Country House was declared the winner of the 145th Kentucky Derby on a sloppy, rain-soaked course on a Saturday marked by a controversial review that resulted in a stunning disqualification of Maximum Security, the first place finisher.
For nearly 15 minutes after the race at Churchill Downs Inc. CHDN, +1.53% concluded, officials reviewed the final leg of the race for the roses and determined that Maximum Security, a 9-to-2 favorite, impeded the progress of Country House, a 65-to-1 long shot.
Maximum Security’s jockey Luis Saez after the race acknowledged that his horse was frightened by the crowd at one point during the running.
Country Horse’s trainer, Bill Mott, speaking before the disqualification, said in an ordinary race and not the Kentucky Derby, Maximum Security would have been disqualified. The disqualification marked the first for interference in the Kentucky Derby but the second after Dancer’s Image was dq’d in 1968 for a drug violation.
Code of Honor (14-1) placed second and Tacitus (5-1) showed, coming in third.
The race also is the first since 2015 that fielded fewer than a full field of 20 horses, after another long shot Haikal scratched Saturday morning, coming after field-favorite Omaha Beach, scratched on Wednesday.
Horse-racing fixture Bob Baffert trained three of the horses in the field: Game Winner (6-1), Improbable (5-1) and Roadster (9-1).