Thanks for the responses.

Chris - "it is well accepted that it takes far more energy to get something rolling than it does to keep it rolling... ". Doesn't this mean that driver weight is an important factor for 'standing start' harness races?
I like your idea about driver weight being a factor in 'ability'.

Chrome Prince - "You could walk a far longer distance with a brick, than you could run." Wouldn't the speed you can walk be influenced if the brick weighed 20lbs. rather than 7?
Your comment "The weight he is pulling is only fractional to what he is capable of.." is probably the key to all this. A few kg.s either way would probably not be noticed by an animal capable of pulling far greater loads.

Makes me wonder if we over emphasise the importance of weight variation when assessing gallops form. Can a couple of kg.s really make a difference to a horse? Maybe variations of less than 5kg.s are totally irrelevant.

Does anyone know if there has been a scientific study of weight vs performance in horse racing?

bomber

Hi BB,
Of course the above is correct, however, the weight ratio of a couple of kilos to a horses body mass - that's the insignificant part.
You'll most likely find that height is probably more important because of centre of gravity around turns "half carting" and wind resistance.
Shifting of weight to spur the horse on first came about because a certain horse hated the whip and it could not be used or he'd break into a ferocious gallop.

I remember all this because it created quite a stir at the time and many thought it was a breach of rules.
Since then it's been adapted and learned by all the junior reinsmen.

On 2004-01-26 11:27, bellarine bomber wrote:
Thanks for the responses.

Chris - "it is well accepted that it takes far more energy to get something rolling than it does to keep it rolling... ". Doesn't this mean that driver weight is an important factor for 'standing start' harness races?

'standing start' = "gallop fest"...

to my mind, a dog race is far more predictable than a standing start harness race!!!! standing start races should be outlawed :evil:

Cheers,
Chris.

To answer to your second question first
They always did back in the days of the old Sporting Globe (the pink paper)but for some reason known only to themselves decided to stop doing it back in the 1980's (probably due to lack of staff as the trots was starting to go into decline and they cut back on their coverage).
Q1.The weight or the driver has very little effect on the performance of a pacer or a trotter because of the momemtum. An example of this was a pacer by the name of Garrison Call trained and driven by Russell Fiddler.
Russell tipped the scales at around 25 stone(about 160 kg) yet he won a lot of races.One night at the showgrounds they put Brian Gath in the gig and all the smarts sent him out odds on as Brian was only a lightweight(about 60 kg) they said he couldn,t lose. Led and duly got run down in the straight after having an easy run in front.If ever there was a case of weight making a difference that would have to have been the case to prove it but it didn,t.
p.s. Brian Gath was the driver who started the swinging in the sulky after he went to the states for the world driving championships as it was pretty much the standard way to rive over there.

thanks again for the responses.

My question about the formguide for harness meetings I'll file away as one of life's mysteries.

As for the impact of driver weight, everyone seems to agree that it doesn't matter either because of the 'momentum' theory or the fact that dragging something on wheels is so much easier that carrying weight on the back. I'll accept that, although I'm not convinced that weight isn't a factor at standing starts. Just another reason to leave such races alone.

What this has done though, is start me thinking about the importance of weight variations for the gallops. When A meets B 2kg.s better 'this time out', should I just ignore this? Can 2kg.s really make a difference to a fully fit half ton horse? Also along these lines, does the weight allowance for apprentice riders really compensate for their lack of experience?

bomber

Can 2kg.s really make a difference to a fully fit half ton horse? In my opinion - certainly can and does.

Does the weight allowance for apprentice riders really compensate for their lack of experience? In my opinion – yes in most cases but not all. Keeping out of trouble (eg. interference) or getting out of trouble, comes with experience.