St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1900-08-25
WIND PRESSURE IN TRoTTING.
Secret That Has Been Of Great BeAoAt
IL Many Very Shrewd
Drivers.

tY Many Very shrewd
Drivers.
"Not one man in hundred, even
among professional drivers, seems to ap-
preciate the Importance of taking adj
vantage OF the wind, ".said an oldidriver
the other day, relates the Chicago In
ter Ocean. Il have studied it for years,
and many's the time it has been worth
dollars and cents to me in driving race
Or in showing horse to . buyer under
the watch. Not long ago man came
here to see mare in my stable, with
view to buying if she could show q
quarter in IS seconds. The wind hap
pened to be blowing good and strong
from the west, so said to him as took
the mare out on the track for the trial:
I'll just move her slow through the
home stretch here so you can see her
way of going. and when get around
the turn III step her fast up theback
stretch Well, it wasn't any trick st
all for her to go that quarter with the
wind in 80 seconds Mr.. Buyer never
tumbled. and got my price for the
mare. Now, if had tried to show the
first quarter down the home stretch.
going against the wind, she couldn't
have trotted it in 0:3S. Another time
away back in the first part of April !
drove a green trotter . quarter one day
in O:3Oh. It caused big stir. and lots
of people who timed the trial saidbI was
fool for doing IL 30 early in the sea-
son. They didn't notice that my horse
was going before stin wind. didn't
say anything to them, but / say to you
that it was easier for that horse to trot
that quarter in 0:aoh than it would
have been to drive him a quarter the
other way Of the track in O:36. Yet If
he had trotted over the same ground
the other way in O:36 nobody would
have thought it was worth talking
about.
1T learned to take advantage of the
wind when used to drive races on the
kite track at Independence, Ia" con-
tinued the trainer. 81 remember one
time / had . little soft-hearted mare
that couldn't go the last end of a mile
to save her neck, and she was entered
in a race against some game horses OF
greater speed. / thought / would be
lucky to get fourth money. One OF
those prairie Winds was sweeping over
the kite almost in the faces of the
horses as they went away. / happened
to get on right behind two of the good
ones. They were fighting for the lead
and trotted together like team. Pret-
ty soon noticed that. while they ap-
peared to be laboring. my mare was go-
ing easily. For a moment I couldn't
understand 1t. Then it struck me that
she was in. good position where she
was protected from the head wind
which the horses in front Of her had te
breast. just let her trail until we
got around past the turn, where the
wind caught us the other way. Then ]
turned her loose. The good horses were
exhausted and my little soft-hearted
mare stepped right away from them in
the race home. I've won many a race
by those tactics since then.
"By the way, did it ever strike you
that the secret of Ed Geers' style OF
driving race is right there in the way
he has of protecting his horses from
the wind? Geers nearly always drops
behind the po.e horse, you know. and
trails until he strikes the home stretch;
sometimes until he is half way down
the stretch. I don't know whether he
does it Intentionally, but he gets his
horse in a position where the at
mospheric resistance is next to moth
ing. and there he stays while some
body else breasts the wind. To my
mind 1t accounts for great deal Of
Geers' success. Even on a still day
horse trotting 2: 10 gait has to plow
through what seems Hike strong wind
and a mere gentle breeze seems like
gale when you're going against it.
ITO go back to the kite track at In
dependence, I remember one day when
the wind was whist.ing over the prairie
George Starr set out to drive Direct n
mile against time. He went down the
half in something like 1:01, with the
wind, Of course, and lots of folks
thought he was going to knock the
worlds record into a cooked hat. j
don't remember how fast the mile was
mot much better than 2:10. though.
When he struck the head wind he
wilted, and before he got to the wire
he was 50 tired that he could hardly
put one foot before the other. He just
staggered home like a dead one. though
NO gamer horse was ever foaled- I've
seen many another game one do the
same"