2017 Greyhound Racing – A Year In Review

As January is coming to end in the 2018 year, we are looking back at everything really greyt from 2017. Let’s take a journey through those moments in greyhound racing and at Greyhound Channel as we reflect on 2017.

January, 2017: Winner, a retired racer, was officially adopted and added to the Greyhound Channel family, joining Bandit and Inc.

January, 2017: Our Contest of Champions returned, including all the “champions” of our handicapping Track of the Week contest from 2016. Brett U. won, crowning him as our handicapping champion for 2016.

February 19th, 2017: Derby Lane held their Mutt Derby where pups of all breeds were allowed to race on Derby Lane’s track. Greyhounds were excluded from the races to keep it fair. Owners of the pups in attendance and Derby Lane staff had a blast watching all sorts of different dogs run the length of the track. Proceeds from the event, totalling $11,000, was raised for Greyhound Pets of America, a nonprofit greyhound adoption organization.

February 19th, 2017: Palm Beach hosted their fourth annual fundraiser “Out of the Ordinary Into the Extraordinary,” a comedy event full of laughter. All proceeds from the event went to Forever Greyhounds, a nonprofit greyhound adoption organization that matches retired racers to homes in the US and Canada.

March 17th, 2017: The National Greyhound Association announced their 2016 Rural Rube and Flashy Sir awards with both awards going to amazing greyhounds racing at Southland Greyhound Park. The 2016 Rural Rube award went to sprinter Oaks Maddy (Pat C Clement – Oaks Gem Brandy), racing for Gloria Dorsey Kennel and owned by Mick Hymes. Distance racer Show On The Road (KC And All – Closin In Onawin) was honored with the 2016 Flashy Sir award, racing for Plum Creek Kennel and owned by David Robinette.

March 27th, 2017: American Greyhound Track Operators Association announced the 2016 All-America Team members. Heading up the team was bestbet’s Seldom Told as the team’s captain. The rest of the 2016 team members included Southland’s Oaks Maddy, Jacksonville’s Need My Moneynow, Southland’s Oshkosh Kid, Derby Lane’s Oya Stan The Man, Derby Lane’s Husker Magic, Wheeling’s Kinda Cruel Red, and Southland’s Boc’s Tony Romo. The 2016 second team consisted of Southland’s Chasmo’s Dutch, Naples-Fort Myers’ Martha Maccullum, Naples-Fort Myers’ Mike Huckabee, Palm Beach’s Ethel Is Here, Naples-Fort Myers’ Joeslittlepebble, Wheeling’s Varoom Esme, Derby Lane’s Lego Andrew, and Mega Revelation.

April 24th – April 29th, 2017: NGA’s Spring Meet took place with over 300 greyhounds and more than 70 races over the course of the event, 130 of which were sold from consignment during the auctions. The meet recognized and celebrated William O’Donnell’s achievements within the greyhound community by awarding him the National Greyhound Association Lifetime Achievement Award during the Greyhound Hall of Fame awards ceremony on April 27th. Two Greyhound Hall of Fame scholarships were also awarded to Myranda Patrick, a resident of Abilene, and Adam Abrams-Flohr from Colorado.

July 15th, 2017: The NGA announced the 2017 Hall of Fame inductees for their Fall Meet. Three great greyhounds, Izz A Champ, Wayside Carol, and Dodgem By Design, as well as racing legend Jack Kahn were announced as the Hall of Fame inductees for the Fall ceremonies held in October in Abilene, KS.

September 9th – September 10th, 2017: The Women of Greyhound Racing annual Facebook auction took place with $3,000 of the proceeds going to The Kansas Greyhound Association for the fight to re-open tracks in Kansas, as well as $3,300 that was given to the Florida Hospital Foundation, specifically for the Eden Spa at the Orlando Hospital location. Eden Spa is the only spa in central Florida with specialty services specifically for cancer patients, including hair enhancements, wigs, headwear, mastectomy and post surgical bras, and forms for women undergoing surgery. Eden also offers outpatient lymphadema massage therapy, ready-to-wear and custom compression garments. From jewelry to breeding to dog accessories, the Facebook auction provided an array of items for everyone as a wonderful way to help support these greyt organizations.

October 14th, 2017: The National Greyhound Association (NGA) concluded their 2017 Fall Meet, which included stakes races of greyhounds up for auction at the meet, Hall of Fame inductions, and a Pup Giveaway. 254 greyhounds were up for auction and raced in the stakes. 11 stakes took place during the meet with organizations as sponsors. Greyhound Channel was happy to sponsor a race, which was won by JT’s Blindnspeed.

Photo provided by Gulf Greyhound Park

December 27th, 2017: Gulf Greyhound Park returned for a 2017/2018 season of live greyhound racing, after ceasing racing for two years. Live racing will continue through February 24, 2018.

2017 brought a lot of greyt greyhound racing action and memorable moments to Greyhound Channel. We would like to thank all of our wonderful readers and customers. Without you, we wouldn’t be able to do what we love. We hope you have a wonderful 2018.

This Week With The Professor: Value

A major factor in whether or not you are going to be successful in wagering on greyhounds is getting value for your money. Just having the knowledge of handicapping and being able to pick winners is only half the battle. Getting value for your your wagering dollar is knowing what pools to invest in, depending on the size of your bankroll. If you are a small bettor and have a limited bankroll, I would advise betting into Win and Quinella pools. Dime supers may also be a good play, but don’t bet too much of your money on pools that are more difficult to hit. You will notice I did not mention place and show pools, as they are not good value plays for a serious bettor. The expression is “show pools are for tourists.”

If you have a midsize bankroll, I would advise playing in Win, Quinella, or Exacta pools. You may be able to dip into some Trifecta, or Pick wagers, but keeping your money working for you is important, and going out on a limb trying to hit the big payoff can cause you to run out of cash earlier. If you are lucky enough to have a sizable bankroll, you can dabble into the more exotic wagers without fear of running out of money, and of course have a better chance of winning.

Regardless of which category you are in, the important thing to remember is that you want to get at least a 3-1 return on any race that you wager on. If you have wagered on a race and cannot see a scenario where you get at least that much of a return, then you have not made a wise investment.

Do you have a question for The Professor? Leave a comment below and you could receive a $2 wagering credit to your Greyhound Channel account if your question is featured! Tune into our podcast, Catch the Action with Greyhound Channel, for news and more greyt tips from The Professor.

Contest of Champions

One of our oldest and most popular promotions is our Track of the Week contest. A FREE weekly handicapping contest set at a designated track each Saturday, where account holders have the opportunity to win up to $200. What’s not to love? The second through fifth place finishers recently started earning contest points that can be redeemed for wagering credit or GHC merchandise, making it even more rewarding.

The Professor’s Contest of Champions consists of all of the Track of the Week contest winners throughout the year. It’s separate from the Track of the Week contest, and first place is awarded champion of the year and receives $250 in wagering credit. Last year’s 2016 champion was Brett U, who beat out 30 participants for the title.

Our 2017 edition will take place at Derby Lane on Saturday, January 27th. All eligible account holders will be notified via the e-mail address on file for their Greyhound Channel account, so keep your eyes peeled for more details to hit your inbox if you won our Track of the Week contest last year. This year, the second through fifth place finishers will also receive contest points, as well as track merchandise courtesy of Derby Lane.

Increase your chances to cash in and qualify for our Contest of Champions by playing our Track of the Week contest every Saturday. You can’t win if you don’t play!

This Week With The Professor: Cancellations

With all of the inclement weather happening across the country, I thought it might be a good time to discuss what happens when a program is cancelled by the track.

This is how the programs are determined: The trainer will decide which greyhounds go on his “active list” and enters those greyhounds as eligible to run. Some tracks may limit the size of the active list for each kennel. The racing secretary then determines how many eligible greyhounds are available and then decides what grades and distances to put on the program, with higher grade dogs getting preference. He or she then draws for each race, by random draw, from eligible greyhounds, with the only other criteria being the date preference. He or she can make up a “hot box” race if he or she wishes, on occasion.

With greyhound tracks, the procedure for a one day cancellation is normally to just bump the programs up a day and run the scheduled program for the cancelled day on the next day. It is possible that the track may choose to move that program to the end of the sequence instead. Ex: The track is cancelling their Wednesday Evening program and they have programs scheduled through Friday. They may choose to run that cancelled program on Saturday. Once a program is drawn, the track’s preference is to run that program. Thoroughbred tracks have a totally different way of making up races. The racing secretary makes up a condition book (conditions of each race, by class, distance, eligibility, etc.) for each race before the meet starts. The owner or trainer then determines which horses they wish to enter for that race. This means that when a program is cancelled, the condition book for that day’s races is void and the horses are then eligible to run on a different day, as determined by the owner or trainer.

Do you have a question for The Professor? Leave a comment below and you could receive a $2 wagering credit to your Greyhound Channel account if your question is featured! Tune into our podcast, Catch the Action with Greyhound Channel, for news and more greyt tips from The Professor.