Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Confidence Game has options after Rebel win
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Confidence Game’s next stop on the Road to the Kentucky Derby is to be determined, but the winner of the Grade 2, $1 million Rebel at Oaklawn Park on Saturday could return to Arkansas or run back at his home track of Fair Grounds, trainer Keith Desormeaux said Sunday.
Confidence Game was a length winner over Red Route One in the Rebel, and for the effort in the 1 1/16-mile race he earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 94. He settled a few lengths off strong fractions of 22.75 seconds for the opening quarter, 46.17 for the half-mile, and 1:11.45 for six furlongs, made a sweeping run around the final turn, and proceeded to cover the distance in 1:44.21 on a sloppy, sealed track at Oaklawn.
“This horse, even when he’s tired, he has a very efficient – and obviously ground-consuming – stride,” Desormeaux said. “Even when he’s tired – after that pace you could see the leaders were going to come back and he wasn’t too far off of it – he was still progressing. He’s got heart. He’s got fortitude. But most of all, he’s very efficient, even when he’s tired.”
The result was something of a relief for Desormeaux, who had some anxious moments with Confidence Game in the sunken, indoor saddling paddock that was brimming with folks looking down over the horses on a wet afternoon in which the estimated attendance was 42,000.
“I was really worried because the horse had a meltdown in the indoor paddock,” Desormeaux said. “I had schooled him Thursday [a dark day], and there were no people. Because it was raining all day Friday, I decided not to school him because he was so quiet the day before. Yesterday, he was nervous, sweating, and over the edge. I thought we had no chance, because they usually are spent by the time it’s time to load in the gate. It’s a credit to the horse for him to leave the paddock and get it back together mentally.”
Desormeaux was pleased with Confidence Game on Sunday morning and said the horse was to return to Louisiana later the same afternoon. Confidence Game came up from the Fair Grounds off a
third-place finish in the Grade 3 Lecomte at 1 1/16 miles on Jan. 21 and was sent to post at 18-1 in the Rebel.
“I’m still trying to figure out that race in the Lecomte,” Desormeaux said. “I know that I had this horse dead fit and he seemed to be comfortable in the course of the last race, but he didn’t finish. I was thinking maybe it was just the different type of track. We all know Fair Grounds has got a great surface. For some reason, he didn’t get over that Fair Grounds course as well.”
From there, the Rebel became the target for its timing and distance as Desormeaux considered the current stage of development with Confidence Game.
“The next race at the Fair Grounds, the Risen Star, was a mile and an eighth,” Desormeaux said. “I think Oaklawn is known as maybe it plays a little more to speed – although I think this horse would run all day. But just a few little characteristics of the race and of Oaklawn made us go in this direction.”
Desormeaux added that the Rebel’s spot on the calendar and changes at Fair Grounds have given Confidence Game preferred spacing to either the Grade 2, $1 million Louisiana Derby at 1 3/16 miles on March 25 at Fair Grounds or the Grade 1, $1.25 million Arkansas Derby at 1 1/8 miles on April 1.
“Because Fair Grounds added a week in between the Risen Star and the Louisiana Derby – being that it’s five weeks until the Louisiana Derby instead of only being four like before – then I can go back to either the Arkansas Derby or the Louisiana Derby. So, we’ll see what happens.
“We’re going to baby him. We’re going to let him rest and recoup and keep him limber for a couple of weeks and make some decisions after that. We know he likes the track [at Oaklawn]. The ship is not bad. We’d love to come back if that seems like it’s the best thing for the horse.”
Red Route One closed from 19 lengths back for second in the Rebel and earned a career-high Beyer of 92. It was his second straight runner-up finish in the 3-year-old series at Oaklawn. Last month, Red Route One was a closing second in the Southwest.
“He ran well,” trainer Steve Asmussen said Sunday. “He’s put together two nice races here. I think he’s up to 33 [Kentucky Derby] points and he does not seem scared that the races are going to go farther.”
Asmussen said plans going forward are to be determined for Red Route One, but that he is under serious consideration for the Louisiana Derby.
“We’ll see how he comes back,” Asmussen said of training going forward. “I’m not positive I won’t wheel back in the Louisiana Derby to go a mile and three-sixteenths.”
Reincarnate, who was third in the Rebel, was traveling back to Southern California on Sunday morning, said Tom Ryan, managing partner for co-owner SF Racing. The frontrunning horse trained by Tim Yakteen had trouble at both the start and in the stretch and finished 2 1/2 lengths behind Confidence Game, for a Beyer of 90. Ryan said the horse could return for the Arkansas Derby, but plans are still being determined for Reincarnate.
“He’s come back great,” Ryan said. “Let’s see how he trains over the next few weeks and what happens in the next round of preps. All options are open to him.”
Ryan liked how Reincarnate handled different variables in the Rebel.
“He proved yesterday how versatile he is,” Ryan said Sunday. “When he got rolling, the gaps didn’t open for him, and some disappeared – [it was] encouraging to see him maintaining his composure and hitting the line hard.
“He proved to me that he belongs in the Kentucky Derby conversation. It was his first time on a plane, his first time on a wet track, his first time taking dirt. He passed every test.”
Ryan added he likes the prospect of more distance for Reincarnate.
“A mile and an eighth to a mile and a quarter will be his sweet spot, and I see no limitations going farther,” he said. “Winning is always the goal, but these horses need experience to prepare them for the bigger targets. I feel he gained plenty from his journey to Arkansas. A trip back for the Arkansas Derby isn’t out of the question.”
The track condition Saturday was a big part of the story of the Rebel. Oaklawn was saturated with rain Friday, when the track was sloppy, and it remained sloppy for the card Saturday. The track took additional rain Saturday morning and at various times throughout the card rain fell on an overcast afternoon in the 50s.
“I think it was a racetrack that rider-wise everybody was trying to find what spot was the best and it changed as the day went along,” Asmussen said. “I don’t think there was a great amount of confidence in anybody with exactly what you should do.
“But I think like all off tracks, some handle it better than others.”
Now, it’s on to the next stage of preps.