Coal Battle soundly defeated Mo Quality to capture the $250,000 Smarty Jones Stakes on Jan. 4 at Oaklawn Park. The Smarty Jones is the first route stakes for 3-year-old males at the Arkansas track leading toward Oaklawn's Grade 1 Arkansas Derby on March 29.

Click to subscribe!

The Smarty Jones served as points races on the Road to the 2025 Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve. In picking up 10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points with his four-length Smarty Jones Stakes victory, Coal Battle upped his total to 20, including the 10 points he earned for a win in the Remington Park Springboard Mile in his previous race. He is second on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard, trailing only Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Citizen Bull's 40 points. Churchill Downs uses the qualifying points for promotion and as a preference system when the Derby overfills beyond its 20-horse capacity.

Describing his feelings about having an early prospect for the May 3 run for the roses, veteran trainer Lonnie Briley, whose stable is typically compromised of blue-collar runners, said, "Don't know if it's set in yet. No, it's crazy for the little guy, you know?"

Crazy, perhaps, but not altogether unexpected. Coal Battle, who improved his record to 4-for-6 with Saturday's victory. He returned $11 for a $2 win wager.

The front-running manner in which Coal Battle won was still a surprise, even to Briley, who expected to watch his top horse do what he customarily does and race from behind under jockey Juan Vargas. After breaking alertly, however, and with most of the riders in the race taking hold of their mounts early, Coal Battle dragged Vargas to the lead in the 1 1/16-mile race. His rivals were close behind.

Trainer Lonnie Briley, jockey Juan Vargas. (Coady Media)

By setting comfortable fractions of :24.11, :49.03, and 1:15.64 over the fast but tiring surface, Coal Battle had plenty left leaving the second turn. Cut loose by Vargas in the lane, he accelerated away from the competition to complete 1 1/16 miles in 1:46.43, including a final sixteenth in :06.13.

The lightly raced Mo Quality, reluctant to switch leads until the race's final 100 yards, rallied to grab second, out-finishing favored Kale's Angel, who settled for third. Bon Temps was fourth and second-choice Hot Property finished a dull fifth in his second career start.

Those runners earned 5-3-2-1 Derby qualifying points, respectively.

Bred in Kentucky by Hume Wornall and Jay Adcock out of the stakes-placed Midshipman mare Wolfblade, Coal Battle was purchased for $70,000. The colt is 4-for-4 on dirt, having also won the Jean Lafitte Stakes and a maiden race in Louisiana, where he began his career as a juvenile in 2024. His only two losses came last year on turf when seventh in an allowance at Keeneland and fourth in the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile Stakes.

Coal Battle is the top earner for his sire, the multiple graded stakes winner Coal Front, who stands this year for $2,000 at Red River Farms in Louisiana.