Coal Battle adds more Derby points with third straight win in Smarty Jones
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HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Coal Battle won his second consecutive Kentucky Derby points race on Saturday, when he bounded away to a four-length win over Mo Quality in the $250,000 Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn Park. It was another neck back in third to 6-5 favorite Kale’s Angel.
The Smarty Jones – along with the Jerome at Aqueduct – were the first two Kentucky Derby points races of 2025. The Smarty Jones also launched the annual 3-year-old series at Oaklawn, which continues with the Southwest, Rebel, and Arkansas Derby.
Coal Battle picked up 10 points last month when he won the Springboard Mile at Remington Park. He emerged from the race so well, trainer Lonnie Briley said earlier this week that the decision was made to run back in the Smarty Jones. The horse picked up another 10 points Saturday.
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“He ran big, big,” Briley said in a post-race interview broadcast by Oaklawn. “Every time we run him, he just seems to kind of surprise us.”
It was an emphatic victory, with Coal Battle ($11) taking the lead out of the gate – one start after closing from off the pace in the Springboard Mile. He raced with Kale’s Angel through an opening quarter in 24.11 seconds and continued on to lead the field through a half-mile in 49.03 seconds and six furlongs in 1:15.64 on a blustery afternoon in the low 40s.
Coal Battle continued to be in command in the stretch, and started to separate himself from his peers in the later stages. He covered the 1 1/16 miles on a fast track in 1:46.43. Coal Battle carried top weight of 122 pounds and spotted each of his rivals between three to five pounds Saturday.
Juan Vargas was aboard Coal Battle for Norman Stables. The son of Coal Front won his third straight race in a streak built in stakes. He won around two turns in the $100,000 Jean Lafitte, which was held on a six-furlong oval at Delta Downs. Coal Battle came back and accounted for the Springboard Mile, then prepped at his winter base of Oaklawn for the Smarty Jones.
Coal Battle has now won 4 of 6 starts for earnings of $453,775.
Mo Quality picked up five points for second on Saturday, while Kale’s Angel earned three points for third. Bon Temps earned two for fourth and Hot Property earned one for fifth. Curvino and Optical were scratched earlier in the day from the Smarty Jones.
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