Gold Square’s undefeated Grade 1 winner, Napoleon Solo, is actively preparing for a possible three-year-old debut in the $400,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) scheduled for February 28 at Gulfstream Park. Since mid-January, Napoleon Solo has been training in South Florida, recently completing his fourth workout at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream\u2019s satellite training site in Palm Beach County. During this session, he ran four furlongs in 48 seconds, marking the fastest time among 19 workouts recorded that day.<\/p>\n
Trainer Chad Summers shared that he timed Napoleon Solo between 1:04 and 1:14 during his gallop. For comparison, Maxfield\u2019s promising three-year-old colt No Rain No Flowers was clocked at 49.10 seconds for the same distance. Summers expressed satisfaction with the workout, stating, “It went really well. We\u2019re on track for where we want to be and excited about our current progress. We\u2019ll take it day by day and coordinate with Gold Square for the next steps.”<\/p>\n
Napoleon Solo has not raced since October 4, when he finished sixth and a half lengths behind at one mile in the Champagne Stakes (G1). His only other race was a six-furlong Saratoga debut last August, which he won by 5 1\/4 lengths. Summers highlighted the advantages of training in Palm Meadows, appreciating the favorable weather conditions compared to the unpredictable climate along the East Coast.<\/p>\n
The team’s plan involves giving Napoleon Solo six workouts before his first race, a strategy inspired by the successful approach used with Sovereignty last year. Sovereignty\u2019s sophomore season featured a Fountain of Youth victory, a second-place finish in the Florida Derby (G1), and subsequent wins in the Kentucky Derby (G1), Belmont Stakes (G1), and Travers Stakes (G1), earning him titles as the 3-year-old champion and Horse of the Year.<\/p>\n
Napoleon Solo\u2019s prior workouts included three furlongs in 36.45 seconds on January 14 and 21, and a half-mile in 49.11 seconds on January 28. Both the 1 1\/16-mile Fountain of Youth and the one-mile Gotham Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct\u2014also on February 28\u2014are being considered as potential debut races. Summers noted, \u201cWe\u2019re here for a reason, and it\u2019s not just the sunshine. We\u2019ll leave the decision to Boss and Gold Square to determine the best race. He\u2019s ready for either the Fountain of Youth or Gotham. The Gotham is a one-turn mile, not two turns, so we\u2019ll see where he fits best.\u201d<\/p>\n
Napoleon Solo is among 367 horses nominated for the upcoming Triple Crown with a January 28 deadline, and one of three horses representing Gold Square. The others include Two Out Hero, a stakes winner who recently placed third in the Summer Stakes (G1) at Woodbine with trainer Kevin Attard, and Toga Twist, who placed third last summer in the New York-bred Funny Cide Stakes and is owned by a consortium including Region Racing and Flash Toga Farm.<\/p>\n
Gold Square\u2019s representation in the Triple Crown also comes through Cyberknife, who won the Arkansas Derby (G1) and the Haskell Invitational (G1) last year. Cyberknife, trained by Brad Cox, competed in the 2022 Kentucky Derby. Summers expressed pride in Gold Square\u2019s achievements, noting that having three Triple Crown nominees and one homebred in the mix reflects the quality of the program established by Algold and Gold Square.<\/p>\n
He also reflected on Cyberknife\u2019s past races: \u201cThough Cyberknife\u2019s Derby run wasn\u2019t as they hoped, his Arkansas Derby and Haskell victories and second place in the Breeders\u2019 Cup Dirt Mile (G1) were impressive. Going back to the Kentucky Derby should be every team\u2019s goal, and we\u2019d love the opportunity to return this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
This article was originally published by the Paulick Report on February 5, 2026, and appeared in their News section.<\/em><\/p>\n Fan Take:<\/strong> Napoleon Solo\u2019s progress is an exciting development for horse racing enthusiasts, signaling the rise of another potentially dominant three-year-old in the highly competitive season ahead. With strategic preparation modeled after champions like Sovereignty, this news highlights the deep talent and rigorous planning that continue to elevate the sport\u2019s excitement and fan engagement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Gold Square’s undefeated Grade 1 winner, Napoleon Solo, is actively preparing for a possible three-year-old debut in the $400,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) scheduled for February 28 at Gulfstream Park. Since mid-January, Napoleon Solo has been training in South Florida, recently completing his fourth workout at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream\u2019s satellite training site in Palm […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2443],"tags":[2955],"class_list":{"0":"post-41695","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fighting","8":"tag-horse-racing"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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