Greyhound Dog Racing Tips.
Not that I think that dog tracks should have dress codes, but I can tell you that fashion can have a big effect on handicapping the greyhounds. What you wear and your accessories can mean the difference between winning at the dog track and losing your (alligator festooned) shirt.
Now, no one could accuse me of being a snappy dresser. My wardrobe consists of jeans, t-shirts and flannel shirts. For winter I have this heavy wool sweater with pockets and a hood. My shoes are sneakers.
I don't carry anything when I go to the dog track, except for a paperback book that fits into my back pocket, a pen and a very small notebook that both fit into my shirt pocket. My car keys clip onto my belt loop. My cell phone stays in the car. I don't need a laptop because the track is no place to be handicapping with a laptop as far as I'm concerned. (It's too noisy, too busy and too late.)
I'm not saying everyone should dress like me, but I can tell you that it's a lot easier for me to operate at the track than it is for some of the people I see there all the time. There are the women with big handbags, who have to dig around in them to find their wallet every time they go up to bet. Then they stand there, counting out dollar bills as if they had no idea that they'd need that money to bet with until they got to the window.
"Oh! I need to give you money? Oh dear, it's at the bottom of my purse in my wallet. Let me get it out."
So the line waits and fumes until Madam comes up with her money and goes away until the next race when she'll do the same thing all over again. Of course, her hubby is probably at another window, trying to get his oversized wallet out of his tight jeans pocket while the announcer says it's last call and the line is a mile long. Why don't they get it?
Then there are the cell phone addicts who stand there yakking with only half their minds on the bets they're making. (Probably for someone else, which is illegal, but that's another story.) There are people who have so many pockets that they don't know where their money is, so they look like Captain Kangaroo looking for a carrot for Bunny Rabbit every time they bet.
There are people in halter tops and short shorts who have absolutely no place to put anything - including their betting slips - so they put them down all over the place and forget to pick them up. Or like one woman I saw, they put them down the neckline of their top and then have to do the shimmy shake to get them out to see if they won. Good entertainment for the rest of us, but not a good way to keep your mind on handicapping.
You see people with backpacks and fanny packs, who can't sit on anything with a back because they can't lean back. They hunch over their programs on the benches and make me wish I'd become a chiropractor instead of a greyhound handicapper. I don't know how they can concentrate on the races when they're obviously so uncomfortable, but what do I know?
There are women - and some men - with such high-heeled shoes or boots that by the end of the program, their feet are killing them and they can't think about anything except getting home and soaking them in epsom salts. (If anyone still does that.)
All of this is not to say that there's anything wrong with looking good or wearing what pleases you. It's to make the point that you need to be comfortable to concentrate on winning at the dog track. It's really hard to handicap when your feet hurt or you can't find a pen in your purse or you're carrying so much stuff that you can't hold a cup of coffee or a hot dog and you're starving.
I'm comfortable in t-shirts and jeans with a flannel shirt with pockets. Maybe you're a woman who's comfortable in a skirt and blouse with a small purse where you can stash your pen in an outside pocket and your money in an inside pocket that you can get to easily. Maybe you're a guy who likes to wear the suit you wear to work and carry your briefcase for your old programs, your calculator and your colored markers.
It doesn't matter, as long as you can move around freely, hold your program comfortably, eat and drink without a big hassle and make your bets without holding up the line. I may not be fashionable, but I'm comfortable and I can keep my mind on what I'm doing well enough to win. Whatever you wear, winning is always in fashion.
Greyhound Dog Racing.