The 2026 3-year-old division has produced three Triple Crown races and three different winners. On July 18 at Monmouth Park, the Haskell Stakes starts pulling it back together.
The summer half of a 3-year-old season is where the division clarifies itself, and the $1 million NYRA Bets Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park on July 18 is the first real opportunity for 2026’s generation to answer the questions the Triple Crown left open. Preakness winner Napoleon Solo has confirmed the race as his next target. So has Renegade, who finished second to Golden Tempo in the Kentucky Derby and third in the Belmont.
What makes the 2026 Haskell genuinely interesting is not just who is in it, but who is not. Golden Tempo, the Kentucky Derby and Belmont winner trained by Cherie DeVaux, bypassed the Preakness to arrive fresh at Saratoga and won a second classic at 6-1. His connections have not announced the Haskell as a possible target, and the fresh-horse philosophy that produced two Triple Crown wins in two years tends not to rush horses back into summer races. That absence leaves a division without a clear consensus figure, which makes for better racing and more complicated wagering.
Napoleon Solo: The Questions Behind the Preakness Win
Napoleon Solo was flawless at two, winning his debut by five and a quarter lengths at Saratoga before demolishing a Champagne Stakes field by six and a half lengths to earn a 95 Beyer Speed Figure and announce himself as a potential Derby horse. Then the wheels came off. He faded to fifth in the Fountain of Youth, faded again to fifth in the Wood Memorial, and failed to make the Derby field.
What trainer Chad Summers identified was a bruised heel that compromised both preps. The horse could not train the way he needed to, and by his own account they were simply trying to get Napoleon Solo to the gate rather than preparing him to win. With that problem resolved, the gray Liam’s Map colt arrived at Laurel Park for the Preakness and passed Taj Mahal at the top of the stretch to beat a 14-horse field by a length and a quarter at 7.90-1, earning a 96 Beyer Speed Figure that edged his previous career best.
One analyst familiar with the 3-year-old division said: “The question with Napoleon Solo is that final quarter-mile. He ran it in :26.88 at Laurel. That’s not slow, but the Preakness pace was honest and the field had fanned out in front of him. At Monmouth against Renegade and maybe even Golden Tempo, who are both proven at the top level, he may need to sustain a faster finish than he showed in the Preakness. The Haskell tests his late kick in a different way.”
His pedigree supports speed more than stamina. Liam’s Map won the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at a mile. Napoleon Solo’s dam, Atomic Blonde, was a stakes winner on turf at seven and a half furlongs. The Haskell at a mile and an eighth sits right at the outer edge of what his sire profile suggests, though the Preakness at a mile and three-sixteenths was already past it and he handled that comfortably.
Renegade: The Horse Who Has Been Right There Every Time
Renegade’s 2026 Triple Crown record reads: second in the Kentucky Derby, third in the Belmont. He was beaten a neck by Golden Tempo at Churchill and beaten by a length and three-quarters at Saratoga in a field where he went off as the 8-5 morning-line favorite. Both times he ran into a horse who simply found another gear in the final yards.
What Renegade has demonstrated is consistency at the highest level of his generation. He has never been worse than third. He has raced against the best competition in the country twice and been beaten by the same horse both times. That horse is not running at Monmouth on July 18.
One observer tracking the 3-year-old division noted: “Renegade at a mile and an eighth, at Monmouth, against Napoleon Solo and Gosger rather than Golden Tempo, is a completely different proposition than the Belmont. He has been placed twice behind an exceptional horse. The Haskell is the first race this year where he is not chasing something out of his reach.”
Trainer Todd Pletcher has won the Haskell and understands Monmouth well. Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., aboard for both Triple Crown starts, is the leading money earner in North America this year by a significant margin. The combination, in a race where the primary rival has legitimate questions about his late pace, makes Renegade one of the more straightforward plays on the summer calendar.
Underestimate at Your Peril
Iron Honor, Crude Velocity, and The Puma, all have the credentials and resumes to make an impact if not win.
Missouri Sportsbooks and the Haskell Market
Napoleon Solo has opened as the Haskell favorite across Missouri sportsbooks apps, with Renegade as the likely second choice given his Triple Crown form. Missouri’s regulated online sports betting market launched December 1, 2025, under Amendment 2, with eight licensed operators now live statewide including FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, and bet365, all regulated by the Missouri Gaming Commission. Horse racing is available across all platforms, and the Haskell’s Win and You’re In status for the Breeders’ Cup Classic generates meaningful futures action through the summer. Bettors must be 21 or older and physically located in Missouri to wager. Gambling concerns can be directed to the National Council on Problem Gambling at 1-800-GAMBLER.
The honest read on the Haskell market is that it is pricing Napoleon Solo on the strength of the Preakness name while carrying real uncertainty about whether he sustains late. Renegade at a number above even money represents the better price relative to his demonstrated ability. Gosger offers value for anyone who watched last year’s Preakness closely and understood that a horse who leads by five lengths in a Grade 1 classic is not a coincidence.
The post position draw on July 15 will matter at Monmouth, where the rail has historically been favorable. For a race shaped by early speed horses, outside posts that force Napoleon Solo or Gosger wide could change the dynamic considerably. Past the Wire will have full analysis once the draw is confirmed.
For the full 2026 stakes calendar and analysis to inform your Haskell handicapping, always visit Past the Wire.
