Greyhound Handicapping - When to Bet Wide Runners

"He runs as wide as your house."

"That dog ran so wide, he was out in the parking lot on the turns."

You've heard disgruntled bettors complaining about dogs that don't hug the curves or run inside. Everyone knows that dogs that run way outside the other dogs have more distance to make up, especially on turns, so they're not a good bet.

Well, at least that's the common theory. I agree that dogs that go way out on turns aren't the best bet in the world, unless they're in a race with vastly inferior, slower dogs. Then, if they're really good runners, they can make up the distance and the time.

Usually though, it's the inside running dogs that have the advantage and are the best bet, as long as they won't run into interference from other dogs that run inside. But there is one type of dog that runs wide and wins.

You'll find this type of dog in the top grades. Unlike a lot of dogs that run to the far right of the track, this dog doesn't prefer the outside posts. It's what I call a zig-zagger. It likes to start from an inside post and then veers sharply right across the track until it's on the extreme outside.

As long as these dogs have very good starting speed and can outbreak the other dogs in the race, they'll run in the money. And you can often get good odds on them, because other bettors don't realize what they are.

They see the dog's lines all saying "outside" and "wide" and they see that the dog is in the 1 or 2 box and they think, "Well, that dog will never come in." They don't bet the dog and then when it wins, they think it's just a fluke. It's only the people who really follow the dogs and watch the races who realize that the dog does this all the time.

Look for these dogs and then carefully handicap the race with a good handicapping system to make sure that the other dogs won't get out there first and spoil the scenario. You might even want to keep a list of these dogs for future reference and also look for their names in the list of entries online at your favorite track.