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Maximum Security owners Gary and Mary West have lodged a legal challenge after their Kentucky Derby disqualification.
For the first time in the race’s 145-year history, the winner was disqualified after he was found to have interfered with others.
Maximum Security was first over the line, but after a relatively lengthy steward’s enquiry, was found to have interfered with War of Will after jumping the final hurdle, with Long Range Toddy and Bodexpress also impacted.
It meant that Country House was eventually awarded the victory at 66/1 following a controversial afternoon at Churchill Downs.
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The Wests’ appealed the decision but the stewards upheld their original call to disqualify him and drop him down to 17th. Now, a legal challenge is on to try and reinstate him as race victor, in what the Wests regard as an “unconstitutional” decision. “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,” a statement attributed to the lawsuit reads.
