Echoes of Derby disaster as Maximum Security made to sweat in Haskell

There are days and moments at the racetrack that defy belief and the Haskell Day card at Monmouth Park on Saturday was surely one of them.

The meeting was stopped after two races due to temperatures in the upper 90s (around 30C) and after a delay of nearly five hours, six stakes races were contested beginning at 6pm under slightly cooler conditions.

The $990,000 TVG.com Haskell Invitational Stakes turned out to be a tremendous race. Gary and Mary West's Maximum Security, who was disqualified from first in the Kentucky Derby, turned back a stretch bid from Mucho Gusto to register a length and a quarter victory under jockey Luis Saez.

And then it happened – again. A few minutes after the horses crossed the finish line, the mood among a crowd announced at 25,173 at the Jersey Shore turned surreal when it was announced that there was a stewards' inquiry on Maximum Security.

"My heart skipped a beat the first time I saw [the inquiry]," Gary West said.

Only this time, it took the stewards only a couple of minutes to decide there was no reason for a disqualification, and Maximum Security was declared the victor.

"After I saw a replay, I knew they would not take him down," West said. "The other horse was going backwards. That sort of thing happens in 25 percent of the races, and they don't take 25 percent of the horses down. If they took him down today, I would know for sure that the racing gods had something against me."

What happened was that on the final turn, Red Oak Stable's King for a Day, who defeated Maximum Security last month in the TVG.com Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth, was on the rail with Maximum Security and Mucho Gusto outside of him. As King for a Day appeared to be tiring, Maximum Security seemed to move in a bit, and King for a Day dropped back and wound up fifth.

This time there was no harm, no foul, and Maximum Security vaulted to the top of the three-year-old class with his second Grade 1 win of the year – not to mention a rather famous third one in which he crossed the finish line first by a length and three-quarters.

"I don't know how he cannot be at the top of his class for the moment," West said.

The Haskell, a "Win and You're In" Breeders' Cup Challenge race, assured Maximum Security a free spot in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1). But on a steamy Saturday, it was another 1m2f test that was the main topic of conversation for the connections of the homebred son of New Year's Day.

Maximum Security will now be shipped to Saratoga in a few days to begin preparations for the Runhappy Travers Stakes next month, provided the 1:47.56 he did not spend too much energy in fending off Michael Lund Petersen's Mucho Gusto.

"He's a tough little horse. This means a lot," said trainer Jason Servis, who is stabled at Monmouth and has worked at the track for about 40 years.

The victory was the fifth in seven starts for Maximum Security, a 4-5 favourite who upped his earnings to $1,279,400. Not bad at all for a horse who started his career in a $16,000 maiden claimer.

The post-time delay even provided him with a bonus prior to the race.

"He got two lunches today," Servis added.

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