Greyhound racing runs like clockwork from eleven in the morning until about nine thirty in the evening there is a race every few minutes.
If you try and read the form race by race you will not have time to make accurate assessments and money will be lost.
If you want to make a profit from the dogs then I recommend that you study the cards ahead of time, make your selections along with a note of the prices at which you’d be happy to back or lay a selection.
The markets on the betting exchanges can have some extreme prices and don’t really settle down until a few minutes before the race.
So unless you’re going to settle for SP you will need to be paying attention just before the off.
Betfair SP is available
So who’s gonna win?
You’d think it would be straightforward, every dog will have the time of each of it’s past races listed so finding the fastest in the race should be easy, shouldn’t it?
Obviously it’s not that straightforward or the bookies would all be skint and the backers would all be winners and that’s not the case.
There are numerous reasons why the fastest dog may not win, for a start the dog with the fastest previous time may not be on form today.
But most often the reason the fastest dog doesn’t win is because it didn’t get a clear run.
It either got blocked in as it came out of the traps or at the first bend or worse knocked off its stride or banged about.
When we are talking fractions of a second winning margins a small knock or loss of momentum can make all the difference.
So my approach has always been to find a selection who I think will get around clear.
To that end and one of the benefits of greyhound racing is that we get sectional timings for most races.
The sectional time is the time taken from when the traps open until the dog crosses the line for the first time.
These times give you a good idea of who will lead around the first bend, which doesn’t guarantee a win but helps the dog run it’s best time.
If you only backed dogs that led into the first bend you would be a big winner.
So that is the first thing and to my mind the most important thing to look at which dogs will make it around the first bend un hindered.
To work this out we look at the sectional times, at the comments combined with which trap the dog has been running from.
With this info we can form a picture of how the opening stages of the race might work out.
As an example I’ve looked at the first race at Romford tomorrow.
First thing I notice is that Trap 1, which is often the prime spot for leading around the first bend has previous remarks of SAw in four of it’s last eight races.
Saw means slowly away so this dog looks to be slow to get out of the traps, which means it may have something to get over and may be good news for trap 2.
The next thing I notice is that Trap 2 has a lot of Rls-Mid comments, meaning the dog has been positioning itself towards the middle of the track just away from the rails. This would usually be good news for Trap 1.
Trap 3 has a lot of QAw comments, quick away and has some quick sectional times, this is a positive for Trap 3.
Trap 4 has MsdBrk, missed the break IE traps open and he hesitates and comes out late, he has had some big wins recently and been upgraded.
Clicking on the dogs name I get the full form for every race this dog has won and it’s highest grade win is in an A6. It may be outclassed in today’s A4 company.
Trap 5 is QAw and Mid, this could cause problems for Trap 4 if it heads towards the middle of the track taking ground from Trap 4. Trap 5 has won in an A3 in the past, but I don’t think it will beat Trap 3 to the bend.
Trap 6 is QAw quick away, runs wide where it will have the space to itself. She has also run in much better company in the past but is now five and a half years old.
She is back from a seasonal break IE she was in season and couldn’t race. We will talk about this later but it accounts for her surprise win last time out at 7/1.
My view is that the race to the first bend will be won by Trap 3 or 6.
There is more to consider before having a bet, but a big price on either would peak my interest.
By the way if you have a £2 bet on Betfair you can watch the race live.
Update: If you watched the race you will know that Trap 3 led around the bend and Trap 6 was second around the first bend with a clear run down the outside. Trap 3 started favourite this time, so in that regard was a bad example because you can frequently find first bend leaders that go on to win at big prices. Trap 3 won.