A Remington Springboard Mile Stakes winner was in the news in early 2024 when Senor Buscador took the Saudi Cup (G1) a little more than three years after his initial stakes triumph at Remington Park.
Four days into 2025, Coal Battle , another Springboard Mile winner, has grabbed headlines. On Jan. 4 at Oaklawn Park, he soundly defeated Mo Quality to capture the $250,000 Smarty Jones Stakes, the first route stakes for 3-year-old males at the Arkansas track that leads toward its March 29 Arkansas Derby (G1), all of which serve as points races on the Road to the Kentucky Derby.
In picking up 10 Kentucky Derby (G1) qualifying points with the four-length Smarty Jones Stakes victory, Coal Battle upped his total to 20, having also earned 10 points in the Springboard Mile. He is second on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard, trailing only Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) winner Citizen Bull with 40 points. Churchill Downs uses qualify points for promotion and as a preference system when the Derby overfills beyond its 20-horse capacity.
Describing his feelings about having an early prospect for the May 3 Run for the Roses at Churchill Downs, veteran trainer Lonnie Briley, whose stable is typically compromised of blue-collar runners, said, “Don’t know if it’s set in yet. No, it’s crazy for the little guy, you know?”
Crazy, perhaps, but not altogether unexpected. Coal Battle, who races for Robert Norman’s Norman Stables, improved to 4-for-6 with Saturday’s victory. Following his rallying, half-length victory in the Remington Springboard Mile, he returned $11 for a $2 win wager.
The front-running manner in which he won was still a surprise, even to Briley, who expected to watch his top horse race from behind under Juan Vargas, as the dark bay or brown colt customarily does. But after breaking alertly and with most of the riders in the race taking hold of their mounts early, Coal Battle dragged Vargas to the lead in the 1 1/16-mile race, with his rivals close behind.
By setting comfortable fractions of :24.11, :49.03, and 1:15.64 over the fast but tiring surface, he had plenty left leaving the second turn. Cut loose by Vargas in the lane, he accelerated away from the competition to complete 1 1/16 miles in 1:46.43, including a final sixteenth in :06.13.
The lightly raced Mo Quality , reluctant to switch leads until the race’s final 100 yards, rallied to grab second, outfinishing favored Kale’s Angel , who showed. Bon Temps was fourth and second-choice Hot Property a dull fifth in his second career start.
Those runners earned 5-3-2-1 qualifying points, respectively.
Bred in Kentucky by Hume Wornall and Jay Adcock out of the stakes-placed Midshipman mare Wolfblade , Coal Battle was purchased for $70,000 by Power Racing from the Red River Farm consignment to the 2023 Texas Thoroughbred Association Yearling Sale. The colt is 4-for-4 on dirt, having also won the Jean Lafitte Stakes and a maiden race in Louisiana, where he began his career as a juvenile in 2024. His only two losses came last year on turf when seventh in an allowance at Keeneland and fourth in the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile Stakes.
Coal Battle is the top earner for his sire, the multiple graded stakes winner Coal Front , who stands this year for $2,000 at Red River Farms in Louisiana.
