Greyhound Handicapping With Eb

If you want to sharpen your handicapping skills, here’s a good way to do it. For several programs, maybe over a couple of weeks, just focus on one grade. It doesn’t matter which grade you pick, although the top grades are probably easier to handicap. The point is to only do one thing until you can do it very well.

If you do this for long enough, you’ll get to know the dogs that run in that grade. You’ll know which post position they prefer, where they run and which dogs they can beat. After a while, you’ll be able to see how the race is going to play out and who will be where at each point in the contest.

This narrow focus can turn a so-so handicapper into a very, very good one for that grade. And, when you have one grade mastered, why not move to another grade? Do the same thing. Focus only on that grade for as long as it takes to master handicapping it.

You can also do this with types of races – routes, for instance. Because there are fewer routes, it’s not hard to get to know the dogs that run them. You’ll learn which dogs come back to win in routes, after a “refresher” race in sprints. This can put a lot of money in your pocket, believe me.

Most people find it hard to do this kind of thing, because they feel like they’re missing out on the other races. They don’t see the long-range value of concentrating on learning one grade, but it can be more rewarding than the short-term value of playing all the races on a program. That’s for sure.

When you play all the grades and all the races, you scatter your energy, your attention and your money too widely. When you zero-in on just one narrow type of race, it lets you handicap in much more depth and that depth is the difference between the average handicapper and the above-average one. It can also be the difference between making a profit and just breaking even – or even losing.

And, by the way, this technique also works at the harness and thoroughbred races. Pick just one grade of claiming race at one track – maybe Belmont. Or play only the races for fillies and mares who have never won more than 3 races. At the harness track, you might want to concentrate on trots for horses who have never won more than $5,000 or something similar.