ANYONE watching the Kentucky Derby from Churchill Downs on Saturday was treated to drama in the race and even higher drama in the aftermath, as first-past-the-post Maximum Security was disqualified for hanging out on the final bend (though none of the 100 or so pundits on the local channel seemed fully aware of this possibility to begin with: such is modern television).

It was also a rather weird race in terms of time, which is possibly best conveyed by the fact that the overall time of 2m 03.93s was the fourth-slowest of 20 this century but that front-running Maximum Security’s opening quarter was faster than any other winner in that time (22.31s) and that his final two furlongs was also quicker than average (25.28s), with everything in between notably slow.

It means that those who made late ground – sixth-placed Game Winner and especially seventh-placed Master Fencer – appear to have done well, though with only a few lengths covering from second to eighth there is a strong possibility that this form will not prove to be especially strong.

Maximum Security had looked a 122 horse previously, and Game Winner was very close to that. But it remains to be seen if the otherwise ordinary Country House – 65.2/1 here and coming from stall 20 – lives up to an apparent 118 effort.

In the meantime, US racing probably needs to look not only at its disqualification rules but at some of the processes undertaken by the stewards and the communication of the decisions that arose from them. It may not have been, as Trump chipped in, “political correctness” (gone mad), but it hardly cast the sport in a good light.