Kentucky Derby prep: Coal Battle rallies to win Springboard
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.
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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.