There has been continuous debate whether race horses should run only with aluminum shoes. The protagonists of this move seemed to have gained an upper hand a few years ago in Bangalore but the authorities did not have the courage of conviction to enforce the rule in the face of opposition from professionals. Now the professionals themselves seem to be wary of using the steel shoes as indicated by the dramatic drop in their use. Last week`s racing saw 28 horses run in steel shoes but on Monday, the Derby day, we will see only five horses sport steel shoes in a well filled card of nine events. These horses belong to Narayan Gowda (2), Sirajuddin, Inayathullah and Sharat Kumar.

This sudden change in the mindset of the trainers has come about because last week, the authorities ordered the steel shoes of failed favourite Strength And Wonder to be weighed after the race for reasons best known to them. This type of scrutiny had never happened in the past. The rule book says that the weight of the shoes should not exceed 500 gms. The steel shoes of Strength And Wonder reportedly weighed about 900 gms. The Stewards have ordered an enquiry into the incident and trainer Neil Darashah is under pressure to come with acceptable explanation for using the heavy shoes.

Normally work shoes weigh up to one kg. The horses which the trainers reckon have a winning chance invariably run with aluminum shoes. There are cases of some trainers using steel shoes even when the horses are in serious betting. The legs of horses don`t have muscles and any addition of weight to its legs or feet is believed to impair its speed. It is like sporting formal shoes as against sports shoes. The use of shoes works on the minds of punters so much so that many of them don`t back if a horse were to sport steel shoes. This has also been exploited by trainers if they are running a horse out of class and want a good price on their horse. Rock With U who subsequently reached the highest class was in its debut win in the maidens race ran with steel shoes. The horse was backed down from 10 to 1 to 4 to 1 despite a jockey with low win percentage declared to ride the horse.

Quite a few trainers don`t use steel shoes at all on their horses in races. Some keep changing the shoes frequently from steel to aluminum and vice versa. The professionals who used to protest that aluminum shoes wears out faster and the cost goes up if they were to desist from using steel shoes seem to be now wary of using the same because of the incident involving Strength And Wonder. One cannot remember if any horse has won a classic race sporting steel shoes in recent times.

The fact that there is dramatic drop in the use of steel shoes itself indicates that the trainers fear adverse consequences if their shoes are weighed post the race. Under the circumstances, will it not be prudent to ban use of steel shoes in races so that this confusing parameter is eliminated totally?