LAUREL, Md., May 17, 2026 —
Napoleon Solo was not supposed to win. He had finished fifth in his last two races. The Kentucky Derby winner was not even in the field. The race was not at Pimlico, where the Preakness has been run since 1873, but at Laurel Park, a substitute venue while Baltimore’s famous old oval undergoes a years-long renovation. Nothing about the 151st Preakness Stakes felt normal. And then the gray colt from the outside came around the far turn and made every favorite look slow.
Napoleon Solo, trained by Chad Summers and ridden by jockey Paco Lopez, won the 2026 Preakness Stakes on Saturday evening at Laurel Park — galloping past the 9-2 favorite Taj Mahal in the stretch and holding off the late charge of Iron Honor to earn a $1.2 million payout, a Woodlawn Vase, and a blanket of black-eyed Susans. The horse paid $17.80 to win. It was the first Triple Crown race win for both trainer and jockey.
And then the owner opened his mouth.
The $17.80 Winner Nobody Saw Coming
The race unfolded almost exactly how longshot backers dream it will. Taj Mahal, the Maryland-bred local hope who was perfect in three career starts and had something like a home-field advantage at Laurel, set the early pace from the No. 1 post. His fractions were quick — 22.66 seconds at the quarter mile, 44.66 at the half. Napoleon Solo sat just off the leader, waiting.
Around the far turn, Lopez asked his horse for everything. Napoleon Solo answered. He ran past Taj Mahal as if the favorite had stopped, then kept going, opening up enough daylight that when Iron Honor made his move in the final sixteenth, there was simply too much ground to close. Taj Mahal, the 9-2 morning-line co-favorite, finished 10th — more than 13 lengths behind the winner — in a field of 14.
For Chad Summers, who had not won a major race since 2017, the Preakness was a first Triple Crown victory. For Paco Lopez, a jockey who has been one of the most consistent riders on the East Coast for a decade without a signature win, the Woodlawn Vase moment was everything he had worked toward. In horse racing, a win like this — an unfancied horse, a patient ride, a first-time trainer-jockey combination at a Triple Crown event — is the kind of story that sustains the sport’s fans between the marquee moments.
The story was supposed to end there. Then the post-race interview happened.
What Al Gold Said in the Winner’s Circle — and the Apology That Followed
Owner Al Gold was standing in Laurel Park’s winner’s circle, holding the Woodlawn Vase, the flowers still fresh, the crowd still buzzing, when NBC Sports reporter Britney Eurton moved in for the traditional post-race interview. What Gold said to her — described by witnesses and confirmed in video circulating on social media within minutes — was a comment he immediately acknowledged as “nasty.”
Gold issued a public apology within hours. “I want to sincerely apologize to Britney Eurton for my comment after the race,” he said in a statement. “It was inappropriate, nasty, and I deeply regret it. She was doing her job and deserved complete respect.” Eurton acknowledged the apology publicly but did not detail the specific remark, which had by then already been clipped, shared, and debated across social platforms.
The incident overshadowed the racing story on Sunday morning. Gold’s name was trending before Napoleon Solo’s. By midday, the clip had become the most-discussed piece of Preakness content online — not the race, not the upset, not the blanket of flowers, but the 30-second window in the winner’s circle where a man with everything to celebrate chose a wrong word.
The Belmont Picture and What Napoleon Solo Does Next
The Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo did not run in the Preakness — part of a broader modern trend of connections protecting their horses from the short two-week turnaround between the Derby and the second jewel. This was only the second time in 40 years that the top two Derby finishers both skipped the Preakness. That means there will be no Triple Crown winner in 2026. The Belmont Stakes, to be held at Saratoga Race Course in three weeks, is now wide open.
Whether Napoleon Solo runs at Saratoga is the question Summers has not yet answered publicly. The horse came out of Saturday’s race well, according to the connections. A rested Golden Tempo returns for the Belmont. The possibility of a classic showdown between the Derby winner who sat out Laurel and the Preakness winner who showed up and performed is exactly the kind of narrative horse racing builds its late-spring audience around.
| 2026 Preakness Stakes — Final Results | Detail |
|---|---|
| Winner | Napoleon Solo |
| Trainer | Chad Summers (first Triple Crown win) |
| Jockey | Paco Lopez (first Triple Crown win) |
| Winning odds | 10-1 ($17.80 to win) |
| Winner’s payout | $1.2 million |
| Runner-up | Iron Honor |
| Third place | Chip Honcho |
| Favorite (Taj Mahal) finishing position | 10th (13+ lengths back) |
| Field size | 14 horses |
| Venue | Laurel Park, Maryland (Pimlico under renovation) |
| Kentucky Derby winner (Golden Tempo) | Did not run |
| Triple Crown possible in 2026? | No |
| Belmont Stakes location | Saratoga Race Course |
The Preakness gave horse racing everything it needed Saturday — an upset, a first-time winner combination, a new venue, and an impromptu viral moment in the winner’s circle that will be talked about longer than the race itself. Napoleon Solo ran into history. Al Gold ran into a microphone. Only one of them made the right call.
