Thomasville horse owner had a great time at the Kentucky Derby, despite not winning

Robbie Norman said he and his family had a great time at the Kentucky Derby watching their horse Coal Battle run for the roses.

“Especially my 82-year-old uncle,” Norman said. “He’s called me about 10 times already telling me how great it was, and he wants to go back next year.”

Norman lives in Thomasville and owns grocery stores. He also owns a stable of 20 thoroughbreds. Coal Battle is the first of his horses to run in the Kentucky Derby, and he finished in 11^th place.

“I knew we were in trouble when I saw the No. 8 (the horse named Journalism), which was the favorite, coming,” Norman said. “And when he came up beside him, sometimes it kind of breaks (the horse’s) heart.”

The jockey, Juan Vargas, said after the race that Journalism bumped Coal Battle a little bit “and knocked him off his stride.” That little bump, according to Norman, was enough to slow Coal Battle and “mess up his whole trip.”

Norman said, “We weren’t going to win it, so I’m not going to make that excuse. The most we could have hoped for was fifth or sixth.” But Norman said he felt Coal Battle did well against the other horses.

Norman also said that the track distance was not the best for Coal Battle.

“It was by far not his ideal distance, going that mile and a quarter,” Norman said. So, the plan for Coal Battle is to enter him into some shorter regional races where he has already proven he can win and perhaps take home some prize money.

Norman said Coal Battle will be heading to Churchill Downs to run in the Matt Winn Stakes on June 8. “And probably we’ll be looking at the Indiana Derby for him,” Norman said.

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Will Norman enter horses into the Kentucky Derby in the future? “Absolutely, if I have a horse that is capable of doing it,” Norman said. But he is realistic, noting that only 20 horses out of thousands of contenders race in the Kentucky Derby.

There are 20 horses in Norman Stables, and Norman said he will put some in a Derby Prep program “just like we did with Coal Battle.”

He said he has one horse, Final War, that has a good blood line. “His half-brother – they have the same mother – two years ago won the Peter Pan, which is a prep for the Belmont, and he ran in the Belmont,” Norman said. Final War’s half-sister, Fondly, is also a winning horse.

Norman said Final War’s sire, Adero, is more suited to run on turf, but he hopes that Final War will develop and run well on dirt.

“We have high hopes for him,” Norman said. “Final War’s career will start about like Coal Battle.” Coal Battle’s second start was at Kentucky Downs, and Norman said Final War is being trained to start there.

Meanwhile, other horses from Norman Stables are doing well. His horse Ghost Hero won a trophy in a handicap race, and he won the Oklahoma Classics two years ago and was Oklahoma horse of the year for his age group. Ghost Hero is 5 years old and will be running at Remington Park in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  

“The Friday before the Derby, we had Cool Cowboy in the Bachelor Stakes at Oaklawn in Hot Springs Arkansas. He ran second in the Bachelor Stakes, which is a very prestigious race,” Norman said. Cool Cowboy will be prepping for the Iowa Derby.

Looking at all the horses he has racing over the next few months, Norman said “this is going to be a very fun summer.”

And he added, “I want to thank everybody for their support.”