Although she had a pretty undistinguished career on the track roughly a decade ago, Wolfblade, a West Virginia-bred daughter of Midshipman bred by Mike Schiano, may have a significant impact on this year’s Triple Crown.

Her talented son, Coal Battle, already has 70 Derby points, enough to garner a spot in the May 3 Kentucky Derby, and is the 7-2 third choice on the morning line for the March 29 Grade 1 Arkansas Derby.

While Coal Battle, a son of Coal Front trained by Lonnie Briley for Norman Stables LLC, is not West Virginia-bred, Schiano has followed the colt since watching him prevail at first asking against maiden special weight foes at Louisiana’s Evangeline Downs, a track in many ways not that dissimilar from Charles Town.

Coal Battle would eventually end his freshman campaign by capturing the Springboard Mile at Remington Park, a Derby points race. He has already taken both the Smarty Jones and Grade 2 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park this season. Overall, he has five wins from seven starts and earnings of more than $1 million.

“I still remember when Wolfblade was foaled on my farm,” Schiano said. “She was a really beautiful filly. I thought she would turn out to be okay. I never imagined that she would be the dam of a horse who could be the favorite in the Kentucky Derby. I mean, if I did, I certainly would have kept her or sold her for more. But [owner David Raim and trainer Jeff Runco] wanted her and they bought her from me and she won her first start for them, but then she really didn’t go on to do much after that. But she ended up winning nine races, which is pretty good.”

Wolfblade is out of the winning Latent Heat mare Venice Queen. Schiano had purchased Venice Queen for $24,000 out of a February 2014 mixed sale and gave her two more starts before retiring her.

Wolfblade won nine of 39 career outings.

She won the first start of her career on July 14, 2017 as the tepid 2-1 favorite in a maiden special weight dash for state-bred two-year-old fillies. She would then compete in a trio of stakes, finishing sixth in the Rachel’s Turn, third in the WV Triple Crown Nutrition Breeders Classic, and then eighth in the Eleanor Casey Memorial, which proved to be her final stakes outing.

Several months later, after failing to succeed at the allowance level, Runco dropped her into a claiming event and eventually she changed hands several times via the claim box.

“When she won that first time out, I was really high on her and Jeff thought she was going to turn out to be okay,” Raim said. “She finished third in the Breeders Classics, then she didn’t perform well in her next stakes. It wasn’t long until Jeff had her in claimers. I tend to get too attached to them, but Jeff knows when to move on. She just didn’t seem like she was going to fit into the stakes program and eventually she got claimed and I lost track of her.”

When Coal Battle won the Smarty Jones Stakes as the 9-2 four choice in January, Schiano reached out to Raim to remind him that they could have a horse with West Virginia-bred ties on the road to the Kentucky Derby.

Both have followed his career closely since. Coal Battle rewarded their loyalty further when he forged an 11-1 upset in the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn. After a front-running score in the Smarty Jones, this time Coal Battle rallied from several lengths back to win.

The victory solidified his status as a major player for the upcoming run for the roses and vaulted him to the Derby points lead. He has since been passed by three others, but the 70 points he has already amassed will be sufficient to earn him a spot in the starting gate.

“I’ve been following him really since the beginning,” Schiano said. “Then when he won those two stakes at Oaklawn I started to really get excited. I mean, you don’t see too many horses with ties to West Virginia breeding compete on the big stage. But we’ve got good breeders in West Virginia. I think everyone I know is pulling for the horse to do well in the Derby. It’s been a great ride so far. I just hope it continues.”

Coal Battle’s conditioner, Lonnie Briley, is hardly a household name in racing circles. His sire, Coal Front, had fallen out of favor in Kentucky in recent years and now stands for $2,000 in Louisiana.

Coal Battle has a chance to put them — and a West Virginia-bred mare — on the map on the nation’s biggest stage.

“Schiano called me in January right after he won the Smarty Jones and asked me if I remembered Wolfblade,” Raim said. “I’ve been following the colt ever since. It’s exciting to know that we’re a part of a horse that is heading to the Kentucky Derby. Wolfblade really wasn’t bred all that well, top or bottom. If I ever thought she was going to be a really good broodmare I would have kept her. But she just didn’t seem like she had the pedigree for it.”