Kentucky Derby 2025: Coal Battle having a ball heading into Arkansas Derby
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HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – A stall toy gave trainer Lonnie Briley a tip-off about how to proceed with Coal Battle on the road to the Kentucky Derby.
Briley has been closely monitoring the Rebel winner, to see if he should run him back in the Grade 1, $1.5 million Arkansas Derby on Saturday or just train up to the Kentucky Derby. He said last week that Coal Battle gave him a clear sign to enter the Arkansas Derby.
“I thought he was going to rip his ball off the wall yesterday, playing with it,” Briley said. “He’s jumping out of his skin. He’s feeling so good right now.”
Coal Battle will be going for his fifth consecutive stakes win in the Arkansas Derby. He has bounced out of each of his races with good energy and is the type of horse that takes good care of himself, Briley said.
“Normally, he’ll walk four days” after a race, Briley said. “He’ll get in the corner of the stall and he’ll rest and be like, ‘Leave me alone, this is my time.’ About the third day, he’s bouncing back, and the fourth day, he’s trying to [jump] out of his stall. He’s a neat little horse. It’s not like you’re gutting him out because he takes care of himself.
“And you know, what’s so crazy is during the race, at the three-eighths pole, he’ll move without the rider asking him to. [Jockey Juan] Vargas will always tell me, ‘Lonnie, he took off before I ever asked him to,’ you know.”
Coal Battle is a son of Coal Front and the Midshipman mare Wolfblade. He races for Norman Stables. Briley said ahead of the Springboard Mile in December the horse weighed 1,070 pounds on the scale at Remington Park. He said he has put on some weight since then as he’s continued to grow and develop over the winter and spring.
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“He’s not a real big horse,” Briley said. “He’s a little less than 16 hands, but when you take the blanket off him you go, ‘Whoa!’ He’s got a real nice, good hip on him, a nice shoulder on him, got a lot of presence to him. But I mean, he’s a neat little dude.”
Coal Battle ranks fourth in points for the Kentucky Derby with 70. He has been based this winter at Oaklawn, where he won the Smarty Jones in January prior to his win in the Rebel.
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