HOW IS THE BEST WAY TO GET STARTED IN THE GREYHOUND BUSINESS?

This topic was chosen first as it is appropriate as a starting place.  Realize that my answer is my own opinion which comes from the past 49 years I have experienced in every aspect of greyhound racing.

Before I can answer this question, I have to assume you are asking about becoming a greyhound owner.  If you are thinking of becoming a farmer, kennel operator or anything else, then I have to know the goal you have in mind first.  It is strange how many people never know what their goal is in greyhound racing.  They simply want to own greyhounds, and face each turn in the road as it happens. So, let’s set a goal of your wanting to be a greyhound owner with plans to lease your greyhounds to a racing kennel to perform for you.

There is nothing wrong with being a greyhound owner as your only goal in mind.  It is the best position of all to be in.  If you have received my previous articles, then you know I have stood on this position all the way.  A kennel operator will lease your greyhounds at a quality track, and pay you 50% of the gross purse earnings.  By the time the kennel operator pays all the bills as relates to your greyhounds, then he has to be very successful to earn somewhere between 5% and 10%.  That is a very good deal for a greyhound owner as the kennel operator provides all the work, and uses his expertise to represent you, and you pay him nothing extra for doing it.

You can believe that no kennel operator would do the above, unless he had many greyhounds returning that 5% to 10%.  That is a must for him to remain in business, and make his efforts worth the service he provides.  Try following his footsteps for one week, and you will change your entire attitude of how demanding this job is should you not know that answer by now.  Then, count your blessings if you can find a kennel to represent you in the top echelon of racing.

What all this means is one must look at the entire picture to make the right decisions.  This isn’t about owning one or more greyhounds, then think you already have it made.  Let me assure you that you could purchase the best pups in the nation, then completely be out of luck, unless you raise and train them on quality farms, and have a successful kennel race them for you. You can eliminate 80% of all farms and kennels if you want to be successful in this business.  The other 20% will dominate the entire industry.  The idea is to be associated with one of them, or to become one of them, and you can make it in this business.

You cannot cheapen anything in this process, and produce quality greyhounds.  This is the next lesson that eliminates those who defy it.  It may be the most costly aspect of all, because most people look for the cheapest way out, instead of finding ways to make their greyhounds the best they possibly can be.  Kennels do the same thing, and farmers do, also.  If you are with those who care more about winning, and producing the finest athletes possible, then count your blessings again.  They will feed the finest food, hire to top help, and work harder than those who awaken every single day to simply get by.

So, my advice to you is to seek out the best farms no matter what you have to pay them, and run your greyhounds with the best kennels who are booked at the top paying tracks.

I realize that I am taking you far beyond your buying and owning a greyhound, but you desperately need to look at the entire picture.  Anyone can own a greyhound.  It is what you do with it that counts the most.

This leads to you having to make two decisions to get started; (1) to purchase the greyhounds you wish to own, and (2) to study and work the industry until you can find the best possible farm to raise pups for you.  Later, you will have to do your research to locate a racing kennel you can negotiate with to race your greyhounds for you.  The IRS requires that you treat this as a business should you wish to take advantage of writing off expenses.  One agent told me that they consider the equivalent of one litter of greyhounds as being large enough for a business consideration.  You will get different answers each time you ask, so I will leave that subject up to you to put into your own tax structure.

When I first began in this business, I can say that I looked at the big picture as I wanted to be involved in every aspect of this industry, but made many mistakes along the way to learn just what it takes.  My main goal was to be a kennel operator and to reach the level to compete with the best there is.  I could not do this without a top notch supply line, so began the farm program many of you were part of for many years.  My idea was to provide breeding expertise, the best broods I could get my hands on, the best farms to raise and train our greyhounds, and to run the best kennel operation possible.  This was a greatly needed service I could see; especially, since the computer was just coming of age, and served as a means of communication to bring our people together.  We held parties, and many different activities to keep this exciting, including the position we took in the NGA Meets and Auctions.  Later, we benefited from becoming a major part of the stud industry, etc.

Realize that the greyhound industry was once the 6th largest spectator sport in the nation.  Horse racing was #1.  I do not know the ranking any longer, but can only tell you we have taken a blow from the lottery interest that sprung up throughout the nation.  Then, casino interest became an important aspect toward keeping us alive.  Some tracks have card rooms which came with the poker boom, and made this more competitive again.  I still have high hopes for the greyhound industry, but we need leadership in the worst way.  Since we are referred to as an agricultural industry, then I have always felt we should move the NGA into, or become a part of the Farm Bureau, or some larger entity which already have their own lobbyist in place, etc.  We could get far more accomplished, and have much better representation with each race track, legislature, and so on. Each time I have ever mentioned this there was little concern.  All I got were stange looks. Regardless, I have never given up my interest, and still continue to own greyhounds just like you do.

I had to share the above to provide you with the knowledge and reasons to become a greyhound owner in answer to your question. And, I still say that being a greyhound owner is the very best position to be in when properly done.

To accomplish what I would do will require that you do a little research to determine which are definitely the best producing farms in the nation, and which kennels are definitely the best racing kennels in the nation.  This isn’t that difficult to do if you would spend a little time to make these decisions.  I assume you visit the website of each track you have an interest in.  Make a list of the AA greyhounds racing at that track, then find out who raised them.  Study the starts and wins of each kennel at those same tracks, and look for the best percentages.  Those things don’t just happen.  It comes from hard work.

Again, remember this is how I would personally begin as a greyhound owner.  Until you find a farm to work with, then you don’t have to spend time locating a kennel to begin this process.  Knowing that a top farm is raising your pups will make it far easier to place your greyhounds with a top racing kennel, anyway.  Racing kennel operators know who the best farms are. They compete with the greyhounds they produce every single day. You might try this in reverse, and start the kennel process first by asking for referrals of top farms they would recommend.  When the time comes for your pups to go to the track, then you already have an association for the kennel operator to consider.

Spend $4.00 and order a phone directory from the NGA.  A new one is produced each year, and everyone who is anyone will be listed in this directory.  It is easy to contact them when you are ready.

I realize that I am having you do all this work, and you don’t even have a greyhound as yet from what I have written.  That will be the next thing we will address here.

When considering the purchase of a greyhound, you must realize that the racing ability and the breeding ability (genetics) of a greyhound may be completely different.  If you are not astute in bloodline studies, and are going to chance any bloodline which is not proven to be a top producer, then you are not playing the percentages you should.  For the novice, stick with pups sired by greyhounds at the top of the sire standings, and you will automatically pick up a strong percentage from there.  The female, however, is just as important and even more important in most cases.  Buy pups from females which are already proven provided they are not too old.  Try to find pups from females that came from solid litters, and wasn’t the only good greyhound in the litter she came from.  If the dam and grand dam were both quality racing stock, then your chances are even better.

If you want to do this right, then here is my top suggestion . . .

Go to an NGA Meet which are held in Abilene, Kansas in April and October of each year.  Observe all the greyhounds entered in the meet, and make a roster of each litter winning races.  There will usually be three or four top litters at this meet.  Place each litter in the order you would rate them.  List the females in the best litter, and purchase the female you feel is the best of the litter. This may cost a good sum of money, but when you compare it to the pups she should produce, then you will be far ahead of the game.  That is, if you place her on the right farm as previously explained.

By owning the female, and raising the litter directly with a farmer you have selected from your research, then you meet the demands of the IRS and can save some money without losing quality from your care and training program.  If you cannot do this on your own, then you need to purchase your greyhounds from someone you trust to do this for you.  Notice that I am not recommending anyone in these articles as things change from time to time, and I do not want to make that decision for you.

Should you purchase a brood at the NGA Meet, then the normal tendency is to want to race her for the income you could make. Bypass this, and you will have a much healthier female which will not be harmoned during the time she is racing.  This increases your total litter potential, and can provide healthier pups.  I am not saying that a top AA female from Wheeling cannot do the same thing, but my suggestion speeds up your ownership program in a high percentage manner.

The most important consideration we all want is speed as it is the one thing we cannot put into any greyhound if they do not have it.  You are buying speed when you purchase such a female from the best litters at the NGA Meets.  There is no sure thing, but I would place a wager than anyone who purchased all their broods in this manner, and follow the process presented above would be most difficult to beat on any race track.  Just make sure you breed to proven stud dogs, and don’t listen to anyone attempting to get you to prove their greyhound for them.  I don’t care how many free breedings you are offered.  Do not in-breed, until you reach the 4th, 5th or 6th generation.  In-breeding works best from the 5th generation on.  There are exceptions, but I am giving you the best percentage to follow.

If I were going to build a new farm today, then I would open the door for each of you to make the kind of purchase I have told you about, or purchase AA females from top litters as they finish racing at Wheeling, and board them for you on this farm.  The farm would have to be a first class operation, and we would provide the best feed, care and training possible; regardless, of the cost that would take, or I would not be doing it.  How else can you compete on the top track in the nation?  Don’t get any ideas as I’m not going to build a farm . . . just inspiring your thoughts in the different directions you might choose from. That decision is yours to make from your own research.

Let me emphasize that I am not attempting to have you change anything you are already doing, just doing the best job I know how to answer the questions you request of me without going into any personal relationships.  If you are doing well, then never draw to a winner. 

Comments

[earlebenezer greyhounds]

Many people out there are confused by betting on horses and betting on greyhounds. They are confused about how the odds are calculated for a horse or greyhound, and they don't know how to pick a winner.

[Paul Parsons]

Carey, I hope this note finds you and your family well and happy. I hope you remember me, I'm Paul Deans son. I wanted to contact you and ask if you could be a reference for me as I have aplied for a job as an animal handler with the city of San Francisco. I used Charter Kennels as experience in dog handleing. I wrote that I was an assistant Trainer with my dad and worked with him in the kennels. If you have a minute could you email me and I can send you the details like what years I worked and so forth. If you agree to be my reference I'm sure that the city and county will contact you to verify my info. Thanks for any help you can give me. My email is sfchef@yahoo.com
Paul Parsons aka Peppy

[SwizSetuizsut]

Wow Check out this rumor.....

ABC will announce Monday that TLC reality star Kate Gosselin will be one of the hoofers on the next round of “Dancing With the Stars,” according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

At press time, the deal was virtually done for the now-divorced mother of eight to become one of the celebrities vying for the cheesetastic Mirrored Disco Ball.

This will be the fulfillment of a dream for Gosselin who, on Jay Leno’s ill-fated prime-time show, said she’d like to be on “Stars” because she can’t dance. “I want to laugh at myself,” Gosselin told Leno. “I so cannot dance.”

Will you Watch?

[BeenBoppedy]

Hey I saw this on E! news.... Do you guys think people should keep pets that are so dangerous when they have little kids?

Another sad dose of real life has hit the family of a reality TV star.

The 4-year-old daughter of Ax Men slinger Jesse Browning has been mauled to death by the family's Rottweiler.

Ashlynn Anderson's body was discovered by her mother outside on the lawn Sunday, according to officials in Astoria, Ore., where the family resides.

"Apparently, the dog just snapped," says Clatsop County Sheriff Tom Bergin. "We have detectives working on investigating set the dog off]...We are going to give the family a day or two to grieve before we interview them."

Browning called 911 and the girl was airlifted to a Portland hospital, but pronounced dead on arrival.

There was no immediate comment from the History Channel, which airs the popular lumberjack series.

Bergin says the attack came four months to the day after deputies removed a Rottweiler from the premises after it attacked an adult family member; that animal was euthanized. The Brownings' two other Rottweilers have been quarantined at a shelter and are awaiting their fate.

"It's from my understanding...only one of the dogs was involved in the attack but both dogs were seized by animal control services," said Alan Oja, assistant chief of the Astoria Police Department, which received the initial dispatch.

"It's a terrible tragedy."

[Isolferef]

Hallo,

Ik ga trouwen en ben op zoek naar een trouwjurk.

uik kwam op deze trouwjurk blog...

wat vinden jullie hier van?

Dank je!

Annemarie