Just a little insurance to keep the horse from grabbing a shoe and pulling it off so close to a race.
Sometimes they can do that and there is zero injury but other times it can severely injure- if they grab a heel and slice it badly or do it so early in the gallop they train barefoot the rest of the gallop and bruise the sole of the foot, resulting in lameness. It can make them unraceable.
And also, these horses don\'t always walk to the track.Most are feeling the best they\'ve ever felt and it can be a real challenge to get them to behave on the way to the track.
There\'s a famous picture of Secretariat one morning prior to the Belmont. He was outside the barn standing on his hind legs and legend has it Eddie Sweat was begging him \"Please come down Big Red!\".
