The owners of Maximum Security, the colt disqualified from first in the May 4 Kentucky Derby, have filed a federal lawsuit in a U.S. District Court in Kentucky seeking to overturn the stewards’ decision and declare the horse the official winner.
Jockey Luis Saez has been suspended 15 racing days by Churchill Downs stewards for his ride in the Kentucky Derby aboard Maximum Security, who crossed the wire first before being disqualified for causing interference leaving the second turn of the race.
Gray Magician is being rested at a Kentucky farm after finishing last of 19 in the Kentucky Derby last Saturday.
Omaha Beach, who was withdrawn from the Kentucky Derby three days before the race after being diagnosed with an entrapped epiglottis, could return to trainer Richard Mandella's stable at Santa Anita as early as this weekend.
Andrew Beyer gives his opinion on the disqualification of Maximum Security from first place in the Kentucky Derby.
They were slogging back around the clubhouse turn headed home with their muddy, untacked longshot, already thrilled with his gallant runner-up effort in the Kentucky Derby, when Churchill Downs track announcer Travis Stone's voice came over the public address system. “Hold all tickets. There's a rider's objection in this race, and it concerns the top two finishers.”
Flavien Prat is happy to have won the Kentucky Derby on Country House, but he also is dealing with the fallout from his victory, his first in an American classic.
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.”
Gary West, the owner of Maximum Security, said Sunday he wants to appeal the stewards’ decision to disqualify his horse from first in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, but based on Kentucky regulations, he may have to take it to federal court for it to be heard.
The overnight rating for the Kentucky Derby broadcast on NBC on Saturday was the highest since 1990 and a 20 percent jump over last year’s number, according to NBC.
