Country House was dismissed as a long shot with a bad post on the far outside. It was only the chestnut colt's second win in seven career starts and his first stakes victory.

Maybe this was one for his father: Lookin At Lucky got saddled with the dreaded No. 1 post in the 2010 Derby, where he got pinned to the rail and wound up sixth. He rebounded to win the Preakness two weeks later.

The disqualification was a crushing turn of events for Maximum Security trainer Jason Servis and jockey Luis Saez, who already had begun celebrating what they thought were their first Derby victories.

Instead, previously undefeated Maximum Security was dropped to 17th of 19 horses. Sent off as the 9-2 second choice, Maximum Security was placed behind all the horses that he bothered.

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

"There were two horses in the race that lost all chance to win a Kentucky Derby," Mott said. "They were in position at the time to hit the board. If what happened to us was the only thing they were looking at I don't think you would have seen a disqualification."