Greyhound Derby Factors

Freelance journo and greyhound enthusiast Mick Stone highlights some of the factors you should consider ahead of placing a bets on the Greyhound Derby...

If you are in any way persuaded by Winston Churchill’s famous but misguided assessment of greyhound racing as ‘animated roulette’, please read on - you are likely to be missing out on a fascinating sport and excellent betting medium. The forthcoming English Greyhound Derby (click for Antepost market) at Wimbledon Stadium, starting on June 2^nd and culminating on July 2^nd, offers a good opportunity for sceptics to have a look at the fastest of the breed in competition – particularly as the entire event, involving around 60 races, will be shown live on UK television (Channel 425 and Sky Sports) for the first time. If you watch the action while tracking the logic of expert opinion, in the Racing Post and from the shrewdies who frequent the Betfair greyhound forum, I’m willing to bet that you will be converted.

Successful greyhound punters do not all have identical methods of selection. However, they are likely to be mindful of the following factors to varying degrees.

Times

Racing greyhounds are remarkably consistent performers and, as there is no such thing as a tactically run race, race times are an excellent guide to raw ability. It is useful to have an assessment of the best time each dog could be expected to achieve with a clear run. However, this is far from the end of the story. The fastest dog by no means always prevails – and there would be no challenge if it did. There are a number of bends and a path round the other dogs to negotiate and an assessment of the way a race will be run is essential.

Running Style

Again, consistency is the norm. For instance, a slow starter will almost invariably be just that and a dog who takes a wide course round the bends will typically do so throughout his or her career. While underlying ability is obviously very important, no race can be properly assessed without taking account of the running styles of the contestants.

Many dogs go through their whole career having only ever won when they have been able to turn the first bend in front. When pitched against five slow starters you might want to be backing such an animal but against rivals blessed with early pace, laying would be the call.

In terms of style, early pace is the facet that most serious greyhound judges want on their side. The dog out in front is much more likely to deliver to its potential than one that has to thread its way through the field – the shorter the race the more relevant this is.

Trap Draw

For the uninitiated, in the UK and Ireland traps are allocated from 1 on the inside to 6 on the outside. Trap allocation is typically a major determinant of race outcome. For instance, if a race contains three fast starters of similar ability who all prefer to race on the inside of the track, the one drawn in trap 1 is likely to have an edge on the pair allocated traps 2 and 3. Reverse the draw and a different result is likely to ensue. However, a fast starter drawn in trap three with slow starters in traps 1 and 2 could be seen as well drawn.

In the words of one popular contributor to the Betfair greyhound forum – ‘you can beat an egg but you can’t beat a good draw ’!

Traps 1 and 6 are generally deemed the most desirable as the occupants of these boxes have one rather than two dogs upsides on the run to the first bend. This view is supported by the win ratio delivered by these boxes year in year out at Wimbledon. However, in the 20 Derbys run since the venue switched to Wimbledon, the final is yet to be won by a dog running from trap 1. Many believe that this is due to the fact that the traditional ‘Derby roar’, generated by the crowd as the hare reaches the traps for the final, makes it difficult for the trap one runner to hear the approach of the hare – this being on the outside of the track, passing adjacent to trap 6. Come July 2^nd there will inevitably be further speculation about the ‘trap 1 hoodoo’.

Breeding

Punters used to betting on horse racing may be tempted to look here for clues. However, breeding lines are most likely to be useful as a pointer to potential when a greyhound first starts running competitively. It is likely that all entrants to the Derby will have sufficient form to have shown hard evidence of their ability. Some may think it particularly significant that both the winner and runner up from last year shared the same sire in Top Honcho. However, a closer look reveals that no less than 33 of the 185 entrants in 2004 were his offspring!

Durability

The greyhound who takes the Derby crown will need to survive five qualifying races before seeing off five rivals in the final, which will be the third race faced in a week. Therefore, the winner needs to be durable as well as fast and the skill of the trainer will be tested in keeping the dog at the required level of readiness throughout.

A few of the leading fancies for the 2005 event have already shown their toughness in the face of the demands of major competition. Droopys Marco, for instance, reached the final of last year’s Irish Derby and won the Scottish Derby at Shawfield in early April. Another who is notably tough is Fire Height Dan. Winner of no fewer than four significant competitions and finalist in last year’s English Derby (from trap 1!), he was voted Greyhound of the Year for 2004.

At the other extreme is Hee Haws Barney, a 100,000 euro purchase earlier this year. Less than a month before the start of the Derby, he has a mere four races behind him – including two impressive wins in Ireland and an eye-catching UK debut at Coventry on April 24th . He is undeniably talented but can this young dog really be expected to deliver with so little experience? If he can, he is likely to become the sort of superstar that will thrust the sport into the media spotlight – as well as landing some sizeable ante post bets, struck at fancy prices and set to net chunky six figure returns.

Stop Press: Hee Haws Barney was beaten on his fourth run on May 1st and the inevitable questions are being asked about his true chance of going all the way.

Useful Links

www.24dogs.co.uk  - Racecards and results

www.thedogs.co.uk  - British Greyhound Racing Board site, including results service

Questions

Please feel free to email me with any comments or questions at editor@betfair.com