The big thing is where do you begin? After you decide what race you should bet on, what runner do you bet on and what sort of bet do you take

The Race:

So you have to choose a race first. Whilst greyhound race meetings are held most days, generally better quality meetings are held on Thursday and Friday nights. Choose a meeting. All meetings are given a number, Auckland Greyhound Racing Club for example may be meeting 9, but in some media meeting numbers will be shown as Jetbet no.9. Jetbet is the TAB transaction computer where the numbers are held. Details of the races at a meeting are found in lists the TAB retail outlets, on the TAB pages of this site or on teletext.

The Greyhound:

Selecting a greyhound can be easy or involved, we will show you the easy ways and point you in the right direction to get more involved. The easy way is to select a favourite. The favourite is the greyhound most favoured by bettors and is showing the lowest price on the totalisator. You can find out who is the favourite by looking at the odds for the whole field on this site after clicking on the race you have selected.

WHAT INFORMATION CAN HELP YOU CHOOSE A WINNER?

Don't be discouraged by the apparently complicated numbers on the racing page of a newspaper or race book. We're going to give you a quick way to answer the ever-enticing question, "Who's going to win?"

Form

Form is simply information about a greyhound's past performances. You can use this information to work out which greyhound is most likely to win.

Distance of the race

Most greyhounds have an ideal range of distances over which they run, and a greyhound running significantly out of that range may not do himself/herself justice, through lack of stamina or lack of speed.

Track Conditions

Many greyhounds like to run in particular conditions depending on whether the track is firm or soft.

Box Draw

The box draw in greyhound racing is very important. This basically tells you the position from which the dog will leave the starting boxes. There are only ever a maximum of 8 starters in a greyhound race and Box 1 is the box that provides the most winners. Unlike the thoroughbred and harness codes however, the wider the box draw does not necessarily mean the greyhound is disadvantaged too much. In fact, Box 8 is one of the most prolific at providing winners.

Greyhound Weight

This relates to the last racing weight of the greyhound. This too is most important - so much so greyhounds are scratched (withdrawn from the race) if their weight varies too much from their last race weight.

The Trainer

This is the person who prepares the greyhound for racing purposes. There are both Public Trainers (who prepare greyhounds for other people) and Owner/Trainers (who train their own greyhounds).

The formguide (online)

There is the most comprehensive form on New Zealand racing available and it is just a click away. Just choose the race you want from the Race Form menu.

Teletext

Teletext is a great place to gather information to help you pick a winner. All TAB outlets have Teletext set up instore. They are usually set on the next race to be run at each meeting there is betting available on.The key pieces of information to look for on a Teletext page are

1. Win odds are shown in blue - shows how much the runners are paying to win per bet unit.

2. Runner number - you will need to use this number when placing your bet

3. Place odds are in blue - how much the runners are currently paying for a place bet per bet unit.

4. Name of the greyhound.

5. The favourite - will be indicated by the flashing line.

6. The name of the trainer.

Newspapers

Most metropolitan and daily newspapers have a Racing section in which they publish form. There are also specific racing publications such as Best Bets, Turf Digest and The Friday Flash which provide editorial, tips and more detailed form as well as the schedule for weekly race meetings.These can be a wealth of information once you can decipher the code!

At retail

Inside a retail store you will notice the walls are covered with racelists. These are like form guides and cover every race in every meeting that the NZ TAB is taking betting on. The information you'll find is ;

You may also find Tip Sheets up on the boards in retail. These provide comments/tips about some greyhounds in some races from an 'expert'.

Trackside

New Zealand's own racing channel, Trackside is free to air on SKY Discovery channel (airtimes are advertised on the TV pages of most daily newspapers.)Trackside screens most races that you can bet on and is a great way to check out the greyhounds in the flesh. Before most races the presenter will talk you through each greyhound in the race and will often tell you which greyhounds to look out for. Trackside also provides dividend and result information.So once you've picked your winner there is nothing better than being able to watch your greyhound fly down the home straight to victory - live on TV! To find out more about how to tune into Trackside call the Customer Service Centre on 0800 102 106.