This racing fan learned to live with the moral inequities of race disqualifications long ago. In fact, it happened on May 30, 1967, when Manny Ycaza turned left with Dr. Fager out of the gate in the Jersey Derby, went on to win by 6 1/2 lengths, and was mercilessly disqualified by the Garden State stewards. As Pike Bishop warned his young Wild Bunch compatriot, “Either you learn to live with it, or we’ll leave you here.”I learned, but the lesson was embellished five years later when news came back to California that Cougar II, our high-bouncing head case from Chile, had won the Woodward Stakes by five lengths only to be disqualified for coming over on Tinajero, who was narrowly beaten for second. As Hyman Roth told Michael Corleone, “This is the business we’ve chosen.”It doesn’t really matter if Maximum Security saw something, or heard something, or sensed something threatening at that crucial spot on Saturday in the 145th Kentucky Derby. He did something – something that transgressed the rules of racing as interpreted by three stewards who hold their jobs presumably because they get things right more often than wrong.The avalanche of reaction to Maximum Security’s disqualification has not been surprising. Everyone has an opinion about the elevation of Country House and a way to express that opinion to a much wider audience than just the gang at the local Moe’s Tavern. One writer anointed Maximum Security as “the poster boy of the biggest controversy in the history of American horse racing” (Tony Ciulla would like to object), while another called for the immediate adoption of “international” rules governing disqualifications, presumably along with the metric system and horse meat as a main course.It was an interesting Derby with an unsatisfactory outcome, which makes it pretty much par for the course of recent versions likewise drenched to the bone. More than ever, it is important to put this race behind us, which is why your observer needs to unpack the madness as a kind of therapeutic scream. So here we go again. As the credits promise at the start of “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” – “Most of what follows is true.” Off at 6:51 p.m., one minute earlier than last year in an attempt to beat the weather. Fat chance.MAXIMUM SECURITY, relieved to learn he was not favored, scampered away from the starting gate, relaxed under a light hold, and got a chuckle at the sight of stretch-running LONG RANGE TODDY and the maiden BODEXPRESS to his outside as he indulged those two until reaching the far turn, bid them adieu with a minor lane change to welcome WAR OF WILL and COUNTRY HOUSE to the fray, then veered outward from the shock of his own reflection in the small pond that had accumulated at the five-sixteenths, recovered to angle left and ask CODE OF HONOR, “Did you see that?” then went on to finish clear, though rattled. COUNTRY HOUSE, breaking from the Cardinal Stadium parking lot, found himself comfortably in midpack alongside CODE OF HONOR, idly comparing their Hall of Fame trainers, had his back half bumped slightly by BODEXPRESS on the final turn, then gave his rider the consolation of “best finish by a Frenchman” while settling for second. CODE OF HONOR, no taller than an end table, was overlooked by the larger beasts around him as he enjoyed a perfect trip but squandered an opening that could have accommodated Air Force One. TACITUS zigged and zagged past the stands the first time as if dodging wasps, then appeared anxious and full of run with nowhere to go until it was too late to make a difference. IMPROBABLE did just enough to keep from being embarrassed as the chalk. GAME WINNER, who had the bad luck to be bumped from the main gate to the auxiliary gate because – oh, never mind – found himself at the back of the field early, ahead of only a horse wearing earmuffs, after which finishing sixth was pure gravy. MASTER FENCER, he of the muffs, broke toward Indiana then engaged in his own private Derby while galloping to the stretch and blowing out the final quarter in 23-and-change. WAR OF WILL won’t forget MAXIMUM SECURITY if they ever meet in a dark alley. PLUS QUE PARFAIT broke well, raced in a crowd, and dreamt for a moment he might follow CODE OF HONOR on the rail. Dream on. WIN WIN WIN leaned right at the break with MASTER FENCER, found comfort in the back of the pack, then put in a small run before being startled by a sudden flash of pink earmuffs at the eighth pole. CUTTING HUMOR loomed within earshot of the lead at the top of the stretch before realizing he wasn’t in New Mexico anymore. BY MY STANDARDS broke poorly and should have stayed in bed. VEKOMA, despite the conditions, needed a bigger paddle. BODEXPRESS crashed the party late and danced with the cool kids all the way to midnight before the clock struck. TAX took the Mine That Bird tour to no avail. ROADSTER, confronted with more than five opponents for the first time in memory, spent 1 1/4 miles wondering how he ended up in the Grand National. LONG RANGE TODDY and his rider, with 61 years between them, both aged considerably. SPINOFF, though no factor, at least held on to his grateful jockey. GRAY MAGICIAN disappeared early and stayed there. After a 22-minute delay, during which the board of stewards waited for their cable to be installed, MAXIMUM SECURITY was cited for meddling with one of the primal forces of nature. He was disqualified from first to a place in history. Also 17th.