The Ladbrokes Mobile Arc is well and truely up our jacksie now, and we're only 9 days away from the first round. Excited? I know I am!
First of all, a quick round up of Wednesday's action. Biggest shocks for me on the night were the betting markets. They seemed a bit mad to say the least, though good for your wallet (so long as your on the winner, of course). Sids Dream, winner of the 509m event, opened up at 3/1, which completely flabbergasted me. How a dog who posted a 28.61 in trials opened up at that sort of price is crazy. It was duely backed down to 7/4, which in truth was the price I thought it would be on opening.
Then another turn out was Longwood Days. Now, just to give a quick recap, this dog has won the Sussex Cup at Hove, posted 29.50 runs for the 515m trip down there (which is very impressive), and then gets shunted out from 6/4 to 9/4. How did no one latch onto that great price! I don't want to sound harsh against Mercurial Star here, really don't, but you cannot ignore competition success vs. minor open success, there is no comparison.
A shout out here aswell, more a thank you really, for those trainers who travelled from around the country to be at Swindon Wednesday night. Was great seeing so many new faces turn up to the track. This is the joy of an OR competition such as the Arc. One other joy is seeing greyhounds who aren't trained by your Listers (excuse that one maybe), Allsopps or Cahills winning round Swindon in times that prove to be competition to the great hounds that the top trainers have. Provides a good battle I feel, and long may it continue.
Now, you can probably imagine that I'm going to be having sleepless nights about the trial session that is graced upon us on Tuesday (follow @SwindonRacing on twitter for trial times). I am buzzing for this trial session! Some fab dogs spinning round the track in view of the Arc, and if this is any indication of the entry that the main competition is going to have, then we are going to have not just the best Arc we've seen at Swindon, but arguably one of the most competitive Category Ones you'll see at any dog track this year.
I'll be posted an update up after the trials on Tuesday, and then one Thurs/Friday giving my low-down on the Arc draws, plus who I think will win the competition. If you want me to chat about anything on this blog, or have any views/comments, feel free to email us using the contact form on the website. I do appreciate feedback, good or bad!
Until Next Time!!
Chris,
Hi Chris.
ReplyDeleteEnjoying the blog. You were talking about 29.50 being a good time at Hove over the 515m trip. Is there an online source for equivalent or standard times for different dog tracks as there is in horse racing, so direct comparisons can be made?
There is quite a good bit of information available on the Belle Vue Owners Forum. You have to become a memeber, however in there is a thread comparing fast times at all tracks (including Irish times, good for learning good times are certain Irish tracks)
ReplyDeleteIt is good to be able to build up a knowledge base of tracks that are very similar to Swindon, in particular tracks like Hove, where there are alot of open races.
Another good thing to go on, although they haven't been updated very recently, is Greyhound Data ratings. On their website, against a greyhounds form, is a rating number. If a dog is posting times that are in the 100 region, then its a pretty handy time.
ReplyDeleteAgain though, a word of caution, it is advisable to build up some form of knowledge base of particular tracks. For example, Romford's 575m trip is run very often, and you'll see dogs dipping into the 35.-- times quite frequently, which would give dogs 100+ ratings. If those sort of times are being done often, it doesn't make them that special. Again, just keep your eye on it!
Many thanks
ReplyDeleteMJ