The formline grid can be a most useful addition to your handicapping armoury for the dogs. All you do is go through the form and allot ‘ticks’ for each of the listed factors (see the grid below).
They cover the following: BETTING, TIMES, DAYS SINCE LAST START, BOX DRAW, LAST THREE STARTS, TRACK RECORD, DISTANCE ABILITY. Then the ticks are tallied up. The dog with the most ticks is the expected winner.
Let’s go through the various factors and explain them:
- BETTING: Greyhounds on the first three lines of betting will win the majority of races. A dog gets a tick if it is on the first three lines of the pre-post betting market.
- TIMES: Speed is the great leveller in greyhound racing. The hardest part of this approach is to discover which dogs ran the fastest times last start. They must have run at the same track and distance as the current one.
Check your formguide. You will need to work out a dog’s actual time if it was beaten. Use 0.676s equalling ONE length. So if a dog was beaten 3.5 lengths and the winner ran 29.50s, then the beaten dog’s time would be 29.736s. The three dogs with the fastest times get ticks. - DAYS SINCE LAST START: Recent form is good form. Give ticks to any runner which had its last start seven days or less ago.
- BOX DRAW: A dog in the right box with the right amount of pace is worth a lot of thought. If you assess a dog as having a good draw, then give it a tick. But make sure it IS a good draw.
- LAST THREE STARTS: Good form is exactly what it says . . . GOOD. Add up the last three form figures of each dog. Only those whose last three performances add up to six or less get a tick.
- TRACK RECORD: If a dog has won before at the track that’s a positive factor. It gets a tick.
- DISTANCE ABILITY: If you assess that a dog has winning ability at the distance of the current race, give it a tick.
All you do now is add up those ticks. The dog with the most ticks . . . it’s your selection. If more than one dog with the same amount of ticks then back both if the prices permit. If not, bet the one at the highest price. That is, the best price.
This is an easy, effective way to back winners at the dogs.
By Black Top
PRACTICAL PUNTING – APRIL 2009