I have been enjoying going to the greyhounds for many years. The main tracks that I go to are Hall Green and Perry Bar which are situated around the Birmingham area of England. I was taken to Hall Green for the first time by my father when I was about fourteen years of age. I had been to watch the horse racing many times but this first experience at the dogs was altogether different.
The races are much more frequent than that of the horses. There is normally a thirty minute gap between each horse race, where the gap between the dog races is only about fifteen minutes. I could also not quite believe how quickly these greyhounds could actually run. I also enjoyed the fact that despite some of these dogs bumping into each other and even knocking one another over at times, that there were no stewards enquiries.
I did not do very well in the gambling stakes for quite a while but then started to learn more about how to read the form book. For example a dog may have been running in an A4 class for the last six races but is now running in A5. This means that he has dropped down a class and therefore would have more of a chance. A dog may also have been winning well for the last three races in A4 but is now running in A3. This of course means that he/she has moved up a grade and that it could be harder for the dog to win.
These are some of the meanings in the form guide:
FA- Fast away
SA- Slow away
BLKD- The dog got bulked
RO- Ran on
VSA- Very slow away
The form guide also shows times for the greyhounds last few races and also times of how quick it started from the traps. These are all aspects that should be taken into account when deciding which dog to bet on.
I also like to stand in the betting ring and to see how much money is going onto the different dogs. After a while you get to know the faces and at times I will watch who a certain person backs and then bet on that dog as well. This is because of course I have seen that person do well in the past and because I think he will know more than what I do.
By learning how to read the form and by other things that I now do, I have started to do a lot better when gambling on these greyhounds. As well as betting on a single dog, I will also bet on a forecast and a tricast, just for a bit of fun. A forecast is where you predict which dog will come first and second, a tricast is where you predict which dog will come first, second and third. This is not easy to predict but when you get it right you tend to win a lot more money.
At the end of the day a night out at the dogs is a lot of fun and it is important to only gamble what you can afford to lose.
