2026 Haskell Stakes Contenders, Pace Analysis & Betting Picks

Published on: July 3, 2026

By: Miles HenryFact Checked

Here is my pre-draw breakdown of the contenders, pace dynamics, and early betting strategy.

Haskell Stakes 2026: Key Race Facts

The Haskell is the premier mid-summer race for three-year-olds, bridging the Triple Crown trail to the Breeders’ Cup. Past winners include American Pharoah, Authentic, Rachel Alexandra, and most recently 2025 winner Journalism. It consistently draws the best of the sophomore class and has produced Breeders’ Cup Classic winners and Eclipse Award champions. For a full history and track profile, see the Haskell Stakes guide.

How the Haskell Sets Up — Pace and Track Profile

Monmouth Park at nine furlongs rewards a specific type of trip. The stretch at Monmouth is relatively short compared to tracks like Churchill Downs or Saratoga, which limits the ground available for deep closers to make up time. Understanding pace figures and furlong conversion helps here — The historical winner profile tilts toward pressers and stalkers who track within a few lengths of the leader, not horses who spot the field six or eight lengths and come running. That does not mean closers cannot win — they can — but they need pace to run at, and they need position entering the stretch.

The pace question in 2026 depends heavily on the post draw. Crude Velocity is a front-runner by style. Napoleon Solo has shown ability to rate but won the Preakness with Paco Lopez riding him assertively from a favorable post. Baby Vino controlled the Pegasus wire to wire. If multiple speed horses draw adjacent posts, expect a contested early pace — which opens the door for Iron Honor, Further Ado, and Hedge Ratio. If Crude Velocity gets a clean lane from a favorable outside post, he could be the lone speed, set his own fractions, and be very difficult to catch around one turn at Monmouth.

2026 Haskell Contenders: Horse-by-Horse Analysis

2026 Haskell Stakes probable field — projected entrants ahead of Wednesday post draw (subject to change)

Horse	Trainer	Style	Key Angle
Napoleon Solo	Chad Summers	Presser / stalker	Preakness winner; sold post–Triple Crown; Paco Lopez up; Monmouth’s leading jockey
Baby Vino	Lindsay Schultz	Front-runner	Won Pegasus by 10¾ lengths; first Grade 1 start; free entry as Pegasus winner
Iron Honor	Chad Brown	Stalker / presser	Preakness runner-up; blinkers off showing new gear; Brown has won Haskell 9 times
Crude Velocity	Bob Baffert	Front-runner / presser	G1 Pat Day Mile winner; first two-turn start; Baffert record all-time Haskell wins
Further Ado	Brad Cox	Presser / stalker	Bounced back in Matt Winn after 11th in Derby; form remains hard to read
The Puma	Gustavo Delgado	Stalker	G1 Florida Derby runner-up; missed Derby (skin infection); same connections as Mage
Hedge Ratio	Chad Brown	Presser	Won Long Branch with 100 Beyer; two wins in a row; Brown’s second entry
Big Cuddle	Gary Capuano	Presser	Delaware Derby winner; back-to-back stakes wins; Grade 1 debut at Monmouth
Schoolyardsuperman	Chad Brown	Stalker	Pegasus runner-up; free Haskell entry; finished behind Hedge Ratio two back

Napoleon Solo — Preakness Winner, New Connections

Napoleon Solo won the Preakness at Laurel Park with Paco Lopez aboard — Lopez’s first Triple Crown victory — and was subsequently sold to new ownership while retaining trainer Chad Summers. That ownership change is worth monitoring before the draw: horses that change hands after a major win sometimes come back a different animal, and sometimes they come back exactly the same. Summers keeps the horse, Lopez keeps the mount, and the question is whether the new ownership structure changes anything about the training program or target schedule.

Lopez is Monmouth Park’s perennial leading rider and knows this track as well as anyone. That is a legitimate advantage. Napoleon Solo’s Preakness win at Laurel came in a controlled pace scenario — he was not tested in a chaos race. The Haskell with multiple speed horses in the field is a different question. If he draws a clean post and Lopez can find a comfortable position tracking the early pace, he is formidable. At a short price in a competitive field, he requires honest evaluation rather than automatic respect on Triple Crown credentials alone.

Iron Honor — Chad Brown’s Preakness Blueprint, Now Pointing at Monmouth

Iron Honor ran a solid second in the Preakness after a rough Wood Memorial trip that the blinkers contributed to — he got hit in the first turn, fought with Manny Franco down the backstretch, and still finished second to Napoleon Solo. Brown removed the blinkers and the result was immediate: a new, more relaxed running style that showed Iron Honor rating and settling rather than fighting his rider. “He’s starting to get a little aggressive in them,” Brown said before the Preakness. “Once he got hit in the first turn of that race, the jockey told me he tried to pull and half run off down the backside.”

Brown has won the Haskell nine times. He does not run horses at Monmouth casually. Iron Honor’s Haskell entry is the continuation of a deliberate campaign — and with blinkers off showing a more tractable style, a clean post could make him the best value in the race at a number that likely opens between 3-1 and 5-1.

Crude Velocity — Baffert’s One-Turn Specialist Stretching Out

Bob Baffert has won the Haskell nine times — tied with Chad Brown for the most by any trainer — and he is specific about his reasoning for targeting it with Crude Velocity: “I’m going to run him in the Haskell. We’re going to stretch.” Bayern, one of Baffert’s past Haskell winners, exited the Grade 1 Woody Stevens — a one-turn race — to win the Haskell at nine furlongs. Crude Velocity is coming out of the Pat Day Mile via the same one-turn-to-two-turn stretch.

The question is whether Crude Velocity’s running style translates around two turns at Monmouth. He is a front-runner who will want to be on or near the lead. If Baby Vino — also a front-runner who won the Pegasus wire to wire — draws adjacent, there is a genuine pace duel setup that could benefit the stalkers. If Crude Velocity gets a clean outside post and Baby Vino draws inside, the pace dynamic changes entirely. The post draw on Wednesday is the key to whether Crude Velocity is a win bet or a danger horse to use in exotics.

Baby Vino — The Story Behind the Horse

Baby Vino is by Vino Rosso — I have a horse named Corked out of Vino Rosso, so I have been watching this sire closely. Marcus Osborn of Cosmo Stable bought Baby Vino as a yearling and kept faith through five maiden starts at Oaklawn before the horse broke through. Three weeks later he won the Pegasus by 10¾ lengths. “I know what the word surreal means, and I understand those things, but it’s really, really great,” his father Smoky Osborn — who raced horses in the 80s — told the Paulick Report after the Pegasus.

From a handicapping standpoint, the key question is whether the Pegasus pace figures translate under Grade 1 pressure. Trainer Lindsay Schultz was measured in her assessment: “We’ve liked him from pretty much day one, definitely since we started working him. So we weren’t totally surprised, but definitely surprised he did it as impressively as he did.” Paco Lopez — Monmouth’s leading rider — stays on. A 10¾-length win in a listed prep tells you how good Baby Vino is relative to that field, not relative to Napoleon Solo and Iron Honor. The Haskell answers that directly. At a price above 6-1 he is worth a small win play on the upside; at anything shorter, the gap between a dominant listed win and Grade 1 proven form is too large to paper over with enthusiasm alone.

Further Ado — Bounced Back, But Is the Form Real?

Further Ado won the Blue Grass by 11 lengths, finished 11th in the Kentucky Derby as the post-time favorite, then bounced back to win the Matt Winn at odds-on. That sequence is still difficult to read. The Derby result was a performance that should have suited him — pace collapse, room to run — and he was beaten badly enough that trip alone does not explain it. The Matt Winn win at odds-on against soft opposition tells you the horse is physically okay. It does not tell you whether the Derby effort exposed a real ceiling or was simply a bad day on a bad surface.

The honest framing on Further Ado is this: his 11-length Blue Grass romp at Keeneland is arguably the most dominant single speed figure posted by any horse in this field. If that is the real Further Ado, he wins the Haskell going away. The Derby was either a bad day on a bad track or a data point about his ceiling — and the Haskell answers that question directly. Brad Cox does not enter horses at Grade 1 level where they cannot compete. With a clean post and a sensible stalking trip, Further Ado is the most dangerous horse in the race at any price above 5-1.

The Puma, Hedge Ratio, Schoolyardsuperman — Situational Plays

The Puma missed the Kentucky Derby with a skin infection after a campaign that had him in contention for the Florida Derby and Tampa Bay Derby. Gustavo Delgado runs the same connections who finished second in the 2023 Haskell with Mage — they know what this race requires. The Puma’s form at Gulfstream was competitive against good horses, and a fresh horse pointing specifically at this race can be dangerous. He is an exotic inclusion worth a small price.

Big Cuddle is the latest addition to the probable field — trainer Gary Capuano pointed him to the Haskell after back-to-back stakes wins at Laurel and Delaware Park, capped by a 4-length Delaware Derby win on June 13. He steps up to Grade 1 company for the first time, but he is ascending and fits the profile of a local horse who knows the Monmouth surface. At a big price he is worth a ticket on the underneath.

Hedge Ratio won the Long Branch with a 100 Beyer Speed Figure — two wins in a row for Chad Brown, who now has two potential runners in the Haskell. Brown will run whichever horse he believes gives him the better chance once post positions are drawn. If Hedge Ratio draws a favorable post and Brown commits to him as the primary entry, he becomes more interesting. At a big price with a solid local prep, he is a reasonable underneath play in trifectas and superfectas. Schoolyardsuperman finished behind Hedge Ratio two starts ago and won a free Haskell entry by running second in the Pegasus behind Baby Vino — he rounds out the ticket at a big price only.

2026 Haskell Betting Picks and Strategy

The post draw on Wednesday is the key to finalizing this ticket. If you are newer to handicapping horses, see that guide first — the pace analysis below assumes basic familiarity with running styles and track configuration. This is a high-variance race where the post positions can completely change the pace map — what reads as the top play pre-draw may not be the top play post-draw. What I can build now is a scenario framework. Horse racing picks do not guarantee outcomes; use this as analysis, not financial advice.

Win bet: Iron Honor projects as the top structural play before the draw. Chad Brown has won this race nine times and does not enter horses at Monmouth as an afterthought. Iron Honor’s Preakness second came in a race where he showed a new, more tractable style with blinkers removed. If he draws a clean post between 3 and 7, he profiles as the most logically positioned contender. At any number above 3-1, the value is there. If the draw is unfavorable — deep inside in a pace duel or deep outside in a small field — then Napoleon Solo with Lopez at Monmouth becomes the alternative. Napoleon Solo knows this track, Lopez knows this track, and Preakness form is Preakness form.

Scenario betting: If Crude Velocity and Baby Vino draw next to each other, fade both as win bets and use Iron Honor, Further Ado, and The Puma on top in exactas and trifectas. If Crude Velocity gets a clean outside post away from Baby Vino, he becomes a legitimate win threat at whatever number he opens — Baffert at Monmouth with a fresh front-runner and a record nine wins is not something you dismiss lightly.

Sample ticket — $2 exacta box: Iron Honor / Napoleon Solo / Further Ado. If exotic bets are new to you, the linked guide explains how exactas, trifectas, and superfectas work. Three horses, six combinations, covers the primary scenarios. Add Crude Velocity as a fourth if the post draw gives him a clean setup. Total cost for three horses: $12. For four: $24.

Trifecta: Key Iron Honor and Napoleon Solo on top, use Further Ado, Crude Velocity, Baby Vino, and The Puma in the second and third slots. Hedge Ratio and Schoolyardsuperman as deep longshots on the underneath. The goal is covering the two most logically positioned horses on top while giving yourself multiple paths to a significant Haskell trifecta payout.

What to avoid: Napoleon Solo at a number below 7-5 — Triple Crown credentials on a horse with new connections in a competitive field at any short price is not where the value lives. Baby Vino below 4-1 against this company for the first time. Further Ado if his post draw puts him in a position where he cannot stalk — the form cycle still has question marks that a bad trip will only deepen.

FAQs: 2026 Haskell Stakes