About rating Greyhounds
- Thread starter The Hare
- Start date
Mike generally the Last 8 depending on the rolling Stdev will shift how many starts you actually use, This is your starting point in getting the runners into a ranking /early pricing module. The guys that use my stuff will actually go thru those recent formlines looking at combinations of dates and box draws and C/D ,eg. if a runner started 3 days ago if it ran interference free, then Today's performance will fall very close to that last performance, But if it was badly checked, then the numbers for Todays race will generally be worse. But if its returning from a short spell 10-14 days it maybe is short of a run, so performance downgrade, Once they start returning after 28days it's normally a performance reset they generally will return close to the normal average performance, performance upgrades are generally a weaker class of opposition and a better box draw or a more suitable distance, sometimes trainers will nominate their dogs, but not get drawn to race so that's why they may miss the 5-7 day race return they are always free galloping 3 times a week. Then once they have generally assessed those couple of things they will then look at Time thresolds you generally get a idea when you look down a formline such as mine the upper performance thresolds two or three runs are similar time, then another group etc they look at placings 1 or first should always be the better times, so on thru the placings, if a runner ran 4th and it was its best time, it would have to have been in a Final or a much better class of race , in those cases, a run like that gets looked at thru video and then the other placing get interrogated. This should help a bit. if your using averages it has to be inconjunction with standard deviation otherwise its useless
For me looking at this formline not knowing track/Dog etc, i look at all the raw time wins, which makes it about a 28.80 dog the 28.58 is an outlier, i look at its splits for the outlier and then look at all other similar splits and then look at what times it ran in those other races, sometimes are very clear very fast time is actually they clocked the Lure and not the dog , that would be my eyeball test
The Hare
Mare
Hi Grant thanks for all your excellent input and ideas on here and the HK thread.
I saw the reply to your earlier mention of yards. The greyhound racing here is so far advanced on horse racing with metric measurements! Never gets mentioned that might be away to save horse racing from it's decline over here as surely youngsters understand metres here? But then again not done anything to stop the decline of greyhound racing!
The handicap races are mostly a northern thing in Greyhound racing in the UK. In the past it was a hotbed of flapping tracks, people owning rtheir own dogs and keeping them at home or a few small scale trainers. THat has all gone with the tighter regulations and the last flapping track in England closed maybe 10 years ago now. Scotland did have one but that is stopped with their ban if greyhound racing. Wales turned theirs into a proper licensed track - The Calley - a coupple of years ago but now fighting to stave off a ban in Wales, brought about by an MP agreeing to cote for it if her party could have some say in a coalition.
So at Sunderland the hare is outside as all UK, think they all inside in Australia? The dog marked SCR is the back marker and the trap is placed closest to the hare rail and runs the full 450 metres at Sunderland. The marks are then in metres so sat R8 receives 8 metres or run only 442m. The column you are asking about is something I entered to adjust the times. The recorded times are usually the actual finish time and the figures 0,0.08,0.16 I added on depending on the receiving mark. Sp 1.04 is 1.04 seconds added on to the finishing time for a dog receiving 13 metres head start, 1.20 for 15 metres.
I do Sunderland mostly as I live there and in the golden days of the 1980's it was great for betting, at one time when it opened as a licensed track there were 8 bookmakers and it was always packed. But it was a tough game for the bookamkers to make a living or even a profit at it. The numbers dwindles and then the greed of the bookmaking chains and the gradual ramping up of afternoon meetings and later morning and breakfast(!) meetings at some tracks saw people dwindle away as they could only get to some meetings. When the afternoons first started they were well attended but numbers dindlles.
Obviously there were other factors in that, mostly Betfair and the internet bringing bookmaking to the home. Track bookmaking is limited now and prices can't compete with the limited turnover on Betfair.
The loss of live Sky TV coverage for big events wand then the closure of Racing Post Greyhound TV channel have left coverage limited tp At The Races and then mostly on the internet or red button on TV so it is not really in the vision of the population at large. Other than occasional coverage of people trying to ban it but even that gets little media coverage.
Sunderland is also a good track as quite tight and a big advantage for the early pace dogs. There are now very few races beyond 450 metres, maybe 4 or open races a month with occasional big open race competitions. THey ahve 12 race cards with maybe an average of 2 sprints a card which is pretty good compared to most UK tracks now that have a higher percentage of sprint races.
When I see things on Australian races it seems to be in a similar position ctowd wise?
The Hare
Mare
Yes T tacker all races are free to watch on Racing Post Greyhound Bet - well nearly all, as a way to stop the campaigners who want to have it banned they leave out races with fallers or injuries. At the Races has a greyhound channel throughout the day on their website which covers most UK tracks. There are a few that are on SIS but I don't know if you can watch those on the internet other than through bookmakers, some you need a bet with but William Hills usually show them in a seperate greyhound channel.Answer there is via Racing Post, Archive results.
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you should also look at the dates of races, if you go back to 30/06- 27/05 this is considered a change in base form, the dogs been injured over a few months in this period, so starts prior to 30/06 are ignored on a time basis but not its style of racing. its racing weight may have shown something those first four runs back from the spell as they are on the negative side , so it raced lower grade i assume ran slower times when resuming until i got fit again.
raw data for newcastle 2026
this is what my ratings program came up with for 2026 newcastle, be very interested to see how you evaluate what my program Has done if you have the time W woof43, the ratings are called NATIONAL as they are supposed to be calibrated with other tracks nationally
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pete
Sire
You can
They cover Harlow, Doncaster, Pelaw and Valley .. then a few of the irish tracks too.
SIS Racing
SIS greyhound racing news and live streaming. Every race, live, every day
www.sisracing.tv
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Greyhound grading is one of the most important jobs in greyhound racing. A grader's role is to place dogs into races where all the runners have a similar level of ability, creating competitive and fair contests.
Typically, graders look at factors such as:
The job is not simply about matching the fastest dogs together. A skilled grader tries to produce races where each runner has a realistic chance, while also considering trap positions and running patterns. For example, putting several dogs that all move sharply towards the rail into adjacent traps can increase interference during a race.
Graders often face criticism because owners and trainers may feel their dogs have been placed too high or too low. However, a good grader's success is usually measured by:
Are you interested in the practical side of how a grader decides whether to move a greyhound up or down the grades after a specific race?
Typically, graders look at factors such as:
- Recent race times
- Finishing positions
- Track conditions
- Racing style (early pace, strong finisher, etc.)
- Consistency of performance
- Whether a dog is improving, declining, or returning from a break
The job is not simply about matching the fastest dogs together. A skilled grader tries to produce races where each runner has a realistic chance, while also considering trap positions and running patterns. For example, putting several dogs that all move sharply towards the rail into adjacent traps can increase interference during a race.
Graders often face criticism because owners and trainers may feel their dogs have been placed too high or too low. However, a good grader's success is usually measured by:
- Competitive finishes
- A healthy spread of winners
- Fair opportunities for dogs of different abilities
- Maintaining betting integrity and public confidence
Are you interested in the practical side of how a grader decides whether to move a greyhound up or down the grades after a specific race?
Mike here is Newcastle, 480 I have done all three distances will send the other shortly, the long distance only has one or two races so just left that out, machine hit a few dodgy pieces of data, I ran my eye over most columns, didn't apply any real hard and fast filters on the data, just left it so I could see the results, my Par Time would be 29.134
Yes, to a degree. Many people in greyhound racing would say that grading is about creating a "puzzle" for bettors, but not an impossible one.
The grader's primary responsibility is fairness, not gambling. However, if a grader did a poor job and one dog was obviously superior to the others, the race would be uncompetitive and often unattractive from a betting perspective.
A good graded race typically has:
Some experienced racing people describe the grader's job as trying to ensure that every dog has a chance, but no dog has a certainty. That is effectively the "puzzle" element of grading.
The grader's primary responsibility is fairness, not gambling. However, if a grader did a poor job and one dog was obviously superior to the others, the race would be uncompetitive and often unattractive from a betting perspective.
A good graded race typically has:
- Several genuine winning chances
- Dogs of similar ability
- Different running styles that could affect the outcome
- No overwhelmingly obvious favourite
- Which dog is best suited by the trap draw
- Whether a recent time accurately reflects ability
- How the pace of the race will develop
- Which dog is improving or declining
Some experienced racing people describe the grader's job as trying to ensure that every dog has a chance, but no dog has a certainty. That is effectively the "puzzle" element of grading.
Yes. While the exact percentage varies by track, distance and track layout, leading at the first bend is a major advantage in greyhound racing.
As a rough rule of thumb:
From a grading perspective, this is also where the "puzzle" comes in. A grader might have:
Many serious greyhound bettors have an old saying: "The race is often won at the bend and merely collected at the line." While not literally true in every race, there's a lot of truth in it.
As a rough rule of thumb:
- Around 50% to 70% of winners in standard graded races are often in front at the first bend.
- On some tracks where overtaking is difficult, the figure can be even higher.
- Sprint races tend to favour early leaders more than longer-distance races.
- Tracks with a long run-up to the first bend may allow stronger finishers more opportunity to recover from a slower start.
- Split times (the run to the winning line first time round or first sectional).
- Early pace comments.
- Trap draw and running lines.
From a grading perspective, this is also where the "puzzle" comes in. A grader might have:
- A very fast early-paced dog that may lead.
- A stronger-finishing dog that needs luck at the bend.
- Wide runners and railers whose paths may clash.
Many serious greyhound bettors have an old saying: "The race is often won at the bend and merely collected at the line." While not literally true in every race, there's a lot of truth in it.