now: congratulations to Napoleon Solo, Paco Lopez, Chad Summers, and Al Gold. A $40,000 auction horse just won a $2,000,000 race on the second-biggest stage in American racing — at a track he'd never set foot on before — on a day when the unbeatable favorite finished last in the top ten.

That's horse racing.

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Follow all Triple Crown coverage — including early Belmont Stakes analysis — on the Aces & Races blog.