Greyhound Handicapping With Sweet Repeaters

August 29th, 2013

A few months ago, I was doing some research into some litters of puppies that were starting to school in preparation for starting their careers. I always look at the schooling race results in the morning, in case there are any standouts that will be running in Maiden races soon.

One of the pups that did well in his first two schooling races was U Too Pure Silk, one of Charter Kennels's auction pups. I follow Charter via their newsletter and the NGA bulletin, so I knew that they thought that "Silky" as they called him, was going to be special. Apparently the crowd didn't get that memo, because in his first race, he went off at 10/1. I played him to win and he did.

Now, U Too Pure Silk is in the finals of the Bet America People's Choice Challenge at Southland and has won 16 out of 35 races. He's had a couple of slumps, like any greyhound will, but over the last few months, he's made me some good money, especially when he anchors a good quiniela or trifecta.

U Too Pure Silk is out of Kiowa Sweet Trey and U Too Silk. He had 8 litter mates, and 6 of them ran in official races. None of them was as good as he was, but they all hit the board. They weren't one of my best discoveries as far as litters go, but HE certainly was a find that made me money.

The thing is that I only have so much time to handicap. What with writing about racing and watching and playing the races, I barely have time to handicap one program a day and do it right. So, early every morning, I watch replays and check out schooling race results, because I've found that it's the best investment I can make, as far as time goes.

For the time I put in, I get back a lot more financially than I would going over more programs and playing more tracks. Picking a few good dogs and following them throughout their careers is the best way I've found to make money at the track. Of course, that's just what works for me.

Other handicappers really enjoy going over programs and are bored to tears watching replays or investigating schooling races in a search for standout pups. They do better finding angles and races where they think they can pick a couple of dogs to key on because of something they see in the program.

To me, the dogs I follow, including U Too Pure Silk, are like old friends after awhile. They're not all stakes quality, most of them aren't. Most are standouts in Grade M and maybe J and then go on to steady but not spectacular careers moving up and down the grade ladder. Some of them are "morning glories", dogs that do wonderfully in schooling races and then fizzle when they race for real on the track with money on them.

That's okay. We all know that winning at the track doesn't mean that we hit every bet we make. It's that we hit enough of our bets and we're right enough of the time to make a profit. That's what my Repeaters do. They win and show up in exotics enough to pay sweet rewards to the handicappers who find them early and play them when the race suits their running style.

If you want to find some of these promising pups, invest a little time in watching schooling races and/or reading the race results for your favorite track. You may find some that I miss and end up with a dog that goes off at 10/1 like U Too Pure Silk did, and then be able to follow that greyhound throughout its career as it wins repeatedly. It's one good way to make money at the greyhound track.