Kentucky Derby 2025: Coal Battle stays on schedule with trip to Delta Downs

Derby Watch member Coal Battle pulled a page out of the Mystik Dan playbook last month when he traveled from his Arkansas base to Louisiana to maintain an uninterrupted training schedule ahead of a major 3-year-old prep at Oaklawn Park.

Mystik Dan traveled from Oaklawn to Fair Grounds in January 2024 just before a major snowstorm hit Arkansas and disrupted training at Oaklawn. He logged three works in Louisiana and returned to win the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn and eventually the Kentucky Derby.

Coal Battle fled to Delta Downs in Vinton, La., ahead of the snowstorm that hit in January in Arkansas. He logged three works at Delta – where his trainer, Lonnie Briley, also has a division – and has since returned to Oaklawn for his final prep work for the Grade 2, $1.25 million Rebel on Feb. 22.

“They were shut down here for about 12 days,” Briley said. “I said, ‘What am I going to do? Put him on the Eurociser and shed row him, or bring him to Delta and train him?’ So that’s more or less what I did.

“He’s training right along. He’s been on his work schedule every week. He’s not a big-time work horse. It’s like he’s too smart for that. He’ll work and then he’ll come back bucking and playing.”

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That was the case Monday, when Coal Battle breezed five furlongs by himself in 1:02.20.

“When the rider was pulling him up, he starts bucking and playing,” Briley said. “He’s a character. He’s happy.”

Entries for the Rebel will be taken Sunday. Juan Vargas has the mount on Coal Battle, Briley said. The horse has won two Kentucky Derby prep races, the Springboard Mile at Remington Park and the Smarty Jones at Oaklawn. Briley said he passed on the Southwest – won by Springboard Mile runner-up Speed King – to freshen up Coal Battle for the Rebel.

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