Napoleon Solo received a taste of the bubbles on October 4 in Belmont at The Big A, and ran eight fellow 2 year olds to place an impressive 6 1/2 length victory in the grade 1 $ 500,000 champagne stakes for trainer Chad Summers and owner Al Gold.
“I welcomed so hard for Napoleon Solo that everyone around me after the race in front of me,” Gold said after watching the race remotely from Keeneland. “So I had to buy them champagne.”
The Champagne Stakes was a Breeders ‘Cup Challenge series “Win and You’re in” Prep Race for the Fanduel Fokers’ Cup Juvenile presented by TAA on October 31 in Del Mar.
“That was great. It was a great performance,” said Gold, who called Napoleon Solo after television spy character of the old “The Man from Uncle” television series.
Napolean Solo covered the kilometer of one turn in a fast time of 1: 34.57 in only his second life. While the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile would be an apparently natural progression for the next start of the horse, Summers hesitated to work for a trip to the West for the World Championships.
“I am worried about how fast they went today, I have to be honest with you,” said Summers. “It is clearly dynamic and you have the chance to fight for the 2-year championship and a stallion deal. You have to take that into account, but we also have to consider the horse. It is a third consecutive year of going to California. Go on the plane. I will not say that we are going to the Breeders’ Cup.
Summers said it wasn’t the plan for Napoleon Solo to take the early lead, but that’s how it worked. Jockey Joel Rosario had him in the front with a length in: 22.53 and: 44.24 to half a mile with 2-5 favorite It is haunting our time. During turn, Napoleon Solo extended the lead to 2 1/2 lengths after a sizzling 6 furlongs in 1: 07.88 because our time is faded to fourth.
“You see the: 44 and you get a little nervous. Your heart starts racing a bit,” Summers said.
With nobody who mounted a serious rally from behind, Napoleon Solo ($ 15.94) extended to a five -length lead in the middle of the Trech and drove home from there as the second choice on the board.
Talkin gathered out of seventh to take second place with three -quarters of a length over the universe in third place. Funnued It’s Our Time, who won his career debut with 17 3/4 lengths, was 8 1/4 lengths in the back of the fourth.
Trainer Danny Gargan indicated that he will probably point to the grade 2 brake stakes in aqueduct in December.
In addition to being part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge series, the champagne was also part of the road to the Kentucky Derby. The race admitted the qualifying points to the Kentucky Derby from 2026 presented by Woodford Reserve on a basis of 10-5-3-2-1 at the top five finishers.
After placing a 100-1 upset in her debut, winning with 12-1 opportunities was a rather subdued achievement for land support, which on Saturday Grade 2 $ 200,000 Miss Grillo Stakes won for 2-year-old mares at Belmont at the Big A to a Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series “Win and Free Space in the Deere.
“I told yesterday (Jockey Adam Geschizza) when he was browsing horses for me in the Churchill:” Don’t forget, I really want to go to Del Mar, “said trainer Kelsey Danner. “It will be fun and I think she should handle everything well.”
Ground Support ($ 26.86 to win) booked a two-length victory in second place Learning deep. She covered the 1 1/16 miles in 1: 43.32 on a sturdy peat course.
Iron Orchard gathered under Jockey Joel Rosario to catch the degree 1 $ 400,000 frizette stakes by a nose over Rileytole on October 4 in Belmont on the Big A.
Iron Orchard has a perfect record, a profit of degree 1 and a new ability to gather from the pace, but will it be enough to push her in the youthful fillies of the breeders? That is the question that trainer Danny Gargan and the ownership group will think in the coming four weeks.
“At the moment we will just be happy and enjoy it,” said Gargan. “She has done a lot this year. I told the boys before, we will see how it is going. There is next year. She is a young marefish. I think she can go two turns with the way she drove today, but I am just happy with how it went today. I feel blessed.”
The Frizette is a Freeders ‘Cup dirt dozen deployment, which means that the owners receive a credit of $ 30,000 for starting costs for the October 31 Netjet’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, but Gargan did not seem to be angry with the idea of missing the world championships in Del Mar.
“It is not difficult for me to skip the Breeders’ cup,” he said. “I don’t know anything about the owners.”
Iron Orchard came into the frizette of a few simple sprint profits bred by the state with a combined 12 1/4 lengths while liding with each call in those two races, including the search for the Ante Stakes.
Iron Orchard ($ 6.90) and Rileytole chased a fast pace and forged forward near the sixteenth post and fought to the thread with iron orchard that prevailed in 1: 35.97.
The Frizette was also part of the road to the Kentucky Oaks series and awarded qualifying points for the 2026 Longines Kentucky Oaks on a scale of 10-5-3-2-1 to the top five finishers.
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