Mage, Confidence Game Impress in Final Derby Works

While their assigned tasks differed April 29 at Churchill Downs, Kentucky Derby (G1) hopefuls Mage  and Confidence Game  each impressed in their final serious works one week ahead of the May 6 classic.

Displaying a stride that perhaps needs a word stronger than consistent, Florida Derby (G1) runner-up Mage completed six furlongs in 1:16 4/5 while Rebel Stakes (G2) winner Confidence Game blazed five furlongs in :59 on the fast track, earning the bullet from 54 works at the distance Saturday.

For Mage, the only horse to work six furlongs at Churchill Saturday, the breeze marked his third timed move since finishing second to champion Forte  in the Florida Derby April 1 at Gulfstream Park. After breezes of five furlongs and six furlongs at Gulfstream, Mage seemed to take a good hold of the track Saturday in his first work at Churchill.

Mage is trained by Gustavo Delgado, who will be making his third Derby start with Mage after sending out Majesto  to an 18th-place finish in 2016 and Bodexpress   to a 13th-place finish in 2019. Delgado, a native of Venezuela, said Saturday that he feels like he's coming into this year's race with a better horse.

Delgado's son and assistant, Gustavo Delgado Jr., said they are confident Mage is plenty fast so the focus is on building some stamina. They liked what they saw Saturday morning.

"The main thing is he seems to like the track a lot," Delgado said, noting that the six-furlong move is designed to build stamina as the son of Good Magic   stretches out from the 1 1/8-mile Florida Derby to the 1 1/4-mile Kentucky Derby in just his fourth career start. "It's my dad's style, pretty much from the South (America). That's how he likes to prepare for a race like this, especially when they cover a longer distance like this for the first time."

Saturday's move nearly replicated the six-furlong breeze in 1:16.69 at Gulfstream one week before his big run in the Florida Derby, where he took command with a rally coming out of the far turn only to see champion 2-year-old male Forte close past him in the stretch. That effort followed his debut maiden win Jan. 28 at Gulfstream and a fourth-place finish in the Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) there. He broke slowly in both the Fountain of Youth and Florida Derby

Campaigned by OGMA Investments, Ramiro Restrepo, Sterling Racing, and CMNWLTH, Mage appears to be a fast-improving horse and Delgado Jr. said that trend has continued in Kentucky since he arrived at Churchill April 24.

"Since we shipped here to Churchill from Florida, he seems to be full of himself," Delgado said. "He's always jumping around. That's stuff that he didn't do back in Florida; he doing this right now. It's a good sign that he's feeling good. I think he's enjoying it here."

Also feeling good Saturday were the connections of Confidence Game, trained by Keith Desormeaux for owners Don't Tell My Wife Stables and Ocean Reef Racing. The son of Candy Ride   displayed a high-knee action in Saturday's move but it is effective, driving him forward. Desormeaux said arriving early at Churchill has paid dividends for Confidence Game, who, counting Saturday's breeze, worked three times at the Louisville track in April.

An aggressive last work for the Desourmeaux trained CONFIDENCE GAME going 5 Furlongs in :59.00 under jockey James Graham. pic.twitter.com/5Zej6NFWHu

— Kentucky Derby (@KentuckyDerby) April 29, 2023

"His action seems to be getting even better, higher, stronger," Desormeaux said. "High action doesn't necessarily mean that it's good action, but I like the way he's moving. It's a high knee action, but it's very fluid and he seems to be getting stronger."

Veteran jockey James Graham, who is set for his third Derby ride this year aboard Confidence Game, was aboard for Saturday's work.

"His work was fantastic," Graham said. "He was a little quicker the first two or three strides—he wanted to do something. It was nice."

When Confidence Game captured the Rebel Feb. 25 at Oaklawn Park, it marked his third win from seven starts as he debuted July 2, 2022, at Churchill. But after that active racing start, he will enter the Derby off a 10-week rest.

Should he win the Derby it would mark the longest layoff for a Derby winner going into the race since at least 1929. (The Churchill Downs media guide notes that records in this statistic are incomplete before that year, with filly Regret in 1915 credited as the winner after the longest layoff at 259 days.)

Desormeaux saw enough in the Rebel, where Confidence Game defeated a pair of other Derby hopefuls in Reincarnate  and Verifying , to know he has a horse with enough talent, and he is confident that the five works he's had since that effort will have him ready to compete.

"It just seems like horsemanship to me. I didn't do anything purposely unconventional," said Desormeaux, who has started three previous horses in the Derby including 2016 runner-up Exaggerator . "I took into account that he did race heavily as a 2-year-old but when he won the Rebel and became secure in the Derby, it just became a matter of logistics and horsemanship. 'Does he need to run again?' We thought about it from several different angles and this is what I came up with.

"I feel very confident that it's the correct move."