Confidence Game to miss Preakness with sore shoulder

Confidence Game, the 10th-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby, was removed from consideration for the Preakness Stakes on Saturday.

The colt’s trainer, Keith Desormeaux, didn’t immediately reply to a text message but told publicity for 1/ST, owner of Pimlico Racecourse, that Confidence Game hadn’t trained to his satisfaction Saturday morning at Churchill Downs.

Desormeaux said Confidence Game appeared to have a sore right shoulder and would be sent to a veterinary clinic for further examination. Confidence Game won the Rebel Stakes on Feb. 25 and didn’t start again until the Derby, where he pressed the pace and faded through the homestretch.

Confidence Game’s defection leaves just two horses that raced in the Derby, victorious Mage and fourth-place Disarm, as prospective Preakness starters. The race did pick up another runner Saturday when Coffeewithchris was scratched from the Long Branch Stakes at Monmouth to instead start in the Preakness. Coffeewithchris, trained by John Salzman Jr., never has won beyond one mile, and exits a fifth-place finish April 15 in the Federico Tesio Stakes, a 1 1/8-mile contest at Laurel Park.

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