Baffling inconsistent greyhound times...

The Chart for 500mtr+???

Incredibly it can be 58 and 59! A good example being Caloona Striker’s track record at Brighton over 695m in 40.73. Dividing the record 40.73 by the metres covered 659 brings up a number as follows:- 0.05860 making it a 58 category dog!

Even the 740m won by greyhound Form of Magic in 43.59 becomes 0.05890. A 58 dog!

As a guide to use over long distances I suggest that: you start at 60 as long distance record class. Then work downwards to 65 as slow. Average would be 63 and 64; with 61 and 62 as very quick /and quick.

You will have gathered from this section on greyhound times that the subject of transferring times across different distances (which we attempt to do in our head every time we go dog racing) is complicated. If you can ‘suss’ it out you win; I have been fairly successful on some occasions. Notably, when I bet Roxholme Girl to win the St Leger at the ante post price of 6/1.

Why there are such curious and illogical times over a range of distances that come up between tracks (besides surfaces and banks on bends) leaves me searching for an explanation with such thoughts such as: ‘surely a dog running over 740 metres at 0.05860 sec/metre can’t be travelling at the same speed as a dog running over say 235m or 474m’? Can it?? Maybe the explanation is that the track measurements are not what they are listed as; or the timing devices are not as good as they could be. It has got me baffled.

I have experimented on graphs with ‘pace numbers’ in order to cut across different distances in an attempt to rationalise a multitude of times such as 59/00; 60/00; down to 64/00 with varying degree of success. However it is not sufficiently good yet and something for the future for me to work on.

Try using a calculator on a few random times to see what you come up with; if it does nothing else it will get you thinking about pace and how quickly a greyhound can cover a single metre of ground.

Before I leave this subject, I was interested to read recently that some people were requesting that the speed of the hare should be displayed by a central clock on the track. I am not sure if I could support that; but it did intrigue me to think that punters were thinking in terms of ‘pace,’ and that can’t be bad!

Come racing!!