Greyhound Racing Betting Sites

Greyhound racing has been one of the most popular sports to bet in the UK for a number of years now. In fact, it rivals that of horse racing in terms of the coverage the sport gets. These days the sport isn’t as popular as once was, but it still pulls in a large number of punters to bet on races from around the world.

Just a couple of minutes on any of the larger bookmakers will show you just how popular it is, with a number of them ranking it as one of their biggest sports. Even thought the reported popularity of greyhound has diminished, its been the bookmakers who have been a part of the figure heads to revive the sport for their punters. It’s not uncommon to see bookmaker sponsoring races and there are some which actually sponsor the whole race track.

What we’ve found is that greyhound racing to bookmakers seems to be a bit more of a condensed version of horse racing. Everything from coverage, betting markets, promotions, stats and even live streaming is good, but not quite up to that of horse racing.

Best Greyhound Racing Betting Sites

How to Bet on Greyhound Racing

Greyhound racing has always lived in the shadow of horse racing somewhat and to be honest, it likely always will. But that doesn’t mean to say that there is not enough action to get teeth stuck into, in fact far from it. There are literally races every day of the week, although the quality of these races will vary somewhat.

One thing that reviewing the bookmakers we have to find the best bookmakers for greyhound racing was just how limited the information is on there for the casual bettor. For example, football and horse racing will generally have huge statistics sections and form guides to help you select which bets might be most valuable. On top of that some even get ex-professionals to blog about bets and just generally give the sports a boatload of coverage meaning punters need not look elsewhere for their research.

Greyhound raving works a little differently to all that, in that you need to put the work in to get the results you are after. There are however, plenty of resources online to get betting tips and race information. In fact, if you already bet on horse racing and use something like the Racing Post, then these guys are about as good as you are going to find.

Betting Markets

One of the downsides to betting on greyhounds is that the number of betting markets on offer are severely limited, especially in comparison to the likes of football or even horse racing for that matter. Whilst this undoubtedly has its drawbacks, there are positives to it meaning you can concentrate on just a few markets to find value. Sometimes even we will admit having over 100 markets to bet on for each football match can get slightly overwhelming.

Outright Winner

The main and most obvious market is that of betting on the outright winner. It’s very simple in that you simply back the dog that you think will win. If your dog finishes anywhere but first, then you lose. A link to this market is each way betting. This splits your bet into two and you have half of your stake on the win and the over half on the dog to place at a fraction of the starting odds. It’s pretty common to see that most bookmakers will pay out first and second as places at ¼ the odds.

Forecast Betting

Forecast betting is something has had a bit of a revival within the industry and it’s now a pretty common betting market for most bookmakers. This requires you to pick the dog, which you think will finish first and then the dog that you think will finish second. As an extension to this you can bet on a tricast that means you need to correctly select 1st, 2nd and 3rd to win.

Banker Bet

Some bookmakers include a banker bet that means you select the dog you think will finish first and then any dog to finish second. The combination bet allows you to select two dogs to finish either first or second without specifying a position for each.

Greyhound Racing Betting Rules

As with any sport, there are a number of rules in which you need familiarise yourself with when it comes to greyhound racing. One thing we will say is that each bookmaker will likely differ in the rules that are set out. It’s for this reason why if you have a query we recommend contacting the bookmaker directly and simply use the rules below as a general guide.

Betting on the Trap

The first thing to consider is that for the majority of bets you are betting on the trap, rather than the dog. This means that whatever dog is represented in that trap will be your bet. If the dog is replaced at the last minute then your bet will carry over to that dog, unless you decide to void your bet and your money will be returned.

Rule 4

Rule 4 is something that also is used in greyhound racing along with horse racing. It’s been put in place to allow bookmakers to alter the odds should a dog be removed from that race at the last minute. If for example the 2/1 favorite withdraws then the next best dog, originally priced at 5/1, will then be cut, because it wont reflect on the rest of the field fairly. This is a mathematical science in that depending on what starting price the dog was, will mean in an exact cut to a predetermined betting price.

Registered v Independent Courses

One of the biggest things to remember about greyhound racing is that it is essentially split into two different types: registered racing and independent racing. The former is the only one that we’re interested in, given that it means that the race is registered with the Greyhound Board of Great Britain. This means that the racing is regulated and that the events have to take place in accordance with the GBGB Rules of Racing. Those involved in the races also have to listen to the stewards, who are responsible for ensuring the standards for the welfare of the greyhounds.

No Requirement for Independent Race to Follow Rules

Independent racing, meanwhile, has no such requirement to stick to the rules and regulations that have been put in place by the GBGB. These ‘flapping’ courses, of which there are three, are ones to avoid. There is limited knowledge about the number of people involved in independent greyhound racing because there is no need for them to register with a central database. Equally, there is no guarantee around the welfare of the dogs that take part in flapping races, which is why we discourage all from thinking about independent races.

Independent Racing Stadiums to Avoid

The independent stadiums are Askern Stadium in Doncaster, Thornton Stadium in the Scottish village of Thornton and Valley Stadium in Wales. These are the venues to steer clear of, should you be invited to attend any of them in order to watch some greyhound racing at one point or another. It is only right that you avoid such venues, given the lack of transparency about any number of aspects of the way that they operate. The most important thing in any sport involving animals is how they’re treated and there are just no certainties on that front at flapping courses.

How Many Registered Courses Are There?

Now that we know to avoid independent race tracks, the obvious question to ask would be about how many registered tracks we get to choose from when thinking about attending a greyhound meeting. The good news is that there is plenty of choice, with 20 active tracks offering racing at the time of writing. There are no active tracks in either Scotland or Wales, whilst Northern Irish tracks are not the responsibility of the Greyhound Board of Great Britain and so do not count as something that we will look at for this section.

Here is a list of the tracks that are currently operating, including the area that they’re based and the main races that take place there during each of the greyhound racing seasons:

Race Track	Location	Main Races
Brighton & Hove Greyhound Stadium	Brighton & Hove	The Regency; Brighton Belle; Sussex Cup
Central Park Stadium	Sittingbourne	Grand National; Kent Derby; The Springbok
Crayford Stadium	London	Golden Jacket; Kent St. Leger; Crayford Vase
Doncaster Greyhound Stadium	Doncaster	Yorkshire St. Leger
Harlow Stadium	Harlow	None of Note
Henlow Stadium	Stondon	The Henlow Derby
Kinsley Greyhound Stadium	Kinsley	The Gymcrack
Monmore Green Stadium	Wolverhampton	Ladbrokes Gold Cup; Ladbrokes Puppy Derby; Trafalgar Cup
Newcastle Stadium	Newcastle-Upon-Tyne	Northern Flat; All-England Cup; Northern Puppy Derby
Nottingham Greyhound Stadium	Nottingham	Select Stakes; Puppy Classic; National Sprint
Oxford Stadium*	Oxford	None of Note
Owlerton Stadium	Sheffield	Steel City Cup; Northern Sprint; Ebor Stakes
Pelaw Grand Stadium	County Durham	None of Note
Perry Barr Stadium	Birmingham	St. Leger; Oaks; Birmingham Cup
Romford Greyhound Stadium	London	The Cesarewitch; Essex Vase; Champion Stakes
Mildenhall Stadium	Mildenhall	None Of Note
Sunderland Greyhound Stadium	Sunderland	Arena Racing Company Grand Prix; Arena Racing Company Classic
Swindon Stadium	Swindon	British Bred Produce Stakes
Towcester Greyhound Stadium	Towcester	English Greyhound Derby; Puppy Derby; The Oaks
Yarmouth Stadium	Caister-on-Sea	East Anglian Derby

As you can see, there are numerous different courses that you can attend to watch greyhound races in in a properly regulated manner. The one of note is Oxford Stadium, which is due to open in 2022 and is looking to ensure that it is seen as a multi-purpose venue moving forward. What is interesting is that there are numerous different races that are standout ones and allow some lesser-known stadiums to keep their heads above water thanks to ticket prices and the likes. The East Anglian Derby at Yarmouth Stadium is an excellent example of this.

The Greyhound Derby

When it comes to greyhound racing, there is no event that is bigger than the Greyhound Derby. When it was first run at White City Stadium in 1927, the participants qualified thanks to regional heats. Run over 500 yards, the first ever outing of the race was run by Entry Badge by a distance of six lengths. It was run over a longer distance the following year, then the 1929 and 1930 races were both won by the same dog: Mick The Miller. The race was then suspended in 1941 because of the Second World War.

Patricias Hope

When it resumed after the end of the war, it began a period of general stability for greyhound racing. Indeed, the next thing of particular note to happen in the Greyhound Derby was the back-to-back wins for Patricias Hope in 1972 and 1973, which was just the second time that a dog had won successive races. Not only that, but Patricias Hope won the Scottish Greyhound Derby and Welsh Greyhound Derby in 1973, marking the first time that the Triple Crown had been achieved by him, creating newspaper headlines.

Moves from White City to Wimbledon

The final Greyhound Derby took place at White City Stadium in the June of 1984, with the race moving to Wimbledon Stadium the following year. White City boasted a grass surface, but there was a sand one at Wimbledon. When Pagan Swallow crossed the finish-line in first place, it signalled the fact that both Phillip Rees Junior and Phillip Rees Senoir has trained the winner of the race at some point in its history; a unique claim if ever there was one. Even so, the sport was facing a decline in interest and the Derby suffered as a result.

Changes Hands Between Towcester & Nottingham

Perhaps the biggest change to the Greyhound Derby in recent years came in 2016, when it took place at Wimbledon Stadium for the final time before the track’s closure. In 2017, the race was run at Towcester Racecourse, which had only opened three years prior. Not long after it hosted the Derby in 2018, Towcester was put into administration and the future of both the course and its races was put into doubt. The race was moved to Nottingham Greyhound Stadium in 2019 before being shifted back to Towcester two years later.

Top Winners

At the time of writing, just four dogs have won the race twice. Mick The Miller was the first to do it, with Patricias Hope the next on the list. Since then, Rapid Ranger has achieved the feat and Westmead Hawk is the most recent to pull it off, winning the event in 2005 and 2006. Interestingly, the 2007 winner was Westmead Lord. As a slight aside, the dogs that have won the race twice have done so in alphabetical order up to this point in proceedings.

Charlie Lister

Run over 500 metres on a sand surface, no trainer has seen their dogs win the Greyhound Derby more regularly than Charlie Lister. Lister enjoyed seven wins between 1997 and 2013, which no doubt contributed to him being named the Trainer of the Year four times. He retired from the sport in September of 2018, seven years after he was given an Order of the British Empire for his services to greyhound racing. Whilst you should never say never, it is extremely unlikely that anyone will ever take over his record number of wins in the Greyhound Derby.

Other Big Greyhound Events

Whilst the Greyhound Derby is undoubtedly the biggest race in the sport, there are numerous other top-level greyhound events that are worthy of a mention. Not many people are aware that greyhound races can take place over hurdles, for example, but the Grand National does just that. Run over 480 metres, the dogs need to cope with hurdles at Central Park Stadium in much the same way that the horses do in the race of the same name.

As with so many events in the sport, it was run for the first time in the 1920s and has maintained its proud history since. The races in the sport that aren’t the Greyhound Derby are split into one of six categories, which are as follows:

• Category One
• Category Two
• Category Three
• Invitation Race
• Minor Open Race
• Graded Race

Category One racing requires prize money of at least £12,500, whilst that drops to £5,000 for Category Two events. A Category Three race needs to have prize money of £1,000 or more, but Invitation Races are a special type of greyhound race that is often staged by a promotor on the night of other races. The minimum prize money here is £750, which is £600 more than any other type of open race that comes under the Minor Open category. Any other type of race is known as Graded Racing and is the core type of race run at most stadiums.

In terms of specific races, the world of greyhound racing mirrors that of horse racing in numerous different ways. Events like the St. Leger and the Oaks are named in the same manner as the Classic horse races. Events, such as the Golden Jacket and the East Anglian Cup, are where things start to differ, but regardless of the name, the idea behind the race remains the same: the fastest dog will win. From the Select Stakes to any number of Derbies in Scotland and Ireland, greyhounds have plenty of races to be entered into.

Jacket Colours & Traps

The final thing that is worth mentioning when it comes to greyhound racing is the use of traps and the associated colours of the jerseys worn by the dogs. This is because greyhound racing in the United Kingdom uses a standard colour scheme, so the dogs will wear the same colour associated with their trap regardless of the location for the race. Typically speaking, there are six traps that are used on a course and the dogs are loaded into them before the race gets underway.

Here are the trap numbers and associated colours:

• Trap 1 = Red with White Number
• Trap 2 = Blue with White Number
• Trap 3 = White with Black Number
• Trap 4 = Black with White Number
• Trap 5 = Orange with Black Number
• Trap 6 = Black & White Stripes with Red Number

It is now extremely unusual for a racecourse to use traps 7 and 8, but when they were in use trap 7 had a green jacket with a red number and trap 8 was yellow and black with a white number. If the dog is one of the reserves then its jacket will have the letter R on both sides.

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