The Dogs – it's the Dog's b*ll*cks

There’s something good fun about dog races. If you want something a bit rougher round the edges than horse racing look no further than greyhounds. These sleek animals can reach amazing speeds of almost 40 mph, and each race you’re hoping it’s your dog that get’s its boosters on.  If Bournemouth is your choice of location for the weekend you’re in for a treat with the stadium we use. With race nights Tuesday, Friday and Saturday it makes for a good evening on a stag do.

With beer and food and some adrenaline racing even if you’re not a gambling man you can soak up the atmosphere and the ale in the stadium with your group. You can opt to have a full sit down meal and watch the races from the gallery. This can work quite well as in addition to a great view, you can also have your bets taken directly from the table. All you need to do is sit and wait for your food, your dink, and your good luck charm.

Let’s say you are interested in having a flutter. If you’ve never been the terminology and traditions can be a bit confusing so we’ve stripped it down and made it simple. Here are some basic things you need to know about greyhound racing.

Normally you have six racing dogs released from individual traps at the same time to chase a “lure” which typically looks like a hare or a rabbit (it’s fake – stop crying). They race this until they reach the finish line and the first nose over is the winner. You are looking to find the winner or order of dogs through to wage your money on and hopefully win.

Once you’ve skimmed through the racing guide and picked the ones with the daftest names you need to know what bets to ask for. Here are some of the main choices.

Place

You pick a dog to come in either first or second

Place / Win

Here, you are betting for a win and a place, which means if your dog wins the race you collect two payments. One for the win and one for the bet.

Win

Here you’re looking to pick one dog to win

Straight Forecast

You usually either pick 2 or 3 dogs to come in, in a particular order. i.e. dog 1 first, then dog 2, then dog 3. If they come in, in any other order (i.e. 231), you lose. If one of these comes in though the pay out is usually pretty high.

Reverse forecast

Here you normally pick 2-3 dogs to be in either the top 2 or top 3. For example, if you pick 1 and 2 on a reverse forecast, they can cross the finish line in any order and you still win.

There are some other funky combinations and trio combinations but those should get you started on your path to betting at the dogs. Good luck!