We all want to pick winners, but we all have different ways of going about it. Some people just pick a lucky number and play it all night. Other people go by “feelings” and hunches to pick dogs. I even know a guy who just randomly bets whatever number pops into his head when he gets up to the window.
Then there are the people who believe that speed is the most important predictor of whether a greyhound will cross the finish line before the other dogs. They totally disregard everything else and focus on that one facet of a dog’s performance information.
This is really shortsighted of them. Speed, by itself, only tells you what a dog did in a previous race which might be nothing like the race it’s running today. While it’s good to know that a dog can keep up with the pace, it’s not the most important factor.
Even if you calculate speed by using a formula that takes into consideration several things that can affect it, it’s not the most important thing in handicapping. That’s why so many speed rating handicapping systems are gathering dust on handicappers’ shelves.
So, if it isn’t speed, what is the most important factor? Well, that’s the thing. In my opinion, there is no one element of a greyhound’s performance that predicts that it will win. It’s all the factors, not just one. So if you isolate speed and use it by itself, you’re not going to be getting a true picture of what the dog’s chances of winning are.
There are so many things that have an effect on speed. Post position, class, running style and the running styles of the other dogs. Even the weather and track conditions can affect speed. If you try to make any of those factors more important than the other ones, you’re missing a big part of the handicapping picture.
You must use them all together, weighing them equally, to win at the dog track. Not until you figure out how to integrate them and put them together, will you be able to pick winners consistently. Doing this, and doing it successfully, is the most important factor in handicapping, in my opinion.
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