Confidence Game gets tag-teamed in stiff one-mile work

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Confidence Game, who skipped the Lexington Stakes on Saturday at Keeneland to train straight into the Kentucky Derby on May 6, was sent through a serious one-mile workout Friday at Churchill by trainer Keith Desormeaux.

Breaking from the gate and working over a fast track, Confidence Game initially worked alongside an unraced 3-year-old who dropped out about midway through, with a 3-year-old maiden named Giant Awakening joining in for the last five furlongs or so. Churchill clocker John Nichols got Confidence Game in 1:38.20.

“He really started to pick it up late in the work, even when he went pretty fast early on,” Desormeaux said. “I was definitely looking to get a lot of work in him, and I think we accomplished that.”

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A last-out winner of the Rebel Stakes on Feb. 25 at Oaklawn Park, Confidence Game will be trying to become perhaps the first horse to win the Derby off such a lengthy layoff. Churchill statistics documenting the time between starts for Derby winners date back only to 1929. Authentic, winner of the September 2020 Derby during the pandemic, has the record for the longest time between starts (49 days) among the last 94 winners.

Crowds at the claim box

How hard is it to claim a good horse these days at a Kentucky track? Very.

Take the ninth and last race here Thursday, for example. A total of 27 slips were dropped for the winner of the $20,000 claiming route, Caballo Feliz. Darris J. Williams won the post-race shake to become the new owner of the 3-year-old colt, with Louisiana-based Clifford Dodson the new trainer.

In addition, four other horses were claimed from a field of 11, three of them with four or more claims dropped.

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