Place your picks on the Ponies here:

I agree with that Jason now that I've watched it about 25 times. I don't think the jockey had anything to do with it. Perhaps, yes, the noise did spook Maximum Security & he veered off course because of that. Still, he almost took out a least half the field. There's no way he should have kept the win & he didn't. The stewards made the right call. From now on he needs to race with ear muffs like Gate Dancer used to have or be shelved until he can mature. We'll just have to agree to disagree on this one. I have no hard feelings towards anyfur here because we are all entitled to our opinion & we all have freedom of speech as long as we use it properly. I do think County House's connections filing an objection was pure crap. That part we are all in agreement over. To disqualify him over an objection from the Country House camp was BS! Yeah, that we all agree on. I still think what happened was in order, just not in the BS manner in which it was done. This & all those poor horses dying at Santa Anita should show that horse racing seriously needs reforming, I'm just not sure exactly how. This is quite a black mark on the sport. 50 years from now, people will still be talking about all this. Anyhow, here's a picture of Gate Dancer with his ear muffs. They should try them on Maximum Security. I think they are cute & they really make the horse stand out. You couldn't miss him with these on! I had forgotten that his whole face was covered with this on until I looked up Gate Dancer. I always loved him, loved his name & thought this was a different, cute look. Of course, he's the one on the outside.

BREAKING NEWS: Wow, it turns out that the connections of Long Range Toddy, who WAS impeded by what happened, filed an objection as well. Why in the world didn't they tell us that on the air? In my opinion that makes a HUGE difference. So was he disqualified over County House's connections objection (which were crap), Long Range Toddy's (which was legit in my book) or both? If they would have just told us that.... a lot of people, my Mommy included, got into arguments with people over this. This could have saved a lot of hurt feelings. I say this because I feel the second objection was totally legit. NOW I think this adds more legitimacy to the stewards decision. It may not change most people's minds, but at least now I feel that it was a more fair DQ. The writer for Bloodhorse wrote an article that's published on their website entitled: Kentucky Derby Opinion: Right Call, Wrong Process

I totally agree with that article. I just hope that something positive comes from all this. Like I said earlier, I really think horse racing needs to be reformed. Hopefully this negative, shocking Kentucky Derby, plus all those horrible deaths at Santa Anita will be the catalyst for reform. I don't want what happened to stay a negative. I don't want all this to be in vain. It is just such a shame that this happened.

Jason, the complaint from the Long Range Toddy connections was filed Saturday along with the one from County House's connections. Like I said, why they didn't say that on air, I don't know. It was reported online that they filed the complaints at pretty much the same time, but only County House was mentioned as filing a complaint.  That's one reason why it took so long to decide, because the stewards were viewing the footage based on 2 separate objections. Long Range Toddy was named after some family member of the owner that was considered a great shot at long range hunting. In that article I mentioned earlier on Bloodhorse website, they also wondered why in the world we weren't told about that second objection. They said that we should have been told & rules need to be changed to inform everyone of all objections, not just the first one. Yes, I'll take some catpagne & guppies! This below also explains things a lot better:

Jockey Flavien Pratt, aboard Country House, and Jon Court, veteran jockey of Long Range Toddy, claimed foul over Maximum Security and jockey Luis Saez.

The interaction occurred near the quarter pole, with a quarter-mile to go, as the lead horses reach the front straightaway. War of Will jockey Tyler Gaffalione and Maximum Security appeared to make the most contact coming out of the third turn.

Chief race steward Barbara Borden made a statement afterward, but was not made available for questions from the media.

"The riders of the 18 [Long Range Toddy] and 20 [Country House] horses in the Kentucky Derby lodged objections against the 7 [Maximum Security] horse, the winner, due to interference turning for home, leaving the 1/4 pole," Borden said. "We had a lengthy review of the race. We interviewed affected riders. We determined that the 7 horse drifted out and impacted the progress of No. 1 [War of Will], in turn, interfering with the 18 and 21 [Bodexpress]. Those horses were all affected, we thought, by the interference. Therefore, we unanimously determined to disqualify No. 7 and place him behind the 18, the 18 being the lowest-placed horse that he bothered, which is our typical procedure."

Court confirmed Long Range Toddy was bothered by the action via text message.

"We were in perfect position early on and comfortable most of the race," Court said. "At the quarter pole inside, [Maximum Security] came abruptly out turning my horse sideways and eliminated my momentum and costing me any valuable opportunity to finish at best.”