A prominent voice in Canadian horse racing says the wild finish at SaturdayB次元官网网址檚 Kentucky Derby has B次元官网网址渙pened up the debateB次元官网网址� about how the sport is governed in the U.S. and Canada.
Woodbine Entertainment CEO Jim Lawson says the controversial result may have played out differently if North American racing authorities were to follow an approach thatB次元官网网址檚 been adopted in almost every other country.
Lawson, who sits on the executive committee of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities, says race stewards ruled correctly when they disqualified Maximum Security for impeding the path of another horse.
The 9-2 second choice initially appeared to have backed up his undefeated record with a 1 3/4-length victory over Country House on a sloppy track at Churchill Downs.
READ MORE:
However, the victory was overturned 22 minutes later when stewards disqualified Maximum Security due to interference, bumping him down to 17th place and elevating Country House to the winnerB次元官网网址檚 circle.
Lawson says in most countries, Maximum SecurityB次元官网网址檚 victory would likely have been upheld because officials have more discretion to determine where each horse would have finished had the interference not occurred.
B次元官网网址淚f the stewards say, B次元官网网址楴o, the best horse wonB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� then they leave it,B次元官网网址� Lawson said in a phone interview Sunday, referring to countries that follow what the IFHA refers to as B次元官网网址淐ategory 1B次元官网网址� rules for interference.
Under so-called B次元官网网址淐ategory 2B次元官网网址� rules, however, officials have no such discretion B次元官网网址� if a horse is determined to have interfered, it is placed behind the horse that suffered the interference, regardless of what would have been the outcome had there been no interference.
In the case of SaturdayB次元官网网址檚 Derby, Maximum Security was determined to have bothered all but two of the other horses in the race, dropping him into 17th out of 19.
ItB次元官网网址檚 the first time in the DerbyB次元官网网址檚 145-year history that the winner was disqualified for interference. One of Maximum SecurityB次元官网网址檚 co-owners has criticized the disqualification as B次元官网网址渆gregiousB次元官网网址� and said he was pondering an appeal.
Lawson said the incident has rekindled a long-simmering debate in racing about harmonizing the rules across all jurisdictions. Almost all countries have adopted Category 1 interference rules, including Australia, Japan, France and the United Kingdom. Canada and the U.S. are among the last holdouts.
B次元官网网址淭he balance of the world is very critical of North America, and the United States, for not adopting Category 1,B次元官网网址� he said.
U.S. President Donald Trump was also upset with the result, tweeting that the B次元官网网址渂est horse did NOT win the Kentucky Derby B次元官网网址� not even close!B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址� with files from The Associated Press
Adam Burns, The Canadian Press
Like us on and follow us on
