Greyhound Dog Racing Tips.
Greyhound racing is all about moving up and moving down. The dogs move through the grades, moving up when they win and moving down when they lose. They start in Grade M and usually take several races to win and move up to Grade J. Several races later, they usually win and move up to Grade D or C.
Then it's up the grade ladder until they reach the top or reach a grade they can't compete in. It would be nice if this was a smooth progression, but unfortunately, it isn't. It's a series of cycles and this makes predicting winners much harder, unless you get good at finding the factors that will tell you when a dog is ready to win.
These factors are right on the program, but most bettors don't have a clue what to look for, so they miss them. This is good news for handicappers who dig more deeply. The lines that can indicate that a dog is ready to win, are the comments and the calls.
If you look at the four calls - the Break, the 1/8th, the Stretch and the Finish - you can see whether a dog gained ground or lost it throughout the race. You can also see where it broke out of the box in relation to the other dogs. It would help if you had a program in front of you for this next piece.
Look at the break calls for each dog in a race. Notice that some dogs get right out, so they have a 1 or a 2 for that call. Other dogs get out 3rd or 4th and others get out at the back of the pack at 6th, 7th or 8th. This can change quickly though, and it's too bad that tracks don't still have the 1st turn call and Time to First Turn. If you get a chance to keep track of it yourself, do so.
If you look at the Break call and compare it to the 1/8th call, you'll see that greyhounds either gain ground between the calls or lose it because other dogs beat them to the call. So if a dog has a 2 at the Break call and a 4 at the 1/8th call, it means 3 other dogs passed it.
But if a dog has a 4 at the Break and a 1 at the 1/8th call, it means it managed to pass 3 other dogs to take the lead. To see if it kept the lead, look at the Stretch call. If it's still 1, that dog managed to hold on to the lead. Whether it won or not, it made a good showing.
To see if a dog is improving, look for the numbers to get smaller with each call. If it breaks 5th, has a 4 at the 1/8th call and a 3 at the Stretch call and comes in 2nd, it's improving. It would be a good dog to bet in its next race. Of course, what you want to see if improvement in more than one race, but even one is a good indication that the dog is "waking up" and going into form.
Of course, the opposite is true also. It's possible to tell when a dog is going out of form by looking at the numbers for the four calls. Another indicator, although not as reliable, is what the comments say for the dog's last few races. Positive comments usually indicate that a dog is improving. Negative ones can tell you that the dog is going out of form and is not a good bet.
Greyhound Dog Racing.