Donald Trump blames Kentucky Derby decision on political correctness
President Donald Trump is never afraid to weigh in on a topic, and no sport is too obscure.
From congratulating Ohio State’s Nick Bosa on being drafted second overall to criticizing Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts for his bullpen management, the 45th president is happy to have his sports opinions be heard.
Sunday proved no different after the controversial ending to the 145th running of the Kentucky Derby:
Setting aside the misspelled state — which he corrected four hours later — blaming Maximum Security’s vacated win on political correctness is certainly one of Trump’s most bizarre sports tweets.
Maximum Securty, a 9-2 favorite, gained an early lead and held it the entire way. But after crossing the finish line first, officials stayed mum for 22 minutes until overturning the decision and handing the win to second-place Country House.
Who knows if Trump had some of the $9 million riding on Maximum Security, but there was an easy explanation for the overturned victory beyond “political correctness.”
What exactly happened at the end?
Three racing officials handed down a unanimous decision to disqualify Maximum Security for a technical foul called race riding. As they made the final turn, Maximum Security moved across several lanes into the path of War of Will — actually clipping his front legs — and forced War of Will to change course into other horses.
With the ruling, this became the first Kentucky Derby won by a horse who didn’t cross the finish line first — and the first disqualification since 1968.
Country House trainer Bill Mott noted that while his horse was not impeded by Maximum Security's move, the decision would have been an easy call in a run-of-the-mill race. And ideally races should be ruled the same no matter how high the stakes are.
"If this was a $10,000 race on a Thursday, it's a no-brainer," Mott said.
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