Monday, April 23, 2012

Greyhound Handicapping - How Smart Are Greyhounds


Greyhound Dog Racing Tips.

Why do greyhounds do what they do? How many times have you asked yourself that when your 6-5 favorite in an A race runs like a longshot in a D race? "What," you ask yourself, "Could have made that dog slow down like that on the first turn when there was no other dog near him and he was on his way to winning?"

Well, maybe if you'd been there for the dog's last race, you would have seen the pileup on the turn that squashed him against two other dogs, tossed him head over teakettle and scared the bejesus out of him. In his line for that race, it just says "fell on turn."

Dogs, especially hunting dogs, and that's what greyhounds really are, have good memories. They have to have the ability to remember to be good at tracking and cornering game animals, who are pretty smart themselves.

When something happens that makes a deep impact on a greyhound - physically or mentally - some of them can't just shrug it off the next time they go out onto the track. That's why, when a dog gets hurt, a smart trainer gives them a rest and then schools them or trains them at the kennel with an easy race or two.

It's important that the dog gets its confidence and "heart" back before it goes back onto the track. A few good experiences will "overlay" the bad experience and the dog natural desire to win will come back in full force. If the trainer doesn't do this, sometimes the dog will never be good for racing again.

If you see a line that says that a dog fell or got hurt, you might want to make sure the dog has had a rest and/or a schooling race where it did well, before you bet on it. In spite of their fragile appearance, greyhounds are very resilient, but they need attention, care and time to recover from the hard knocks of racing.

Greyhound Dog Racing.