"The Greyhound Handicapping Program"
Introduction
DogOne is the result of years of research in handicapping greyhound racing. Our goal is to provide you a simple software tool that enables you to quickly handicap a race by minimizing data entry and performing automatic time to distance conversions. Instead of a preset criteria greyhounds must meet, DogOne uses the above average by category approach. Greyhounds are measured against the other greyhounds in a race and points are awarded when a greyhound is above average in your selected handicapping category. Points are then summed based on your selected categories and displayed for betting selection.
You can download a complete racing program and handicap all races in a matter of minutes. DogOne extract the fields and insert them into your selected handicapping criteria fields. See details at download.htm for a free trial version.
The wagering model has two goals
(1) Predict the outcome of a race as accurately as possible, and
(2) Make a profit when wagering.
Early in our research, we discovered there are tradeoffs between high predictability and return amounts. In short, the more obvious the race the less return, so we chose to develop a model based on percentages, betting the obvious and less obvious greyhounds when the patterns hits are high. The model is the result of heuristic analysis on more than 163,000 races, using a common set of handicapping options (defaults on ). is the implementation of those profitable patterns for and Quiniela wagering.
Handicapping a Greyhound Race
A Greyhound race is divided into four major parts:
1. Early Speed is made up of two elements. They are Break (the order in which the Greyhound left the post) and 1/8 call (order in which the Greyhound is at completion of the first turn). Early Speed greyhounds are the front-runners and frequently succeed in finishing in the money. They do so by avoiding the jam that often occurs in the first turn but tend to fade in the stretch. Early Speed is a major component of greyhound handicapping and should be considered when selecting parameters for your race analysis.
2. Mid Track is made up from the 1/8 call to Stretch. Mid track greyhounds allow Early Speed to lead the pack and then speed up from the 1/8 call to stretch or rush to catch the leaders. Mid track speed is often successful in gaining ground on the leaders provided they avoid the first turn jam.
3. Late Speed is defined from the Stretch to the Finish. Late speed greyhounds make their move at the stretch and rush the finish line. They are spectacular to watch, but in reality few greyhounds have the ability to make up the necessary time to win the race. They thread themselves through the first turn traffic and dodge greyhounds in the stretch and rush to the front at the finish, lots of potential trouble.
4. Class or Grade is very significant in greyhound racing. Unlike horse racing, greyhounds grade themselves based on their previous three races (Check your tracks grading system). In general, Florida uses classes of A,B,C,D,E, and M. As expected, greyhounds that win a race are placed in the next higher Grade until they reach class A where they remain until showing 3 consecutive poor performances.
Our handicapping system should look for greyhounds moving Down in Grade with Early Speed that extends their lead at the finish. Unfortunately Greyhound handicapping is not that simple. Time of race and greyhounds finish times have to be considered. It should be obvious greyhounds have different abilities and perform differently based on the competition of the race. For example suppose we have a race composed of 8 late speed greyhounds, we know one will be first at the 1/8 call even though none have true Early Speed. To compensate for these differences DogOne includes Difference in Time, Projected Time, and Class by Finish.
Difference in Time - Generally, we review the racing form and select greyhounds with the fastest previous times. What we tend to overlook is greyhounds who competed in very fast races (races that have spectacular winning times). Difference in time establishes a ratio between winning time and the actual greyhounds finish time producing a competition factor. Points are awarded for above average competition factor. Once again we need to reiterate DogOne is not measuring greyhounds with preset standards. Each greyhound is measured against the other members of the race and points are awarded when above average in that category. Points are then summed based on the categories selected and projected order of finish is displayed for your betting selection.
Projected Time - Projected time provides a measure of speed by post. We frequently see greyhounds running on the inside that show above average finish times. If we look at the configuration of a track there is one thing obvious, the shortest distance is along the inside. Therefore, projected time measures the speed a greyhound must run in order to be competitive from his post assignment. Greyhounds earn points when above average in projected time.
Class by Finish - Class by finish establishes a ratio between the Grade of the race and the greyhounds actual finish in that race. We often see greyhounds moving Down in Grade and disregard those who performed poorly in their last three races. Class by finish measures all class to finish ratios and award points when greyhounds are above average.
You are now ready to select your handicapping strategies. It takes several visits to the track and a little study to understand the terminology and strategies in handicapping. We recommend you run a few programs through the automated input section, and determine which handicapping options are most effective at your tack.
Good Luck at the Track!
Barry