Towcester kennel strength..

Are people now paying at the track to watch such nonsense?

I would imagine there are zero spectators there! Is this the bookmakers telling tracks which races to put on? If so it’s a very dangerous situation for the game.

I started watching Greyhound Racing in the 1950s and never even saw a 2 bend race until the mid 70s although there was just the one competition at Southend over 2 bends the Silver Salver before that time. People would never have put up with that sort of thing then and the tracks knew it but flapping tracks had them.

I'm booked up in the restaurant for a Saturday meeting in a few weeks, if it's a card like that I'm asking for a refund. I'm not going to entertain that sort of nonsense.

They would have to pay me to watch that rubbish let alone book a meal in the restaurant.

I simply won't go Sparrow, my brother lives outside Bedford and we are staying for the weekend with him and thought it would be a nice idea to all go the dogs in the evening. The racing will have to be of a certain standard and a plethora of graded sprints just doesn't cut the mustard with me.

A shame really Slippy but that is what the game has come to and they can't see it. What is needed is to go back to 8 race cards with plenty of variety as it used to be instead of the monotony of 14 two and four bend races and it wouldn't matter if they were all graded.

1.39 race off at 3.05. Hare trouble. Again.
What a track.

In an ideal world, I'd go back to a 10 race card with 20 minutes between racing. First race @  19.30, last race 22.30 and a decent mix of 4,6 and 8 bend heats.

Towcester on a Saturday is 8 races, first is 18.30 and last race is at 20.50. I think the restaurant was £40 quid per head and that's fair enough as long as the grub is reasonable I suppose. It's hardly a night out though finishing quite so early but sadly the days of me just getting " warmed up" at that time of an evening have sadly disappeared.

That ship has long since sailed I'm afraid.

In those days of 8 race cards we used to have a 12 card on Bank Holidays and they seem to go on for ever as weren't used to them. It all seems a long time ago now and I suppose we were spoilt with all those great tracks when you see the state of the game now.

Yer the grading strength at Towcester has gone down hill rapidly over the last 6 months

Some of these graded sprint races I would be second fav if receiving a 10 m head start

10 short races on a card is excessive I agree but at the end of the day it is greyhound racing and I like greyhound racing.  My pet hate is a trainer having three in a graded race.  A recipe for a fiddle and not at all punter friendly and I don;t see any need for it at all.  I also pay close attention to certain pairs of trainers at certain tracks whose dogs get drawn alongside each other and one traps and the other doesn't.  Happens quite frequently at one track in my opinion.

Do you ever bet on those so called races, ravage?

No to be honest I do not bet at Towcestor anymore

I have tried in the opens at Towcestor a few times but lose so stopped

I occasionally lay slow away graded dogs in trap 1 or 2 if 6-4 fav or shorter over 500 m

I tend to bet mainly in open races at monmore, Romford and Crayford

Though rather surprising with my forum name I do not bet in any sprint races

Yourself what tracks, opens, graded, sprints, 4 bends, 6 bends you bet on?

10/12 a complete farce.

As is anything over 4/12 actually.

Bingo rubbish.

They're doing more and more sprints at all tracks. Clearly suits the major bookmakers to make it more bingoesque - will be one of the final nails in coffin for this game.

Ravage, Never bet on 2 bend races and stick mainly to 6 and 8 bend races with place bets mostly over 4 bends. As for tracks I like Crayford but only for their 714 races and Central Park, Henlow and Newcastle are ok but its hard work these days with all the best tracks long gone and nothing now even compares with such as White City, Harringay and my beloved Clapton.

You have the patience of a saint to put up with the state of them plaice markets

Well I'm not one of those punters who wants to bet 8 hours before the race and place betting can only be done no more than 4 minutes before the off. Admittedly you can no longer get large bets on because of the vast amount of races going off but its not too bad on the right sort of race.

Ditto sparrow.

Well played lads.