Greyhound Dog Racing Tips.
When I started with greyhound handicapping, I was in my late twenties and as numb as a pounded thumb about dog racing. Luckily, I had several more experienced mentors to give me advice and keep me from ending up in the poorhouse. That's one of the reasons I write articles about how to win at the dog track now. I remember how it felt to want to win, way back when I was too clueless to pick a winner in a one-dog race.
Here in no particular order is some of the best advice I ever got:
- Never bet a puppy in his first A race (or AA at some tracks, whatever the top grade is), no matter how good he looks or how fast he came up through the grades. They almost never win. (From an old-timer at Lincoln Greyhound Park, now called Twin Rivers.) He was right. You know, in 30 years of watching dog races, I've almost never seen a puppy win its first race in the top grade.
- Never bet more than four dogs in a quiniela or trifecta box. It's almost always too costly to pay off. And if you can't narrow a race down to four or fewer real contenders, you should just lay off and wait for a better race.
- Never bet on the basis of schooling races. Period. (And that includes Maiden races where one dog has fantastic times and has won every schooling race it was in.)
- Never bet more when you're losing. It rarely works and you'll just end up losing even more.
- Never blame the dogs when you lose. They have no idea you bet on them and know less about greyhound racing than you do. They're not trying to lose on purpose or do you dirt. They're just dogs doing what dogs do - chasing something with a bunch of other dogs. Truth to tell, the dogs are the only dog track fans who almost always go home happy about the races.
