Your winner, I guess. Image via Twitter.

Welcome to sports in 2019 and beyond.

The Kentucky Derby, a.k.a. the Fastest Two Minutes in Sports, was decided today well after the race had concluded by a video review of the race where it was determined that the horse that passed the pole first, Maximum Security, had “interfered with several horses” on his way to apparent victory.

There is a lot to unpack here, so let’s take the talking points in an appropriate order. So here we go:

  1. Maximum Security was the betting favorite in this race, but the truth is that after Omaha Beach was withdrawn from the field, the Derby crown was there for the taking for any horse that wanted it.
  2. We are all burying the lede here, which is that Country House ran the race of its life in this Derby. At 65-1, only the desperate and the horse’s ownership group held out any hope that this nag, that was probably headed to a Korean slaughterhouse after this race if it went badly, could end up with the roses draped over its neck.
  3. Pity all of the Derby parties held throughout this great land, who had scores of happy ticket holders jumping up and down when Maximum Security crossed the line first only to watch in horror as some tweedy race officials and AV geeks broke the race down into freeze frames for what seemed like half an hour before deciding that the strongest, fastest horse was too aggressive on his way to victory.

If you had a ticket on Country House at 65-1, hey, congratulations. As the late Tom Petty once memorably sang, even the losers get lucky sometimes. On a holistic basis, though, it’s pretty hard to accept that the entire world had celebrated Maximum Security — the fastest horse on the track — as the winner, only to find out some indiscriminate and uncomfortable time later that, well, we’re giving the win to another horse, one you hadn’t even thought about.

Welcome to sports in 2019 and beyond.