A controversial finish during the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs has led to chain of events in the horse racing industry. For the first time in the history of the race, a winner was disqualified due to an on-track incident. Maximum Security was the favorite to win the event, having been disqualified after accusations of impediments were made. It took more than twenty minutes for a ruling to be made by the state racing commission and the owner of the horse is now taking action.

Appealing the Result:

Owner, Gary West, has plans to appeal the result that led to Country House, the long-shot of the race, to earn the title win. West will not be running Maximum Security in the Preakness and is calling on the entire racing world to take a look at the incident.

According to CBSSports.com…

West told NBC the following: “If the state racing commission refuses to hear about it, I think this is something that’s big enough that the entire racing world is looking at this. And I think they deserve an opportunity to really know what is really going on.”

He feels that Maximum has no reason to take part in the Preakness Stakes on May 18th due to the fact that a Triple Crown is out of the question. Furthermore, he feels there is no reason to run the horse back in two weeks when he doesn’t have to.

Handling the Incident:

The problem that West has with the changed result seems to lie in how it was handled. He was shocked and surprised that the stewards of the race at Churchill Downs wrote a statement he believes was likely prepared by lawyers and they refused to take questions from the media regarding the incident.

West maintains the commission was non-transparent about the issue. Now, it seems he will take action to see if something can be done about the result or perhaps how the incident was handled.