Kentucky Derby Winner Disqualified

Yokosmom

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Don’t follow racing much, just the Triple Crown races here in the U.S. Felt very bad for the first place jockey and the owners of the horse, all of whom were looking at their first Kentucky Derby wins. First time in Derby history that the first place winner was disqualified.

In good news, none of the horses fell on the extremely muddy track.
 

bonny

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Don’t follow racing much, just the Triple Crown races here in the U.S. Felt very bad for the first place jockey and the owners of the horse, all of whom were looking at their first Kentucky Derby wins. First time in Derby history that the first place winner was disqualified.

In good news, none of the horses fell on the extremely muddy track.
To be pedantic it wasn’t muddy, although it was certainly wet .! I was watching and feel like the winner was robbed, I think he would of kept the race here and swapping the first and second makes no sense to me. Can the winning connections appeal ?
 

Yokosmom

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I doubt that they can appeal, though not 100% sure. Only one camera view had a good view of the horse going wide into another lane, but if was fairly clear. The jockey said that the noise from the crowd affected the horse there. As I mentioned, I don’t follow racing much. I thought that horses move around for better positions during races all the time, so not sure about the rule that was broken.
 
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In America they have a rule that horses must stick to their lines - like humans have to stick to their running lanes - once they have settled into where they want to be. They have said he broke that rule badly but letting his horse drift so far out round the bend.

The horse most affected finished down the field. The newly crowned winner was barely inconvenienced - certainly not 2lengths worth of interference! Over here there wouldn't have even been an enquiry let alone place changes.

The stewards have done this off of their own backs not because someone objected. I know over here you can appeal but I'm not sure if you can in America or not. I hope so!
 

Adorable

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It wasn't that the 1-2 placing was reversed. Maximum Capacity veering out so drastically it almost caused a massive pile up. No one knows how War of Will (the horse he initially cut off) stayed on his feet. WoW had to check so hard to avoid falling he was completely taken out, and also cannoned into Long Range Toddy, taking him out. The stewards placed Max behind the lowest horse impacted by the interferance -- LRT.

Image shows just how close it was to a tragedy. Just before this, WoW had a clear lane to move up in and looked to be full of running.
Derby-145-incident-1024x603.png

It really is too bad, because Max appeared to be the clear winner on merit, but no one can say whether WoW or LRT may have rallied for a placing had they not been nearly brought down.
 
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The American rules are daft! Over here the jockey would have got probably 5-7 days for careless riding but the result would have stood. Then placing the horse down below the horses that were inconvenienced - no matter how slightly -is a total joke tbh.

But Trump has once again has come to the fore - it's political correctness! That's why the result was changed! Apparently...
 

bonny

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It’s a farce, the winner won on merit and was by far the best horse in the race and yet history will show he was 17 th. Our rules are questionable at times but decisions as bad as that aren’t made and here the result would have stood and rightly so.
 
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EWK, what’s it got to do with Trump or political correctness ?

Do keep up dear! Trump tweeted Hours ago!

US president Donald Trump has waded into the controversy surrounding Maximum Security's demotion in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, saying the decision by the Churchill Downs stewards was down to "political correctness".

Trump, who attended Churchill Downs for the 1999 Run for the Roses with future wife Melania, tweeted – incorrectly spelling Kentucky – on Sunday: "The Kentuky Derby decision was not a good one. It was a rough and tumble race on a wet and sloppy track, actually, a beautiful thing to watch.
"Only in these days of political correctness could such an overturn occur. The best horse did NOT win the Kentucky Derby – not even close!"
 

bonny

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Ok, that makes sense.....or not ! He’s certainly right that the best horse was 17th not 1st but I’m not getting the political correctness ! Best not to try and understand trump though.
 

Yokosmom

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Generally speaking, it is not mentally productive to try to parse out Trump's tweets on any issue. If anything, I think the general inclination would be pressure on the stewards to let the initial result stand, not disqualify the winning horse. So I suppose that they stuck to their professional standards.

Those who follow racing more than I--was the jockey at fault for the horse lunging out of its lane, or is this just a case of a young horse being startled with little the jockey to do to prevent it?

Still feel sorry for the owners--40 years in racing and Maximum Security was their first KD winner....
 
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The horse skipped round a puddle on the track. There is jack schitt you can do about that going at nearly 40mph om half a tonne of adrenline fueled muscle! The jockey was trying to lug him back over to where he was started and he had his stick in his outside hand - although he didnt use it - so you cant say the horse was being sent across the track by the whip. Its just one of these things that happens with horses!
 
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Adorable

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For those interested, here is slow-mo video of War of Will moving up to start to get alongside Maximum Security, and then the interference.

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WoW had to brake hard to avoid. As a late runner / strong finisher on form, who's to say he couldn't or wouldn't have caught Maximum Security without that?

Maximum Security was the clear winner, except for the fact that he took two other horses completely out of the race. Under Kentucky's racing rules, he was an automatic DQ. If it had been any other race it would not have taken the stewards 20 minutes to reach that decision.
 

Mariposa

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I think it's a farce. I've watched it again and again and I don't think he should have been disqualified. Yes he came a bit wide, but it happens.

I don't think much of the American racing world since seeing Christophe Soumillion flog Thunder Snow in the Breeders Cup without any repercussions.
 

bonny

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The Americans seem to have different rules to us but you’re right, it’s farcical what they have done in their most important race, the connections are considering an appeal though.
 

tristar

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if it did`` skip round a puddle` and take two others out, i can`t see why they have puddles in their top race, it looks to me like it took out the others
 

UtagawaAki

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How was your first experience? and how are you dealing with the pandemic around? what changes did you do. It is great to see new fans with these races. It is a shame that the winner was disqualified but it was nice to see the horses come out healthy despite the extremely muddy track. I hope you had a great experience while watching though!
 
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