Read Greyhound Racing Charts
Greyhound racing charts are designed to give the handicapper as much information as he can to aid his understanding of what happened in a race. The charts can be confusing to those not familiar with them, but with a little help they won't be all that difficult to decipher.
Instructions
1. Look for the number of the race, the distance at which the race was contested, and the track conditions on the very top line of the chart. This information is the same at almost every track. Remember that the distance is listed in yards as opposed to feet. The track condition will be F for fast or M for muddy.
2. Watch for the greyhounds’ names to be listed on the right side of the chart in the order that they finished. Following these names will be the weight each dog weighed right before the race when it was weighed in the paddock area.
3. Do not be overwhelmed by all of the numbers following each dog’s weight. There will be six numbers in a line for each animal. The first one is merely the post position the greyhound had--boxes 1 through 8. The next number following the post position is where the dog broke out of the starting box compared to the other dogs. A line that starts off reading 4 6 means that the dog was in the 4 hole and broke sixth from the box.
4. Realize that the next four numbers tell where the dog was in comparison to the others. The third number in the line, the one following the number indicating where the dog broke, is where the dog was at the call for the first turn. The next number is where the dog was at the far turn call, right before the stretch run. The fifth number is where the dog finished in the race, so looking down the chart it will always read 1 through 8 in order. The final number is the lengths behind the winner the dog was. The winner’s number will be the lengths he won by, so the first- and second-place dog will have identical numbers in this column. A line reading 4 6 5 3 1 1 means the dog broke from the 4 hole in sixth place, went to the first turn in fifth, was third at the far turn and won the race by one length.
5. To determine what time the dog ran, look at the next set of numbers. This will indicate in seconds how fast the greyhound ran the race. Every one will have a time listed, followed by a set of numbers that represent what the odds of the dog were to the dollar. The final information in the chart will be the chart writer’s comment on how the dog ran in the race. The chart writers are limited in the space they can use, so they will abbreviate many things. Scan the bottom of the charts for the mutual payoffs. The winning dog’s kennel, color, sex, birthday and parents will be listed followed by the win, place and show payoffs for the race. The exotics such as quinielas and trifectas will be underneath this data, completing the chart for that event.
Tags: chart will, first turn, Greyhound Racing, listed followed, next number