Maximum Security ducked out, going to about the four path, and for two strides War of Will’s front legs were precariously between Maximum Security’s hind legs. Country House was rallying outside all of them, in the four or five path. Maximum Security was on the lead, and War of Will, who had been following him, started to come between he and Long Range Toddy, who had been just to the outside of Maximum Security. The incident that led to the disqualification occurred as the horses were nearing the end of the far turn, at approximately the five-sixteenths pole. “It’s not good that it took that long,” he said. Servis, after the decision was announced, said that he was worried because of how long the inquiry was taking. “I don’t feel like I bothered anybody,” he said. Saez, while waiting for the decision to be announced, said Maximum Security “got scared from the crowd.” He said he realized Maximum Security was trying to drift out, but he grabbed him “right away.” “If it was an ordinary race on a Wednesday, I think they would have taken the winner down,” he said. Mott said that the magnitude of the race should not impact the decision. “That being said,” Mott added, “I’m pretty damn glad they put our number up.” I think due to the disqualification some of that is diminished. “You always want to win with a clean trip and recognize the horse as the great athlete that he is. “I’d be lying if I said it was any different,” Mott said. “It feels pretty darn good,” said Mott, a Hall of Famer who admitted it was a “bittersweet victory.” Instead, first-time Derby laurels were bestowed upon Prat, trainer Bill Mott, and the ownership group of Maury Shields, Guinness McFadden, and the LNJ Foxwoods Stable of Larry, Nancy, and Jaime Roth. The decision was a crushing blow for Saez, trainer Jason Servis, and owners Gary and Mary West, all of whom would have won the Derby for the first time had Maximum Security stayed up. The only previous horses disqualified in the Derby were Dancer’s Image, who had the 1968ĭerby win taken from him owing to a medication violation, and Gate Dancer, who was moved from fourth to fifth in the 1984 Derby. “Those horses were affected, we thought, by the interference,” the statement read.īorden said Maximum Security was placed behind Long Range Toddy because he was “the lowest-placed horse that he bothered, which is our typical procedure.” She said the stewards determined that Maximum Security “drifted out and impacted the progress” of War of Will, “in turn interfering” with Long Range Toddy and Bodexpress. She said both Jon Court, aboard Long Range Toddy, and Flavien Prat, aboard Country House, claimed foul against Maximum Security and his jockey, Luis Saez. The stewards – Barbara Borden, Tyler Picklesimer, and Butch Becraft – came to the media room more than two hours after the Derby, after the last of the day’s 14 races, and read a statement but took no questions.īorden, the chief steward of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, read the statement. If the Derby is the greatest two minutes in sports, the time it took the stewards to render a decision was the most agonizing 22 minutes in sports. The beneficiary of the stewards’ decision was Country House, a 65-1 shot who had crossed the wire second but was promoted to first when the ruling was announced long after the race ended. He led the 145th Derby on Saturday at Churchill Downs from nearly start to finish, but was disqualified by the stewards and placed 17th after being ruled to have interfered with several rivals, including Long Range Toddy, the original 17th-place finisher, when he ducked out 550 yards from the wire while on the lead. Maximum Security now holds that inglorious title. But not until Saturday was the original winner disqualified for an incident that happened in the race. In that time, a winner had been disqualified for a post-race medication violation, and another had been disqualified from fourth to fifth for bothering a rival in the race.
– The Kentucky Derby had been run for 144 years before Saturday, the results ranging from tour de forces by all-time greats, and upsets by improbable longshots, on days when the sun shined bright on the old Kentucky home, and when it rained as though Noah’s Ark would come sailing down the stretch.
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