Coal Battle, racing for the first time on fast dirt, was as
far back as 11th place before he powered through the homestretch to win by a
half-length Friday night in the 24th running of the listed, $300,000 Remington Springboard Mile, a Kentucky Derby 2025 points prep for 2-year-olds.

Making up ground down the middle of the track under the
left-handed urging of jockey Juan Vargas, the Coal Front colt owned by Robert
Norman and trained by Lonnie Briley took the lead for good in the final four strides
of the two-turn mile on the fast main track at Remington Park.

Click here for Remington Park entries and results.

Coal Battle (6-1) broke quickly and was prominent the first
time past the finish line before Vargas settled back going into the first turn,
conceding 21 3/4 lengths. Aided by a 16 mph tailwind up the backstretch, post-time
favorite Speed King (2-1) set the early pace with Dr Ruben M (3-1) flanking him
through early fractions of 23.93 and 47.46 seconds.

Speed King, a debut winner Nov. 1 at Churchill Downs, still
had the lead through the second turn, finishing the first three-quarters of a
mile in 1:12.21. Coal Battle was moving forward between horses in the turn,
getting to fourth place by the three-sixteenths pole. He reeled in fading Dr
Ruben M, rail-running Dominant Spirit (7-1) and then Speed King to complete the
victory with a winning time of 1:39.25.

Speed King held on for second, Dominant Spirit was five more
lengths back in third, Dr Ruben M was 1 3/4 more lengths up the track in fourth,
and Jolly Samurai (5-1) closed to finish another neck back in fifth. For the
top five finishers, the closing-night feature was worth 10-5-3-2-1 qualifying points toward the
Kentucky Derby.

Brooklyn Alley Cat (55-1), Mister Omaha (5-1), Keeno (58-1),
Complex Music (20-1), Medicine Dog (94-1), Essay (84-1) and Blue Angel (60-1) were
sixth through 12th in that order.

Coal Battle paid $15.80, $6.40 and $4.40; Speed King $3.80
and $3.40; and Dominant Spirit $4.60.

It was the first Springboard Mile win for Vargas, Norman and
Briley.

“My owner wanted to come here,” Briley said. “He said he ran
in this race but he’d never win it. I said we’ll give it a shot.”

Bred in Kentucky by Hume Worrall and Jay Adcock, Coal Battle
is out of Midshipman mare Wolfblade. He is 3-for-3 on dirt having won his
five-furlong debut in the slop July 25 of an off-the-turf race at Evangeline
Downs. Last month he finished first by 2 1/2 lengths going 6 1/2 furlongs in the
muddy renewal of the black-type, $100,000 Jean Lafitte Stakes at Delta Downs.
In between he finished fourth in the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile and seventh
in a Keeneland allowance race, both on turf.

Briley said Coal Battle, a $70,000 purchase at last year’s
Texas Thoroughbred Association yearling sale, is expected to race this winter at
Oaklawn. The 1 1/16-mile, $1 million Southwest Stakes (G3), a Derby points prep
Jan. 25, is a possible target.