Racing.

[John]

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I was thinking about the racing formats now compared to when I first started racing. Over the last few years there has been more 2ft lb racing introduced which is great as it gives the bigger dogs a chance in the run offs but there seems to be more racing where we have run offs of various types where dogs and bitches run off against each other before the supreme run off and more often as not we end up with bitches running off for supreme. I like the format where you run to a supreme dog and a supreme bitch who then run against each other to get overall supreme that way you know who the best dog and bitch were and the best overall. Okay I keep dogs so there is a bit of self interest here but what is the point of giving bigger dogs a chance of catching the smaller ones to take that chance away by making them race against bitches before they get the chance to race the smaller dogs. I accept that the formats are advertised in advance so if I don't like them I don't have to go but there is not that much open class racing within driving distance for me so I go so I can at least race against other dogs in my weight group. It's true in the past more often as not the supreme dog withdrew against the supreme bitch (in my opinion probably because the owner felt that they had no chace of winning against the bitch) but I for one am considering withdrawing at the run off stage in this format (if my dog was lucky enough to win its weight group) for the same reason. Most racers will accept that bitches are faster than dogs so maybe 1yd sex allowance in the run offs would help with this format but I would rather see a supreme dog and bitch what do you think.

 

[sherry]

in scratch racing dogs and bitches race all the time against each other. dont know if it works the same with bigger dogs ( ie 40lb +) that the bitches r faster but dogs win just as much as bitches in scratch racing. im curious now wud people say the bigger dogs and bitches ( ie 40lb +) wud people say that bitches r faster? :blink:

 

[michelle]

I would say that for the size of the whippets frame bitches are lighter, so that in weight handicap racing, for the same size of whippet, bitches have the advantage of an effective yard or so start on dogs.

In scratch racing the weight handicap is less relevant since they run off scratch and the weight splits are bigger. Once you get over 32lb there isn't much difference in times with increasing weight so the fact that dogs are carrying a bit more weight for their size doesn't matter.

Tony