Scheduled to join Burnham Square, the sixth-place finisher from the Kentucky Derby (G1), in the $400,000 Matt Winn Stakes (G3) June 8 at Churchill Downs is Coal Battle, 11th in the Derby. Both horses have remained stabled at Churchill Downs since the May 3 Run for the Roses.
Norman Stables' Coal Battle, the Rebel Stakes (G2) winner, recorded his first breeze since the first leg of the Triple Crown by covering a half-mile in :48 1/5 on May 13 over a fast track at Churchill Downs, a move that pleased trainer Lonnie Briley.
READ: Burnham Square to Matt Winn Stakes
A cutback to 1 1/16 miles for the Matt Winn—at the Rebel Stakes distance—should suit Coal Battle, who came up empty in the final furlong of the 1 1/4-mile Derby after racing wide in midpack. He crossed the wire 17 lengths behind victorious Sovereignty and 6 1/2 lengths behind Whitham Thoroughbreds' Burnham Square, who rallied after being checked sharply into the second turn.
Briley does not believe that Coal Battle having a shoe repair in the paddock compromised the colt's performance, but he said that contact Coal Battle had with another runner amid jostling at the head of the stretch sapped some of the Coal Front colt's finish.
"It kind of knocked the wind out of him," Briley said.
The Matt Winn comes the day after the final leg of the Triple Crown, the June 7 Belmont Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course, a race expected to lure Sovereignty and other leading 3-year-olds.
