Haskell Saturday: Preakness Winner Meets Derby Favorite

Seven Sophomores, One Million Dollars, and the Jersey Shore's Loudest Afternoon

The Triple Crown has been over since June, and the 3-year-old division has been holding its breath ever since. That ends Saturday. The 59th running of the $1 million NYRA Bets Haskell Stakes goes at a mile and an eighth at Monmouth Park, and it has drawn exactly the field the sport wanted: Preakness winner Napoleon Solo, Preakness runner-up Iron Honor, Kentucky Derby beaten favorite Further Ado, and Derby third-place finisher Ocelli. Seven go to post. The winner books a ticket to the Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland on October 31 through the Win and You're In series.

Further Ado is the 2-1 morning line choice for Brad Cox and Irad Ortiz Jr., and the case is easy: an eleven-length demolition in the Blue Grass, a top speed figure that towers over this field, and a two-length rebound win in the Matt Winn after the Derby went wrong. Cox has already won this race twice, with Mandaloun and Cyberknife. But Napoleon Solo at 5-2 is the one that worries me. Chad Summers' gray colt has tactical speed in a race with almost no pace, and Paco Lopez has never needed a second invitation to take advantage of that. Iron Honor at 3-1 cuts back a sixteenth from the Preakness for Chad Brown and Flavien Prat, in only his fifth career start, with room left to grow.

Then there is The Puma at 7-2, the most tantalizing horse on the card. He won the Tampa Bay Derby, lost the Florida Derby by a nose to Commandment, who later ran second in the Belmont, and then a skin infection knocked him out of the Kentucky Derby entirely. He has not raced in more than three and a half months, but the works have been sharp and he has never finished worse than third. Luis Saez, a two-time Haskell winner, takes over for the injured Javier Castellano. Ocelli, meanwhile, remains a maiden after nine starts and $829,800 in earnings, which is one of the strangest lines you will ever read. Baby Vino, a ten and three-quarter length Pegasus romper here last month, is the sneaky one at 15-1. Rain is in the forecast, so wet-track pedigrees matter.

The undercard is a monster: the Grade 2 United Nations and Molly Pitcher at $500,000 apiece, the Grade 3 Monmouth Cup, and the Grade 3 WinStar Matchmaker. Baffert's Splendora, the 2025 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner, headlines the Molly Pitcher off a Shawnee score. In the Monmouth Cup, Godolphin's Knightsbridge stretches to a mile and an eighth for the first time in his career, every previous start having come at a mile or shorter, and he meets Pegasus World Cup winner Skippylongstocking.

Up at the Spa, the Grade 1 Dunkin' Diana goes as race five at 2:46 p.m., and Chad Brown is once again playing a game against himself. He has won this thing ten times since 2011 and comes in on a four-year streak, saddling four of the eight: Kathynmarissa at 2-1, Portfolio Duration at 5-2, Segesta at 3-1, and Dynamic Pricing at 6-1. Only three others stand in his way: European raider Cathedral, fourth in last year's Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf; Ozara, who swept the De La Rose and Grade 2 Ballston Spa here last year; and longshot Five G. Later on the card, Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint winner Cy Fair is a hammering 3-5 in the Coronation Cup at 4:29, though her connections have her cross-entered in Sunday's Quick Call and are frankly playing the weather. Rain could send her to the boys instead.

Out west, Del Mar opens its 89th season and Journalism returns to the seaside for the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap, a prep for the August 22 Pacific Classic. Last year's Haskell hero has not won in four starts since, but he is 2-for-2 at the distance against a field of seven that includes Argentine veteran Full Serrano.

Sunday belongs to the Grade 3 Quick Call at Saratoga, where an overflow twelve sprint five and a half furlongs on the Mellon turf. Pour something cold. This one is stacked.