Country House wins Kentucky Derby after disqualification of favorite



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Famous jockey Flavien Prat in the center after learning his horse, Country House was declared the winner despite his second place finish at the 145th Kentucky Derby in Churchill Downs, Louisville, Kentucky, USA, on Saturday, May 4, 2019. the 145th edition of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday after the horse having crossed the line first be disqualified. But the real winner – and it's the same thing every year – is the Duchossois family, the largest individual shareholder of Churchill Downs Inc.

Luke Sharrett / Bloomberg via Getty Images

Country House was declared the winner of the 145th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on Saturday, when Maximum Security became the first horse in the history of the race to be disqualified after crossing the finish line first.

The Country House team raised an objection to Maximum Security's victory, claiming that the 9-2 favorite's wide bend was heading for the extension, preventing other horses from collapsing on the slippery trail in the rain. Louisville.

After a review, officials concluded that Maximum Security was guilty of contact and attributed the victory to the Country House, coached by William Mott.

Code of Honor was replaced at the second and Tacitus third.

"No word can describe that." It's incredible, "said Favien Prat, Country House jockey, after learning that he had won his first Kentucky Derby.

"I really lost my momentum around the turn," he said of Maximum Security's mistake, when the colt kicked off the track as several horses gained ground over the leader.

The result sounded grief for maximum safety coach Jason Servis and jockey Luis Saez, who thought they had won their first Derby before a 20-minute video critique did not alter the outcome.

Gary West, owner of Servis and Maximum Security, told Sports Illustrated that they plan to appeal all available remedies to protest this decision.

The peloton was one of the most open for years after favorite Omaha Beach was wiped off Friday due to a breathing problem, but few expected 65-1 Country House to win the award and become the second biggest underdog to win the race.

Donerail, at 91-1 in 1913, was the biggest long run to win the Derby.

As Saturday's race approached, Country House had landed only one victory in six starts.

"It's damn good," veteran coach Mott said of his first career win at Derby.

"It was a weird way to do it and we hate to come back in all these things – it's a bittersweet win, but I have to say that our horse ran very well and our jockey very well."

Hall of Fame coach Bob Baffert, who had three horses in the race, was looking for an unprecedented sixth win for the Derby, but it was not because Improbable was fourth, Road Winner fifth and 15th Roadster.

The 1-1 / 4-mile race, called "the fastest two minutes in the sport", brought together the largest guaranteed purse of $ 3 million and was played in front of over 150,000 spectators gathering the stands and the Churchill Downs field despite the rainy weather.

Saturday's race was held at a time when the sport was the subject of close scrutiny following the death of 23 horses on the famous Santa Anita Trail in Southern California since Christmas.

The series of deaths sparked an investigation by the Los Angeles County Attorney's Office and animal rights advocates who demonstrated in front of the circuit, which will host the Breeders' Cup in November.

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