Greyhound Handicapping - If The Shoe Fits

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I bought a pair of shoes the other day. They felt fine in the store when I tried them on, but when I brought them home and walked around in them for a few days, they didn't feel as good. The toes were too narrow and pinched my toes. The heel was loose and my heel slipped up and down and I ended up with a painful blister.

I couldn't take them back because I had walked in them for several days. They weren't expensive, but I didn't appreciate losing money and still not having comfortable shoes. I bought another pair and really tried them out at the store, instead of just putting them on and standing up in them. I've been wearing them for a couple of months and they fit fine and feel really good.

What does this have to do with dog racing? Plenty. Whether you use a system or your own handicapping method, you probably have a favorite track where you use it. For instance, I happen to know that one of my very successful Sifter System users likes Orange Park and hits quite a few bets there. He DID modify the system to make it work more consistently though.

And that's the thing. No matter how you start out handicapping, you want to do whatever you have to do to end up with a good fit - a fit that makes you money. Sometimes, your method doesn't work at all at a track. No amount of tinkering and tweaking will make your handicapping style pick winners. Unfortunately, if you find this out by actually playing it can get expensive.

Of course, you can try it out on old programs first, which is what I recommend. That way, if it doesn't work at that track, you've only wasted some time, not money. And give it a good try. Just looking at a week or two of races isn't enough. So what do you do if you find out that it doesn't work at the track you play? Give up? I wouldn't.

I'd take my method to another track and try it out there. Many people don't do this. They buy a system or come up with their own and try it on one track and, when it doesn't work there, they decide that it doesn't work. Period. So they throw out everything they know about handicapping and look for something entirely different and try THAT on the same track.

I think it makes more sense to keep the method until you've tried it on all the simulcast tracks. There are so many nowadays. The programs are free on Bet America. Just download some and try out your methods on every track that you can, through several programs at that track, until you're absolutely sure that it's not picking winners. Then, and only then, should you decide that the method or system isn't working and it's time to try another approach.

Every greyhound track has its own biases, quirks and angles to explore. So, explore them all and don't limit yourself to one track. Try them on different days, in different weather and different seasons. Some of the Florida tracks are completely different in the summer than they are in the winter.

The bottom line is that you want to find a good fit between the way you handicap, based on what's worked for you in the past, and the track or tracks you play. Make sure you "walk around" as many tracks as possible, before you settle on one to play.