NOT OVER YET

Maximum Security’s Owners Take Fight Over Derby Disqualification to Court

Maximum Security’s owners argue that the Racing Commission and its stewards made the wrong call.

The owners of Maximum Security have filed a lawsuit in an attempt to overturn the disqualification of their horse in the Kentucky Derby earlier this month. Race officials disqualified the horse because he appeared to jump a puddle on the muddy racetrack, causing the trailing horses to slow down. A horse named Country House was controversially moved into first place after Maximum Security crossed the finish line first. Maximum Security’s owners contend the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and its stewards made the wrong call. The suit requests for a reversal of the decision disqualifying Maximum Security and reinstatement of the original order of finish, confirming Security as winner.

“The insubstantiality of the evidence relied on by the stewards to disqualify Maximum Security, and the bizarre and unconstitutional process to which the Plaintiffs were subjected before and after the disqualification, are the subjects of this action,” an attorney for Security’s owners said in the complaint filed on Thursday. An initial appeal of the disqualification was turned down within hours because the racing commission rules state that the stewards’ findings “shall be final and not subject to appeal.”