Hello and thank you for reading this! My name is Hunter Ulwelling and I am a nineteen year old young woman who grew up watching my families racehorses. I also own a blind OTTB I fell in love with, I’ve done radio segments on racing, and also have been writing for The Daily Gallop since September. I’ve seen thousands and thousands of horse races, and I’d like to point some things out about how and why Maximum Security was disqualified. Social media has been on fire these lately with negative comments about War of Will, Tyler Gafflione, and Country House. Yes, it was unfair for the connections of Maximum Security and we all feel bad for them. Bill Mott even said “Nobody wants to win like this” So, let’s dive right in.
What Tyler Gafflione did was insane by choosing to pull War of Will back. Had he continued to let him run, Maximum Security could have easily clipped heels with him, and one of them could have gone down. That would have been devastating because there were fifteen horses behind them. If someone would have gone down, it would caused problems and taken out more horses, possibly killing several, and injuring or killing jockeys too. Tyler Gafflione could have found that slot without this incident, War of Will still could have won. Fans keep mentioning on social media that he couldn’t have won. Since he practically had to stop, no one knows what the true outcome would have been. He could have gotten the hole to surge through.
It would be nice if all fans could acknowledge that Country House ran his lifetime best race. It’s actually a little bit painful hearing some people say that he didn’t deserve the win and he is not the true champion. He just ran second in the Kentucky Derby as a longshot, with no credit. He would have received the credit if Maximum Security wouldn’t have been disqualified. Maximum Security was the best horse in the race, but the odds just weren’t in his favor.
I know I am not going to change people’s minds, and that is not my intention. My intention is to ask that people stop only thinking of Maximum Security, and think about the other horses and jockeys who were affected. Luis Saez didn’t have much of a choice and it was a split second decision once Maximum Security veered over. It wasn’t necessarily his fault but the disqualification was the right call to make. That right there was probably the most crazy Kentucky Derby we will see in a long time.