Veteran Tampa Bay Downs judge: Derby stewards made the right call

TAMPA, Fla. (FOX 13) - This weekend's controversial call at the Kentucky Derby is still on the minds of many.

Maximum Security’s victory was short-lived after race stewards disqualified the horse and awarded the win to Country House.

Jockey Flavien Prat, who was riding Country House, originated the claim of foul and won his first Derby because of it.

Prat claimed that Maximum Security ducked out in the final turn and forced several horses to steady, including Long Range Toddy, whose jockey, Jon Court, also lodged an objection. War of Will came perilously close to clipping heels with Maximum Security, which stewards argued could have caused a chain-reaction accident.

The question remains: Did the stewards make the right call? FOX 13 News went to Tampa Bay Downs to find out.

“I think it was a very unfortunate thing. You'll probably never see it happen again, but it happened. In my opinion, the board of stewards did the right thing,” said Dennis Lima.

Lima has four decades of judging races under his belt.  

“The issue here, like I said, is safety. The rules read that a horse is supposed to stay on his own path. He can go on any part of the track when he's clear. In this case, he wasn't clear,” Lima said.

“[It is] very dangerous because, once a horse clips heels, there’s a chance that horse goes down and horses behind him go down, also. It could've been a disaster,” he added.

While there was no disaster on the track, off it, the controversy is still far from over.

“I think [the stewards] did the absolute correct thing. There's a lot of pressure on them,” he said.

Maximum Security’s owner has said he plans to appeal the ruling. He’s stated, if that doesn’t work, he’s considering legal action.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.