The Most Controversial Ending to a Kentucky Derby in History
By Cole Wise
As Maximum Security crossed the wire on Saturday's Kentucky Derby in the slop, jockey Luis Saez was celebrating, along with Jason Servis, and Gary & Mary West. However, the celebration was shortlived as the large red sign appeared, and after over 20 minutes of waiting, Maximum Security was placed 17th, and in an instant, 9 Million Dollars bet on MS, and 3 million dollars in purse money was taken away from arguably the rightful winner to the 65-1 shot Country House. As Flavian Pratt and Bill Mott were congratulated for what some would call an "artifical" win, boos could be heard from the stands, as many tore up there tickets in disbelief. In just over 20 minutes, the stewards were forced to make a 12 million dollar decision that will be controversial forever.
Looking back at the replay's MS did veer into the lane of War of Will, but some would argue the horse was starting to fade, which started the initial contact to Long Range Toddy and Country House. MS was clearly scared of the infield and tried to veer out. After, Saez tried to take MS back into his lane and did effectively crossing the wire in the first place.
Without a doubt, Maximum Security was the best horse in that race and it is a shame to see the winner of the race and arguably the best horse in the race taken down to 17th (where Long Range Toddy had placed) and the amazing efforts taken away.
There is a simple solution that Churchill Downs will try to avoid at all costs, lowering the field to 14 horses instead of 20. Issues like the ones faced on Saturday would not have happened in a smaller field, but CD was too greedy and is likely putting money over the safety of these horses, and until a horse goes down, Churchill Downs will not shrink the field. With 20 horses in the race, there is going to be contact, which makes it a shame that because of this, Maximum Security was taken down.
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