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LOUISVILLE – Anger and confusion have elicited deplorable reactions about the behavior of the commissioners. A horse that has crossed the finish line for the first time has not won the Kentucky Derby for the only time in 145 years of history of the most prestigious race in the country.
The stewards held the objections of two jockeys and disqualified maximum safety while the leader finished 1 ¾ of the length ahead of Country House and jockey Flavien Prat. Country House, a 65-1 long strike that ended in the second-highest win ever, at $ 132.40, was declared the winner after what appeared to be an overly long 22-minute critical Saturday. .
Barbara Borden, chief steward of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, read Saturday a statement to the media explaining the unprecedented action in a derby about two hours after the conclusion of the first stage of the exciting debate of the Triple Crown. She refused to answer the journalists' questions.
Gary West, the furious owner of Maximum Security, responded to an interview request by sending an e-mail: "I think the fact that the shop steward does not take any questions shows a complete lack of transparency. . Apparently, they know that they made a bad decision and that they needed it. the time to give the best possible result to their extremely questionable decision. "
Jon Court has teamed up with Prat to form an objection against runners Luis Saez and Maximum Security to be abruptly removed from the track and hindered their progression towards cornering. The Court expressed disappointment that this year's Derby could not be handled as cleanly as last year, when Justify, still unbeaten, presented a spectacular performance as a springboard to sweep the Preakness and Belmont Stakes.
"We just had a triple crown and then a fiasco," Court said.
Part of this "fiasco" could be that the three stewards – Borden works with state steward Brooks Becraft and with Tyler Picklesimer, appointed by Churchill Downs – have never posted an investigation panel to indicate to the crowd that 150,729 people and a large audience of NBC television they believed an incident occurred that deserved to be examined.
Coach Mark Casse, whose war of will was the first to be prevented, praised the action of the stewards. But he said, "The investigation panel should probably have gone up as soon as they passed the cable. In fact, I was surprised that this was not the case. "
The commissioners also initially indicated that they followed officials and the NBC television station that only Prat, whose country house had been less affected than Long Range Toddy by Court, had objected. Short, eager to become the oldest jockey to ride at Derby at 58, said he had made it known during a phone interview with stewards that he was greatly compromised.
"I turned around and got fired on the other side and was eliminated," said Court.
Long Range Toddy fainted in 17th place after being hard-controlled. War of Will, also controlled by Tyler Gaffalione, finished eighth. Surprisingly, Gaffalione never formally opposed.
Casse attributed the time needed to disqualify maximum security to the extent of the decision. This has not only changed the story, but has also resulted in a massive shift into hard dollar.
"If it was the last race of the day, it would have taken about two minutes, if it was long," he said. "The only reason it took so long was because it was the Kentucky Derby."
Mike Watchmaker of the Daily Racing Form wondered why the stewards did not indicate that they were opening their own investigation, but he congratulated them for finally doing things right.
"I understand it's not great to see the stewards have not seen it themselves," said Watchmaker, "but it's there."
Hall of Fame coach Bill Mott finally broke through to win the Derby that began in 1984. However, he was not happy to be in front of Barn 19 on Sunday morning.
"I'd be lying if I said it's the best way to do it," he said.
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