Country House and jockey Flavien Prat won the 145th Kentucky Derby on Saturday at Churchill Downs, but the events after the race took a shocking and controversial turn.
Maximum Security, a favorite going into the iconic race, crossed the finish line first and was declared the winner. But an objection review overruled the results about 20 minutes after the race ended, and Maximum Security was disqualified and Country House, trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, was crowned the winner. Country House had just 65-1 odds ahead of the race.
It was the first time in Derby history that the horse that finished first was disqualified.
So what happened? Basically, it was determined that Maximum Security and jockey Luis Saez moved up the track slightly coming out of the final turn, and that move impeded the path of other horses, including Country House.
Now, we’re not going to pretend to be horse racing experts here, so we’ll let the actual experts provide a much more thorough explanation for what exactly happened.
Here’s more about the ruling, via NBC Sports:
Maximum Security crossed the finish line a length and a half ahead of Country House, but just after the race, officials began reviewing tape. For the first time ever, the horse that made it to the wire first was disqualified. They ruled that Maximum Security’s hind right leg bumped into War of Will, who went on to cross the finish line eighth (seventh after the ruling). After Maximum Security’s disqualification, Code of Honor finished second and Tacitus was third.
Here’s the full replay of the 2019 Kentucky Derby:
