1 - Race Grade
In this section, I mention the most famous greyhound races run in the United Kingdom and their associated race venues and compare Irish and English greyhound grades with American and Australian grades. I also explain how to best use 'Greyhound Predictor Software' to simulate dogs running that may have been raised or lowered in racing grade.
Please note: We now include some general information on greyhound racing speeds!
Grade of Race?
In the U.K. an 'Open Race' (greyhound raceform statistic OR) represents the highest standard of racing grades.
In American dog racing all top class races are known as RSA's or SA's (Racing Secretaries A Class) seen at special race meetings like the 'Night of the Stars'.
In Australia the very best dog races are classified as 'Group Races' and are generally referred to as FFA's (Free For All's).
Greyhound Predictor v2.0 lets you predict dog races run over all standards of 'middle-distance' race grades!
UK Open Racing
Major Events and Race Venues:
Out of all the Category 1 greyhound classics run annually, the English Greyhound Derby (Wimbledon) first held at the White City Stadium, London in 1927 - won in 2007 by Westmead Lord and completing a hat trick of classic wins for UK greyhound trainer and breeder Nick Savva - and the Irish Greyhound Derby (Shelbourne Park, Dublin) first run in 1934, are respectfully still considered today, the two most important races that all uk trainers and owners want to win.
Other National 'dog derbies' held in the British Isles include the Scottish Derby (Shawfield) first held at Carntyne, Glasgow in 1928 and the recently re-instated Welsh Derby (Swansea) first run in 1928 at the old White City, Cardiff.
Famous British greyhound events include the English St Ledger (originally run in 1928 at the old Wembley Stadium), The Grand National and The Oaks (Wimbledon), Irish St Ledger (Limerick), Irish Cesarewitch (Mullingar), Irish Guineas (Waterford), The Arc, Grand Prix and Racing Post Festival (Walthamstow), Gold Collar run at Belle Vue, Manchester over the new 590m distance - formerly staged at the now demolished Catford Stadium, London. - Blue Riband and Prestige (Hall Green), Scurry Gold Cup (Perry Barr), The Champion Stakes (Romford), The Eclipse, National Sprint (Nottingham), The Cesarewitch (Oxford), Irish Champion Stakes, 600, Tote Gold Cup and Easter Cup (Shelbourne Park), Irish Laurels (Cork), Irish National Sprint, Cox Cup (Newbridge), Tipperary Cup (Thurles), Reading Masters (Reading), Golden Jacket, (Crayford), All England Cup (Brough Park), The Olympic, Regency, Sussex Cup (Hove) and this years inaugaral running of the new 2007 'Classic' run at (Sunderland) etc.
Other famous races in the UK include: The Cock o' the North (Belle Vue), The Boxing Day Marathon (Oxford), The Fret Not Stakes and Dorando Marathon run on dog derby night at Wimbledon Stadium, London. This years T.V. Trophy will be run for the very first time at Doncaster.
International Greyhound Events staged annually include the Anglo-Irish International (Dundalk), Festival of Racing (Lifford), Galway Festival (Galway) and occasional American-Irish Challenges.
Special race meetings also take place like the annual Trainers Championship (TC) held this year at Wimbledon greyhound stadium on March 18th 2008 and won by Walthamstow greyhound trainer Seamus Cahill. Other types of 'Invitational races' (IR's) include The Select Stakes (Nottingham), Dransfield Invitation (Sheffield) and the odd Showdown (Match Racing).
Minor Open Events
Important UK Open Class races (OR's) include: Northern Flat, Gorton Cup (Belle Vue), Midland Flat (Hall Green), East Anglian Derby (Yarmouth), Kent Derby, Silver Salver (Sittingbourne), Peterborough Derby (Peterborough), Circuit, Silver Collar, Test (Walthamstow), Guy's and Dolls, Kent St Ledger (Crayford), St Mungo Cup (Shawfield), Corn Cuchulainn (Harolds Cross), Birmingham Cup (Perry Barr), Brighton Belle (Hove), Coronation Cup, Essex Vase and Golden Sprint (Romford), Golden Jubilee 509, Pride of the West (Swindon), Pall Mall, Trafalgar Cup, Oxfordshire Gold Cup (Oxford), National Oaks (Nottingham), Regal Gold Cup (Sunderland), Northumberland Plate (Brough Park), Summer Derby (Coventry), Peterborough Derby, Fengate Collar (Peterborough), Golden Muzzle (Portsmouth), Golden Crest (Poole), Henlow Derby (Henlow), Steel City Cup and Yorkshire Oaks (Sheffield), Yorkshire St Ledger (Doncaster), Midland Gold Cup (Monmore Green) and many other 'one offs' and minor cup and trophy events.
There are also 'opens' for both Puppies and Veterans. These races are always preceded in the formlines by a standard race prefix ie: (P) = puppy races and (V) = veteran races.
UK puppy open races include: The English Puppy Derby and Juvenile (Wimbledon), Irish Puppy Derby (Harolds Cross), Puppy Oaks (Shelbourne Park), Irish Produce Stakes (Clonmel), Juvenile Classic (Tralee), Puppy Cup (Romford), Puppy Classic (Nottingham), 58th T-Y-O Produce Stakes (Swindon), UK Graphite Puppy Derby (Walthamstow), Puppy Derby and Cesarewitch (Peterborough), Northern Puppy Derby (Sunderland), Midland Puppy Derby (Monmore), Manchester Puppy Cup (Belle Vue), Breeders Forum Produce Stakes and Gymcrack Puppy Championship (Hall Green) etc. Veteran races include the famous Senior's Derby (Peterborough).
Other standard race prefixes that always precede the race grading and indicate to the type of greyhound race include:- (H) = Hurdle Races and (CH) = Chase Races (two extra hurdles are added).
Famous UK hurdle races include the English Grand National originally run in 1927 at the White City Stadium (London), Springbox, Champion Hurdle, Sherrys Prince Hurdles (Wimbledon), Irish Grand National (Harold's Cross), Christmas Hurdle (Oxford) etc.
All 'Open Class' greyhound competitions attract the very best quality of dogs and bitches and represent the best UK standard of dog racing class.
Greyhound Racing Speeds
The very best of these 'canine racing machines' are capable of producing greyhound speeds close to 40 mph / 65 km/ph! Although, the very fastest dog racing speeds may only be achievable on first class greyhound circuits (galloping tracks) with big track circumferences, long racing straights and wide sweeping cambered bends!
The fastest greyhound time recorded over a race distance of 515 metres or 563 yards is 28.88 secs by the Australian "wonder dog" Brett Lee trained by Darren Mcdonald from Peacedale (Victoria) in the final of the Adelaide Cup, a Group 1 race held at Angle Park (25/01/01), South Australia, (track circumference 457 metres) this represents an average racing speed around the track of 39.87 miles per hour!
Alternatively, the fastest time achieved over a race distance of 480 metres or 525 yards was recently recorded (08/09/07) in the U.K. at Monmore Green near Wolverhampton in the midlands (track circumference 419 metres) and is 27.81 secs by Blonde Dino trained by John Mullins (Unattached). This represents an average speed around a track of 38.60 mph!
The equivalent Irish national record for 525 yards or 480 metres was recently set by Catunda Harry trained by Owen Mckenna, who became the first greyhound to dip under 28 seconds on an Irish track, when recording 27.99 seconds in a heat of the Ballygodoon stud Puppy Stakes run at Limerick 17/06/07.
However, bursts of top greyhound acceleration speeds along the straights close to 45 miles per hour / 72 km/h have also reportedly been achieved.
Graded Racing
The vast majority of dog races run at greyhound tracks worldwide are known as 'graded races' and for the benefit of the 'Predictor' are divided into 3 middle-distance race grade categories:-
U.K. - Top Grade - (A1 - A3) equilavent to American grades (A, AA, B) and Australian greyhound racing grades (1, 2). Many of these top grade dogs will also compete in major race events and generally average race speeds around a track between 38-39 mph.
U.K. - Middle Grade - (A4 - A6) equilavent to American greyhound grades (C, D) and Australian dog grades (3, 3/4, 4). Many of these so called average middle-graded dogs, that regularly run at some of the very best greyhound tracks may often be the equal of 'A1' graded dogs running at perhaps lesser not so good tracks. These racing hounds 'average greyhound speeds' around a track between 37-38 mph.
U.K. - Low Grade - (A7 - A11) equilavent to American dog grades (E, F, and Maidens) and Australian grades (4/5, 5 and Maidens). Most dogs begin or finish their racing career's in these the lowest race grades. Most runners competing in low grade races generally record dog speeds between 35-37 mph.
There are also other types of racing grades that may take place during a race meeting, these dog grade statistics are always represented in the race formlines by a standard greyhound racing prefix, eg: (KC) = Kennel Championships, (KS) = Kennel Sweepstakes, (TC) = Trainer's Championships, (IT) = Intertrack Racing, (Hcp) = Handicap Racing and the very occasional (QS) = Quickstakes (2 or 3 semi-finals take place with the race final being held at the same dog meeting.)
Knowing the grade of a greyhound race is extremely important to all 'dog racing enthusiasts' as it estimates the expected level of racing performance and therefore implies the general race standard. I personally consider a greyhound's current race grade will no doubt reflect past race performances and should be relative to each dog's previously recorded racetimes!
All 'dog gamblers' when studying graded race form, will constantly be asking themselves, the same age old question, as whether to back (or include in combinations) a good dog 'lowered in class' running badly? or to back a not so good dog 'raised in class' running well?
"If only I had a crystal ball" I hear you say!!
This is just one of the many decisions that face all 'greyhound punters' around the world, when trying to predict the future outcomes of tightly graded dog races.
I personally think, successfully predicting 'graded races' (GR's) will invariably be more challenging than predicting (OR's) as generally 'the grader' grades the races very closely, according to each dog's individual racing ability with only very small differences in racetimes to choose between the runners.
To obtain the best results from the 'Predictor' I suggest, you choose the very best dog races to predict, such as UK Open Races, American SA's or Australian FFA's, as the dogs competing in these, the highest standard of greyhound racing grades, are not only considered perhaps more consistent in overall race performances, but more importantly, the 'open race grade' allows dogs to compete against other 'canine competitors' with much greater differences in racing ability, this can be especially noticeable during the early rounds of dog competitions and therefore theoretically makes the 'open race grade' more predictable than the graded race, although unfortunately for all 'racing punters' these differences in the standards of the dogs, will always no doubt be reflected in the individual prices quoted as the odds of a greyhound race!
For those 'well informed dog enthusiasts' and already registered Greyhound Predictors who may wish to simulate dogs racing that may have been 'raised in class' or 'lowered in grade', then I suggest, the best way to represent a change in race grade, would be to alter a dog's best time! For example, if you consider a certain dog is 'raised in grade' or 'upped in class' (ie: for winning races or running well) then perhaps you should add on time ie: approximately 0.10 or 0.15 seconds to that dogs fastest time, as any greyhound now competing against marginally better class dogs, will theoretically have less chance of performing well when racing against dogs of a 'higher class' or 'better standard', therefore up-graded dogs are perhaps less likely to obtain the necessary trouble free or clear run in a race, in order to reproduce their very fastest or best racetimes. Although, sometimes to the contrary, certain 'strong improving greyhounds' may actually appreciate a quicker overall travelling speed throughout a race and will be towed along in the 'faster slipstreams' of other initially quicker racing dogs and will despite an up-lift in racing grade, continue to produce and perhaps even improve on their fastest or best racing times. For further information on entering racetimes, please see racetimes section.
Alternatively, if you wished to simulate greyhounds 'lowered in grade' or 'dropped in class' (ie: for losing races or running badly) then surprisingly perhaps you may need to deduct approximately 0.10 or 0.15 secs. from a greyhound's fastest/best racetime, as all dogs raced recently at a higher standard of race will theoretically when 'lowered in class' or 'dropped in race grade' have a better chance of performing well, when running against perhaps lesser rivals with fractionally slower overall race and sectional times, therefore downgraded dogs are often afforded more 'racing room' in a lower graded race, to achieve and perhaps even improve on their fastest/best racing times, and indeed yes, you may take off an appropriate amount of race-time from a dog's best racing time, that you consider will best simulate greyhounds racing around the track that have been dropped or lowered in racing grade.
I'd also like to mention in the interests of the 'Science of Greyhound Racing Prediction' that since the dogs themselves, remain blissfully unaware of the 'racing class' or 'dog grade' they are currently racing in or have previously competed at, you may wish therefore to simulate this by perhaps leaving the fastest/best time of a greyhound as it is, the choice is always yours!
Now check the racing formlines in your newspaper.
The greyhound statistic informing you the grade of a dog race is usually located to the left of the race length which is usually found in the top right corner of each race heading.
Now select grade category and press spacebar to enter.
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