In this section, I explain how the racing line of a greyhound affects its performance and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of running routes.
Greyhound Predictor v2.0 offers an amazing 16,384 individual racelines! You can select a Standard Racing Line or Define Your Own.
All combinations of the following track positions can be simulated:
Rails - Greyhounds racing on the inside are known as 'railers' and always have the distinct advantage of running the shortest route around a circuit. Holding the rails position is extremely important as these "paint scrapers" are frequently able to avoid trouble by slipping through along this inner fence and hence benefit when other dogs are crowded or baulked to their outside. However, they can also find themselves 'boxed in' behind a wall of dogs and may not always maintain their fastest speeds around the bends due to the acuteness of this particular running line!
Middle - All 'middle-trackers' are better placed to maintain their maximum speeds throughout a race. Although, they run a little further compared to railers and are often considered "easy to pass" as they allow chasing dogs plenty of room to overtake them both on the inside and outside of the track!
Wide - Dogs running wide are usually favoured by wet racing conditions and will inevitably benefit in races when trouble involves the inside dogs. However, 'wide runners' run further in distance compared to 'inside' and 'middle-runners' and generally lose a little ground around the bends!
Very Wide - Some greyhounds naturally run very wide! which is always thought an 'inferior racing-line' as they obviously lose many lengths around the corners and run much further in distance. However, very wide runners are also favoured by wet conditions and nearly always avoid crowding or baulking with other dogs by taking this extremely wide route, although occasionally they do end up racing on the wrong side of an outside hare rail!
All greyhounds chasing artificial hares will choose their own natural running paths depending on whether their following an inside or outside hare? In America, Australia and New Zealand the hare is on the inside, with the lure (sometimes two) suspended on a pole or bar and driven in-front of the greyhounds approximately a metre to two metres from the inside rail dependent on the track and therefore dogs run much closer to the fence.
Alternatively in the United Kingdom and Ireland an outside hare is used, with the lure (windsock) driven on the ground around the outside perimeter, therefore dogs tend to run more in the middle to wide areas. This is most noticeable watching greyhounds race out of the turns and along the straights!
Now check the form comments.
In English racing: Rails = rls, Rails to Middle = rls-mid, Middle to Rails = mid-rls, Middle = mid, Middle to Wide = mid-w, Wide = w, Very Wide = vw.
Now enter Standard Racing Line or Define Own.
If you select a Standard Line the default racing line for each trap position will be highlighted on the Track Screen.
If you select to Define Your Own you may choose any combination of racing lines for each of the GreyhoundPredictor v2.0 Track Positions:
You have now completed all the data for Trap 1. If you've made any mistakes the 'Predictor' lets you go back and alter any stat needing to be changed.
Now highlight Enter and Press Spacebar to load the dog into the traps.
Once this precedure has been repeated for all the remaining runners, you will start to see the GREYHOUND PREDICTOR TRACK come into vision!
Next Page: Race and Conclusion
