Greyhound Dog Racing Tips.
I went to the dog track for the first time in Rhode Island. Everyone knows that it's the smallest state, but they may not know that it has enough weather for several large states. The winters often go from below freezing to the fifties overnight. The summers have some of the most humid weather on the eastern seaboard and ninetie's aren't unusual, although it can drop to the forties at night.
The weather certainly had an effect on those of us who lived there, so I knew it'd have an effect on the greyhounds' performance, but it took me a little while to figure out just how that played out. I did it by going to the track in all kinds of weather, year round, and observing how the dogs reacted.
The first thing I noticed was that breakers - dogs who leap out of the box and rush to the lead - didn't always break as well when it was cold. They seemed to have trouble getting their muscles to give them that burst of energy that they need to get off to a good start, maybe because their muscles were slower to warm up in cold weather.
That's when I paid more attention to closers, dogs who gain speed and position at the end of the race. Because they get out more slowly, their muscles seem to have time to "warm up" and get up to speed, so their running style still works well in cold weather.
The next thing I noticed is that some dogs just don't like wet weather. If it rained, I learned not to bet on them, because they'd be at the back of the pack, falling further behind as they tried to get as far back as they could from the mud being slung at them from the dogs in front.
Like a beagle that I once had, some dogs just don't like having water or mud splashed on them. Other dogs, like my Black Lab, don't even seem to notice. They run through puddles and mud like it's not even there. These are the kind of greyhound that you want to bet on when it's pouring and the track is a mudhole.
Another thing that affects some dogs more than others is wind. The track at Twin River in RI was built in a big open area and the stretch was like a wind tunnel when the wind was coming from the right direction. You could actually see the dogs slow down when they rounded the last turn and got into that wind. Some dogs took it in stride, so to speak, and put on a burst of speed to compensate. But some dogs didn't have anything left and lost ground from there to the wire.
Wherever you live, even in a climate like the Southwest or South, the weather isn't always the same. When it changes, it's a good idea to make a note of how it affects the dogs and bet accordingly. You don't want to be left out in the cold when it comes to greyhound handicapping.
Greyhound Dog Racing.