There is an old saying: “Don’t reinvent the wheel.” Everyone says so, but almost everyone is looking for a new way to win at dog racing. It seems like every week a new website pops up with a new book or software program that will “automatically” pick winners with no effort on your part.

Even the most intelligent greyhound handicappers want to believe that if we could discover some “trick” that no one else has thought of, we could pick winners in almost every race. I admit, I have fallen into thinking that way in the past. Like you, there have been times when I almost convinced myself that there has to be a way to predict the outcome of greyhound races automatically.

I am older and wiser and I know that nothing, no matter how new or highly promoted, can automatically pick winners in the dog track without any effort on the part of the handicap. Dogs are not that predictable and it takes skill and effort to figure out which one has the best chance of winning, placing, and placing third.

With that being said though, there are “better” ways to do it, whether old or new. And every once in a while, even after 30 years in this game, I suddenly notice something about the downside that I hadn’t noticed before and use it to make more money. That often happens to me when I go to a different track or drop the handicap for a while to do other things and then do it again.

A new perspective can help us see anything in a completely different light when we’re outdated from doing the same thing all the time. That’s when it’s a good idea to add one more piece to the blueprint you use to choose dogs in breeds. Of course, you should have a plan in place from the start, either your own or one you’ve obtained from a more experienced handicapper, either in person or in writing.

This is where the program and the pen come in. If you’re not marking your show according to the system you use to choose dogs, how can you improve it? Write what you choose and why. If you’re using another tipster’s system, keep track of what you pick and how often those picks occur, and under what circumstances they don’t.

That way, when you check your shows somewhere off the track, you’ll be able to tell when the plan worked and when it didn’t and if it can be refined and improved to consistently pick more winners or if you need another blueprint. It is not an exact science. It’s more like woodworking. You find a plan and you build your project and it works or it doesn’t work.

If your plan works, great. If not, you’d better get another plan from someone who knows what they’re doing.