Coal Battle, Speed King could meet again in Southwest Stakes

Coal Battle and Speed King, who finished a half-length apart when running one-two in Friday night’s $300,000 Springboard Mile at Remington Park, could clash again in the upcoming 3-year-old series at Oaklawn Park.

Both horses were traveling to Oaklawn on Saturday morning, where their respective trainers, Lonnie Briley and Ron Moquett, have stables. The men each said a next race option for their charge is the Grade 3, $1 million Southwest Stakes on Jan. 25 at Oaklawn.

Coal Battle picked up 10 points for the Kentucky Derby in the Springboard Mile, placing him eighth on the latest points list put out by Churchill Downs. He rallied for a half-length win Friday night and after being briefly distracted in the stretch put in a determined bid under Juan Vargas to catch Speed King.

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“We’ve kind of tried to settle him down to run off the pace like he does and when he got closer to the grandstand, he was looking at the grandstand,” Briley said, “I guess a light or something caught his eye. So, he was kind of running sideways and the rider hit him left-handed and kind of straightened him up then he just went on.”

Briley liked what he saw from Coal Battle on Saturday.

“This morning he was bouncing around like he never ran,” he said. “He’s been a good horse. We’ve run him at five different tracks and all different surfaces and I think he’d run on a gravel road. We like him.”

Coal Battle won his debut in a maiden special weight sprint at Evangeline Downs and from there was a troubled fourth in the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile on turf. Coal Battle would go on to become a stakes winner in the Jean Lafitte, a two-turn race run over 6 1/2 furlongs at Delta Downs. From there, Coal Battle won the Springboard Mile.

Briley, who also has a division of horses at Delta, trains Coal Battle for Norman Stables. The son of Coal Front was a $70,000 yearling purchase at the Texas summer sale in August 2023 at Lone Star Park.

“It was down to a Street Boss colt and him, and we took the Coal Front,” said Briley.

Plans for Coal Battle going forward are yet to be finalized.

“They’ve got the Southwest at Oaklawn Park and he’s nominated for that,” Briley said. “We’ll see how it goes, just kind of one step at a time.”

Speed King made his second start of his career in the Springboard and set a contested pace. He was stretching out around two turns following a maiden special weight sprint win at Churchill for which he earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 82.

“I was proud of my horse,” Moquett said. “He showed a lot of grit, showed ability, showed that stretching out is going to be okay.”

Moquett said Speed King has initially emerged from the Springboard in good order. The horse was the favorite Friday night and for his effort picked up five points for the Kentucky Derby. Speed King ranks 18th on the latest points list put out by Churchill.

Speed King set the pace with Southern California shipper Dr Ruben M pressing him for much of the race. Speed King shook his pace rival in the stretch and kept on before being edged near the wire.

“I was very happy with how he ran and how he came back,” Moquett said. “He was tired. He was taxed. He had to run, you know, not on necessarily the greatest part of the track because he was pushed down in there and he took on all comers through fast fractions and fought them off. I think he gave a very good account of himself and hopefully he continues to improve.”

Moquett said plans going forward are to be determined.

“We’ll keep him at the two turns, and let him have a week or so and make an evaluation,” he said. “There’s several options for us at Oaklawn. The next race will definitely be at Oaklawn.”

Moquett said those options include the Southwest, which is a points race for the Kentucky Derby. Last year the race, when worth $800,000, was won by eventual Kentucky Derby hero Mystik Dan.

Speed King is a son of Volatile who races for Triton Thoroughbreds. He was a $100,000 purchase at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales spring auction of 2-year-olds in training in April.

The Springboard Mile closed out the meet at Remington Park.

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