I know everyone loves the new composite pads, but after using them on 8 different horses this month, I'm sticking with leather.

4 comments

4 Comments

adamw151mo ago

Sounds like a case of new tech hype. Maybe they work great if your horse is a robot.

bell.jessica1mo ago

Eight horses in a month sounds like a lot of testing though. What went wrong with the new ones?

dianawilson1mo ago

The new track surface at Oaklawn is a big change. It takes time for horses to get used to it. Some trainers might not have adjusted their workouts right. I see it as bad luck and a tough surface, not a problem with the horses themselves, @bell.jessica.

paulnguyen15d ago

That 8 horses number is INSANE for a single month anywhere. I gotta ask about the two that had to be euthanized specifically. Were those the ones from the same breeder or trainer? Because that would tell me a LOT about whether it's a bad bloodline or a bad training method. Jessica DID say "what went wrong," but I think the real question is did the vet checks BEFORE the race catch anything. If they passed sound and then broke down, that points to the track surface way more than the horses. But if they had pre-existing issues that got missed, that's a whole different problem with the oversight process.