For video of the Salvator Mile Handicap, click here.

by Tim Nichols

Robert LaPenta’s Coal Play nailed down a starting spot in the TVG Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) with his front-running score in the Salvator Mile Handicap (G3) at Monmouth Park on Saturday.

Trained by Nick Zito, Coal Play jetted to a three-length score under Joe Bravo to secure a spot in the Dirt Mile on November 7 at the Oak Tree meeting at Santa Anita Park. The Salvatore Mile is part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge “Win and You’re In” series.

A four-year-old Mineshaft colt, Coal Play covered one mile on a track rated as fast in 1:34.54.

Bravo immediately sent Coal Play to the front and he led by a length through fractions of :23.67 and :46.78 through a half-mile. Coal Play increased his lead to 2 ½ lengths at the quarter-pole after six furlongs in 1:10.13 and drew off to win at odds of 6.20-to-1.

“When this horse gets things his way, he’s real tough,” Bravo said. “They gave me the first quarter, after that they tried him several times, but he just kept giving more.”

Smooth Air finished second in his first start for trainer Chad Brown, three lengths in front of third-place finisher Solar Flare (Arg).

After opening the year with a distant seventh-place finish in an optional claiming race on April 26, Coal Play appears to be hitting his stride. He entered the Salvator Mile off a dominant 7¼-length win in an optional claiming race on June 10 at Belmont. In 2008, he finished second to Big Brown in the Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1).

Bred in Kentucky by Emory Hamilton, Coal Play improved to five wins in 14 starts and boosted his earnings to $506,708. He is out of the unraced Kris S. mare Wiscasset.

For an Equibase chart, click here.

Tim Nichols is internet content editor of THOROUGHBRED TIMES