Coal Battle's Story Includes Texas Summer Yearling Sale

A $70,000 purchase at the Texas Thoroughbred Association Summer Yearling Sale seems unlikely to find its way onto the road to the Kentucky Derby (G1), let alone sit atop the American classic's qualifiers leaderboard in early March with 70 points. But Coal Battle has done just that, a feat being celebrated in Texas. Coal Battle became the points leader after winning the Rebel Stakes (G2) Feb. 23 at Oaklawn Park. The Rebel was his fourth consecutive win and first graded stakes win. It has sent his connections' Derby dreams into overdrive. The colt was bred in Kentucky by Jay Adcock's Red River Farms and Hume Wornall, and consigned by Red River Farms at the Texas yearling sale. His breeders took that route to be "the big fish in a small pond" instead of putting him up against thousands entered in the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. The 2023 TTA Summer Yearling Sale grossed $3,244,900 from 175 horses to change hands. With an overall average of $18,542, clearly Coal Battle's price meant the son of Coal Front was a desirable prospect. His price, though, was more than owner Robbie Norman initially wanted to spend. Norman, who lives in Alabama, sent his trainers Lonnie Briley and Jayde Gelner to the TTA Sale in hopes of buying the best Louisiana-breds possible. Briley started with a list of around 25-30 horses and narrowed it down to three, with one of them being Coal Battle—although he is a Kentucky-bred. "I cut it down to two or three horses, and he (Coal Battle) was one of them," Briley said. "I just kept going back to him. I liked his conformation, his pedigree, everything about him. He had a good eye on him, pretty head." As the bidding went up, Norman was on the fence about the son of Coal Front, but Briley's confidence in the colt caused him to keep going. "I know firsthand, trainer Lonnie Briley was very pleased to get the colt on behalf of Mr. Norman," said Foster Bridewell, director of sales at the Texas Thoroughbred Association. "That was the one he wanted. "We could not be happier for everyone involved," he continued. "The colt presented himself well while showing prior to the sale, and he figured to have quite a bit of interest. Obviously, we all know now that when the hammer fell at $70,000, that was a tremendous bargain." To date, Coal Battle has career earnings of more than $1 million. Coal Battle 2023 Yearling Sale The colt's reception at the sale exceeded the expectations of his breeders as well. "We thought he'd probably be in the $20,000-$30,000 range at most," Wornall said. "Those guys will give somewhere around $70,000-$100,000 on occasion, but it's a rarity." Coal Battle's sire, Coal Front, stood his first season in 2021 at Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, for an advertised fee of $5,000, before relocating in 2025 to Adcock's Red River Farms in Louisiana, where he currently stands for $2,000. Coal Battle is the sire's first graded stakes winner. "When you take a horse that stands for $2,000 and a mare that was purchased for not a whole lot more than that, we're just pleasantly surprised, and just think how lucky can two people be?" Adcock said. This year Coal Front boasts a dozen winners from 32 starters through March 1. His son Coal Battle has put a spotlight on the "little guys," proving again that good horses can come from anywhere. Amazingly, the same connections also have shared success with 3-year-old filly Secret Faith, who is a graduate of the same sale. The Lousiana-bred daughter of Aurelius Maximus was bred by Red River Farms and Wornall and purchased by Norman for $75,000. She has seven wins from eight career starts, six of them stakes races, and has never finished off the board for trainer Gelner. Norman hopes to target the Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) March 22, with a chance to secure a spot in the Kentucky Oaks (G1) starting gate May 2. Norman's two purchases that cost him $145,000, now have $1,480,897 in combined career earnings. "I can't say enough about Mr. Norman," added Bridewell. "He got a very nice colt who's on the leaderboard for the Kentucky Derby, and a filly who's seven of eight. We're very, very happy for him. There's always been good value offered in that sale, but to have a horse on the leaderboard, just speaks volumes. It shows that value is there, and you don't necessarily have to go spend $1 million dollars." The Cinderella story is poised to continue with Coal Battle's next anticipated start in the $1.5 million Arkansas Derby (G1) March 29 at Oaklawn Park. After that, he could be running for the roses.