dog-a-roo successes…
…and failures 2006.

I started the year with my ‘tutorial’ for newcomers to dog racing which is entitled, Dog Racing: Unravelling the Mystique which I hope some people might have found useful. I included a download of my ‘plot-the dogs’ graph which, if you downloaded it, you could have experimented with.

I consider it a success to have published that work on the internet for use by ordinary punters–and I am pleased to say that is different to what others have written on the subject of greyhound racing; and that gives me a glow!!

In May I started to look for dogs that could be bet at good ante-post prices at 1/4 odds a place 1.2.3.4. or in some cases 3 places.

Without too much detail (some of it is painful!) this is my update:

I started with Amaarillo Slim in the Greyhound Derby which I bet at ew odds of 25/1, 20/1, 16/1 twice and 8/1. Amarillo Slim was beaten into 3rd place by Westmead Hawk . So, I collected ew money on those bets. But I also had an article on those bets posted on the Inside-Edge magazine and the Total Gambler magazine. I received £25 for the article.

In June I allocated my own ratings and priced up the whole of the Irish Greyhound Derby in anticipation of placing some early bets at good prices.

I took a fancy to Droopys Electric early on and tried to get the price of 20/1 from an irate and unhelpful counter assistant in a local betting shop who insisted that I couldn’t get a bet on, this early in the year.

I told her PaddyPower bookmakers had prices available and that she should ring up her area office and enquire on my behalf. She didn’t want to do it and as she walked towards the phone she said, over her shoulder, ‘They won’t have prices – I’m telling you!’

She was on the phone for some minutes.

Put the phone back on its cradle and strode over to where I was leaning on the counter, with my two elbows for support. I could see she was raging as I looked at her expectantly; and I said a silly thing that caused her to flip… I looked into her eyes and said, in a quiet voice: ’And the Banker says…?’

You should have seen her face when she said through gritted teeth, ‘Never mind what the Banker says…’ (She knew I was taking a rise out of her because of her attitude).

‘Droopys Electric is 20/1!… and people who bet dogs and horses are only fools,’ she finished tritely.

By this time I had a big smile on my face while I completed the transaction but I wondered why people take jobs that they obviously don’t like. In the event Droopys Electric didn’t win the Irish Derby … Razldazl Billy did.

That was a sort of speculative bet I put on before I had really looked at the Derby in some depth.

My bets that I did collect some money on in the Irish Derby were: Antrim Classic 33/1 2nd and Skywalker Magic 3rd at 50/1.

In July I then lost my ante-post bet on Door Latch which dropped out tamely in the Peterborough Veteran’s Derby, but my bet on Temple Lad in the Greyhound Puppy Derby paid off with a 2nd place at 50/1.

Next on the agenda in August I had Lundhill Flash 3rd at 16/1 in the Northumberland Plate.

I used my blog at this point to discuss betting in a handicap such as this race and I tried to explain as best I could the ‘R’ factor which indicated how many lengths the best, or ‘scratch’ dog, gave to other runners. I hope that particular blog was useful to some people.

Then onto September with the Sheffield Steel Cup in my sights.

I took the opportunity to talk about using the Dutching Calculator which allows you to bet on two or more selections to get the same return no matter which one wins.

I tried it out on this race with two selections and a 7 point bet on Droopys Sami and Farloe Hobbs. I lost out to Womble which won, priced at 25/1 !!

The Wimbledon Grand National in October was a race where I had 3 dogs through to the final: Custom Paul 12/1, Druids Scully 20/1 and Snazzy Time 50/1 and ended up with only one getting 2nd place. (But I can’t remember which one).

I had a 2 point deficit in early October in the Irish Puppy Derby even though I had two in the final: Winetavern Henry 14/1 and Rusheen Hondo. Oran Majestic won it and it is a dog we should look out for next year.

October 21st my selection in the Irish Laurels : Disco Stu was 3rd at 25/1, but I lost on other bets.

The end of October/early November I bet Fabulous Sophie which was outclassed in the Wimbledon Greyhound St Leger.
The Leger was won in good style by Ninja Blue. I lost 11 points on that race.

In November I bet Broadacres Bob at 33/1 in the Nottingham Eclipse . It ran 2nd to Clash Harmonica, who won by 4 lengths.

The last big race of the year that I tackled was the Romford Essex Vase. I bet Ninja Blue as my main hope to beat Eye Onthe Veto but it finished 5th costing me my biggest loss of 15 1/2 points

There you have it. I’m not sure if I made a profit on the year or not but if I didn’t, it did not cost me a lot; and I had a great deal of interest in doing it.

I have given you the main details. I bet in quarter-finals and semi–finals and sometimes with wins in those races I was really onto a ‘bet to nothing’ which is a good position to get into. And I ran with several selections based on what I considered ‘value bets’ as it is really difficult to pick just one dog to win out of 100 dogs.

Let’s see how I get on next year. If you follow this blog perhaps you would like to make a comment; I’d really appreciate that.

You can post a comment on the bottom right hand corner of this blog or email me on : crawley1000@msn.com

Happy New Year everyone.

Come racing!!