Jockeys are instructed that they must be 2 lengths clear before they can veer in or out.
Greyhounds don't seem to follow this rule.
And I believe that is the reason applying Don Scott's ratings methods to Greyhounds has sent me at full march to the poor house.
And this is what Rocksteady kept stressing about the start being so important.
I now know how to find out what factors are the most important when assessing the future outcome of a race.
Go back on previous races and find out why a favourite didn't win.

Thats why when i read the formguide I take note of the early splits as in 13345 which is the dogs progression throughout the race. If the dog has been checked it will have C1-8
eg: 12267 C4
That means that the dog lead early on, was in second and then was probly checked off the heels of the leader rounding the bend. Just because the dog finished seventh doesn't mean its no good. Even if the dog was at 21-1 doesn't mean its a bad dog either.
There is a high percentage of dogs that hit the front by the first corner that win. Watch the races and see that only th dogs who are in form come from behind to win.

Another factor that I make note of when watching the races is the first 5 seconds. This is crucial as you said moeee. You can tell how the dog races during these 5 seconds. If a Box 8 runs straight into a Box 7 it basically means its looking for a rails run. If it's from an inside box and runs out, it means it will be looking for a wide draw as it likes to run around the dogs.
Running wide on turns, or railing home makes a huge difference too. I dont really know what to make of that yet, but it could be to do with inexperience.
Also you can see when a dog bets stuck behind a few runners and just wants to push through, but cant. It then takes the wide run and finishes on strong. But the problem is since it ran wide, it usually finishes where it started from, behind all of those runners. For me, it doesn't mean the dog is too slow, it means it used up too much energy trying to squeeze between dogs and then ran wide, so it would be a chance with a clear draw next race.
Also everyone says winning form is good form. We all know long shots barely back it up, so how can this theory just apply to a select few. Well when any dog wins a race, you must look at the pattern of the race, the incidents and the speed. If the winner came from dead last, it is more than likely to back up. If it won by 8 lengths it is more than likely to back up. If it won due the dogs in front or behind getting into trouble, it may not back-up and if it was a slow race, it wont back-up.

Early speed indicator is what you need to look for along with the general pattern of racing. When i select my dogs I take no notice of what odds it is paying as this may persuade you when you have a 20-1 dog who has finished 88767 in his past five, and you may not bet on it. Just do your tips then look at the odds. As a lot of dogs pay under 3-1 it can be a non-profitable situation. So then if your dog is over 3-1 back it, if not exclude the race. If it wins under 3-1 it will only be a small profit, and there are plenty more bets that come off over 3-1.

Get yourself into a betting routine, dont go bonkers like i did the other week (unless you are filthy rich) and just have some fun while trying to make a few bob.

Something else you may want to do is to read the steward reports on the races. You can see which dogs sustained injuries and how long they are out for. Usually 5 days. Which dogs are vetted. Who ran into who where etc. Its very helpful for you to map out the next race.

And check their weight :smile:

In what way?

Hi,
Trouble lines in a dogs's form will show up in each dogs individual Standard Deviation, the cleaner the racer the tighter the Stdev.
You need to remove subjectivity out of your selections process and this is just one example.

Regarding racing weights, if you look at each dogs racing weight it will start of lighter then as it grows an builds up strength it will become heavy, then it will reach a plateau in weight with lil variation excepting for injury, then as it starts to get to the end of its racing life it will gradually gain weight until it makes its exit.
So if in general you split each dogs racing career into two halves of heavy an light weights, and look at the avg racing time of each half, it doesnt take a genius to know which half is quicker.

Hey woof, if you dont mind. COuld you explain more on the standard dev and which stats you put into it. I have a graphics calculator with all the programs on it, and can find the mean weight, the standard dev of the weight. But unsure by what you mean clean run.. and how small the dev is.
cheers.
x=Exf/n

I don't know if the greyhounds are aware of the standard deviation theory.
They most certainly are not aware of Don Scott's rating methods,that's for sure.
It boils down to you have to know your dogs.
Like the man said about JAY AYE MICK.
Here's another one.
ASHIGGA EXPRESS is a mad railer.You would think he would be suited by Box 1.But because he begins so slowly,it is in fact a burden.
Whisky Assassin is a widey and perhaps had he drawn the cherry probably would still have won but the race would have been run differently.
And gee Oaksenuf,That was a fair writeup back there.Even more am I surprised that you are losing in your quest.
What is the current financial situation by the way?

Today I lost
I did win over $500 on mouyong magee at Meadows yesti. So that brought the bank to a healthy status.

Last year i began a system, Where i taped the races and made notes on the races. Then i split the race into four sections.
I rated them out of 10: for
1: Early speed
2: middle speed
3: finishing speed
and the fourth: trouble encountered
I do that for each dog in the race, and put little notes beside them, like dist. BON, what the race pattern was like etc.
Its all on excel.
Then after a while, i had races where most of my dogs were in my database, and i was theoretically able to map out the race, with trying to find the best winner.
One major influence was a column called potenital. And if there was a yes, I would have a bet on the race.

eg:all on excel in neat columns
lets say Shep 440:
Dog/dist/time/margain/BON/beg/mid/end/Trbl
Natuzzi:430/24.69/0/24.4/8/7/6/0
Zed Hot:440/25.25/4/24.91/6/7/8/4
Now if you add up Natuzzi=21
Zed Hot=21 but was checked so gets the tick.
If Natuzzi drew box 5 and Zed hot Box 4. As the early speed indicates, Natuzzi would cross then lead, with Zed Hot coming home.


Basically its a whole heap of little notes to help you understand the dogs better. Like runs wide last turn, rails runner, habit of trouble, hates having dogs inside her, hates them on the outside, finds a lot of trouble, slow beginner, etc.....