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Understanding Your Dog's NGRC Record and Race Book

If you have managed to get hold of a copy of your dogs race book by writing to the NGRC, below is an explanation of what it all means. I have copied the first page of George's (formerly known as Lucky Pick) book as an example. If you click on the image below, a new window will pop up with a larger version, which you can move to one side for easier viewing.

1. The date of the race or trial.
2. The distance over which the race was run.
3. The trap out of which the dog ran.
4. Time recorded between traps and finish line first time around.
5. Where the dog was placed in relation to any others running after each quarter of the race.
6. The position the dog was in at the finish line.
7. The distance by which the dog won or was beaten.
8. The dog that won the race or came second.
9. The track at which the race was run.
10. How the dog ran and comments on his performance in abbreviated form. The most common abbreviations are explained below.
11. The actual time the dog ran.
12. The conditions of the track at the time of the race. Seconds will be added or removed from the actual time (in column 11) depending on the conditions (N is normal).
13. The weight of the dog just before the race (this is not allowed to vary more than a kilo or two between races. It is designed to prevent dogs that have either lost a lot of weight through illness or gained a lot of weight due to a large meal beforehand, being run).
14. Whether the race was an official race or a trial. Dogs need to prove themselves over a distance before being entered into official races. If a dog has more than two weeks off, he needs to complete a successful trial before being allowed to race. Trials may be a solo race or with other dogs. If the letter T doesn't appear then the numbers in this column are the odds the bookmakers were offering on the dog at the start of the race.
15. Race classes usually range from A8 (lowest) to A1 (highest). A good dog may also have run in open races (OR). Prize money and appearance fees vary accordingly.
16. The dog's adjusted time based on his actual time and any seconds added or removed based on the condition of the track.
17. Prize money for winning and appearance fees. All greyhounds are paid for running in a race, and the amount varies from £5 upwards. This allows tracks to guarantee a full race card, and is an incentive for owners to run their dogs. Dogs do not get an appearance fee for running in trials.
18. The vet or track official that checked the dog's tattoos to verify his identity before the race.
19. The last page of a race book will contain information on the dog's breeding and a detailed description of his toenails! Whether nails point in or out, and their exact location on the toe is supposed to be a unique identifier for each dog. There will also be an outline of a greyhound with shaded patches indicating the dogs colouring. This information will have been recorded by a vet the first time the dog ran in an official race.

Abbreviations used and their meaning

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