Ascendency of the "Lay Down" Driver

[markgoldie]

Occurred to me in my half-waking state this morning that the so-called "lay down" drivers are in strong ascendency in the sport. For those not familiar with the term, a "lay down" driver is one that keeps his body far back in the sulky as he drives. His reverse is the so-called "sit up" driver, who more or less sits upright as he drives.

At any rate, look at the emerging drivers in the sport. Corey Callahan, Jason Bartlett, and Aaron Merriman are good examples. Also, among the veterans, the lay down boys are faring the best: G. Brennan, Y. Gingras, B. Sears, T. Tietrick, G. Napolitano, J. Morrill, E. Ledford, Brett Miller, Tony Hall, A. Morgan, etc.

On the other hand, some sit-up men are in retreat: D. Miller, R. Pierce, C. Manzi, M. Wilder, T. Jackson, R. Hammer, J. Campbell. Of course, it may be argued that Campbell and Pierce are semi-lay backers.

These are just some of the names that come to mind and maybe you have other or contradicting examples.

The style of laying down was, if not first introduced, surely perfected by the great Walter Case Jr., and while it is doubtful that we will ever see another driver of his capabilities, at least his style lives on in the best reinsmen. I suppose this gives away my own belief in the greatest driver ever- a subject which I have found is more or less like religion- it doesn't pay to argue it. You believe what you believe.

[LottaKash]

Hey MG, and interesting topic to be sure....For me tho, I am not quite sure of the "why" of the "mechanics" of it all....Would you care to elaborate a bit about it ?...Why is this necessary ?...I suppose that, it it may have something to do about the horse and his taking of the "bit", but on the surface, it seems a bit much, to put your body into that god-awful position thruout a race...

best,

P.S. When I first looked at the title of this thread, the first thing that sprung into my head, was a driver laying down a race (not trying to win), haha..:D

[melman]

Mark---One item I would disagree with you on is the "in retreat" driver status of "Wild Man Wilder". I love this guy on a price horse. I am sure Ray2000 has the "stats" but for me at least betting Wilder at a price is a huge winning move.

[markgoldie]

Hey MG, and interesting topic to be sure....For me tho, I am not quite sure of the "why" of the "mechanics" of it all....Would you care to elaborate a bit about it ?...Why is this necessary ?...I suppose that, it it may have something to do about the horse and his taking of the "bit", but on the surface, it seems a bit much, to put your body into that god-awful position thruout a race...

best,

P.S. When I first looked at the title of this thread, the first thing that sprung into my head, was a driver laying down a race (not trying to win), haha..:D
There appears to be two principal reasons why this style is effective. The first involves wind resistance in which the sit-up driver catches more of the wind on his chest and this creates a greater drag of resistance to the animal. The same is true in t-bred racing, where a perfect racing posture has the rider with head and body parallell to the ground, so as to lessen the impact of wind resistance. But the second reason is probably just as important. And that is that horses race off the strength of their hind ends. By keeping the weight back as far as possible, the pressure balance is shifted to the back which gives the animal more traction. This effect is more pronounced in pacers. Trotters, on the other hand, are much more sensitive to "balance" in their stride pattern. Therefore, in some cases, a trotter can be unbalanced a bit by laying too far back and if you notice carefully, even some of the lay-down drivers will sit a bit more upright on trotters, not wanting to unbalance their gait.

The issue of driver weight is closely related to the traction effect. Heavier drivers tend to get better traction for their horses and even though the overall weight in the system is a detriment to the animal's stamina, they are often able to get horses to "leave" much better than lighter drivers. One of the great examples of this is Cat Manzi. His ability to get horses into position on half-mile tracks has been a big part of his career success. However, his size in comparison to most other top drivers has always been a hinderance to the animal's race stamina. Hence, while he was able to post 400+ UDRS at Freehold, he was way down the ladder at the Big M, where stamina is at a premium due to the long stretch. The "bug" weights of the sport are disadvantaged when it comes to leaving. For ex., a guy like Marohn or Drew Chellis can keep horses going, but lack the great ability to bust out of the gate.

[markgoldie]

Mark---One item I would disagree with you on is the "in retreat" driver status of "Wild Man Wilder". I love this guy on a price horse. I am sure Ray2000 has the "stats" but for me at least betting Wilder at a price is a huge winning move.
I like Wilder's overall driving ability very much. He has great vision and guts and is able to thread his horses through spots that other drivers can't or won't. However, his numbers have been in retreat for awhile now. Once, thought to be the "heir apparent" to the second position behind Palone at The Meadows after Sears left, he has regressed behind guys like Hall, Merriman, Miller, and Ledford. By default, he comes in right behind those guys, but I see little chance for him to re-establish himself ahead of them.

[LottaKash]

There appears to be two principal reasons why this style is effective.

Thanks MG, for the further enlightenment on the subject :ThmbUp: ....Hey, the more you know...:jump:

best.