Owner Gold Strikes Preakness Gold With Napoleon Solo

Al Gold waited 55 years for his moment. Now 70, he started following Thoroughbred racing while a teenager growing up in New Jersey and playing the races at Monmouth Park. He dreamed about owning horses and winning big races. One dream came true in 2022 when Cyberknife, named after the medical procedure that saved his life when he was battling prostate cancer, won the Haskell Stakes (G1) at his hometown track. Another happened May 16, 2026, at Laurel Park. Gold's dreams of winning a Triple Crown race became a cherished bit of reality when his 3-year-old grade 1 winner Napoleon Solo flashed his brilliant speed and captured the $2 million Preakness Stakes (G1) by 1 1/4 lengths. It reaffirmed his stellar form at 2 when he overwhelmed rivals in winning the Champagne Stakes (G1) by 6 1/2 lengths. "I'm still a little numb to be truthful," Gold said. "I didn't know what they were asking me during the trophy presentation when I was answering questions. I'm calmer now, but this was a very big moment and I am very happy. I just can't put it into words." Given his age and medical history, winning the middle jewel in the Triple Crown was indeed sweet for Gold. Yet making the day even more important was that he was able to share the experience at Laurel Park with some dear longtime friends, such as Louis Filoso, who is battling a serious medical issue. "To have a friend like Lou here made it special," Gold said. "We're all older people, and we had the opportunity to run in this race and we took a shot. We said if we lose, we're going to the Amsterdam (a grade 2 sprint stakes) but now we're going to the Haskell." At Gold's side was his trainer and sidekick in banter Chad Summers, who Gold says he calls six or seven times a day. Gold has been a loyal supporter of Summers, who also savored his initial Triple Crown victory Saturday and expressed his gratitude for Gold's faith in him. "This means a lot. Al gave me a lot of opportunities when people thought I may have been finished after (two-time Dubai Golden Shaheen winner) Mind Your Biscuits. They believed I was a one-hit wonder. At a time when I was thinking of hanging it up as a trainer after COVID, I started buying horses for Al and getting his leftovers," said Summers, who has trained just three graded stakes winners and a little more than 100 winners since 2017. "The first horse I bought for Al was Cyberknife. I was willing to bide my time and for Al to give me an opportunity with a horse like Napoleon Solo, I owe him everything for keeping that belief in me. We've had ups and downs and ebbs and flows. Horse racing can be a roller coaster ride, but I wouldn't want a partner other than Al to be by my side for that ride." Gold has raced as Gold Square for 20 years and has a knack for giving his horses names that are humorous or special to him and him alone; such as I Love Giraffes who won earlier on the Preakness card at Laurel. After naming a horse for Ginger and Mary Ann on "Gilligan's Island," it's no surprise he named his $40,000 purchase, and future classic winner, after a spy from a television show he watched in the 1960s. And now he's managed to blend the Triple Crown with "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." What's next? Maybe his next grade 1 winner will be Illya Kuryakin. "That's not a bad idea," he said.