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Racing Down Under isn't as topsy-turvy as you might think

Dogs guru Darrell Williams gives you the lowdown on Australian greyhound betting

While all-year-round evening opening of the betting shops has been well documented, the extension to hours at the start of the day has received less attention.

Most shops open at 9am or even 8.30am and for those who venture in, the early morning fare offers a chance to try your luck on the Australian racing scene, with live greyhounds, harness racing and gallop racing from Down Under; those markets, of course, also readily available on Betfair.

While I'll not pretend to be an Australian greyhound racing expert, as a regular presenter and voice-over for SIS, I do get to see quite a bit of the Aussie action. While BAGS racing over here is, by design, ultra competitive, the Australian dog races offer us a chance to back (or lay if you're playing on Betfair) quite a few short ones.

Not all of them win of course, but having watched the racing for just over a year it is noticeable how easier it is to pick winners despite the eight runner fields. Quite simply if a dog's form stands out it's probably worth backing, and it's not uncommon for greyhounds to build up winning sequences; progressive youngsters are particularly worth staying on the right side of.

The racing structure also features far fewer grades meaning winning dogs often remain well handicapped. Following dogs with plenty of proven track and trip form, easily identifiable from the race card, is another favourite angle of mine. For research, I tend to use www.ozeform.com while

www.skychannel.com.au is also worth a look, but there are many other viable websites available.

When trying to assess form from different tracks, another short cut is to look at the ratio of prize money to the number of races run, while dogs dropping down from the city tracks to provincial circuits are another good source of winners. Track biases also seem to be more prevalent in Australia with traps one and eight often the most successful; indeed the inside box can sometimes be a goldmine especially over the shorter trips, but like in this country it's also important to be aware of weather conditions which can obviously affect the sequence of results.

It's also noticeable that front runners or early-paced dogs seem to win more than their share of races, which surprised me at first given the general galloping nature of the Australian circuits. Unlike Britain, there's no seeding system which means greyhounds can be drawn in trap one in one race and trap eight the next, although the amount of trouble in-running is far less than you would imagine.

For those who plan on watching the races in the shops the different trap colours can prove confusing at first, trap two is stripes and trap four blue for example, but it soon all falls into place. Commentators in Australia are also generally very good, with all callers announcing by name rather than number with most tending to get pretty animated in their delivery!

Like anything else Australian greyhound racing takes a bit of getting used to, but once you've mastered the basics it's definitely a punter friendly arena and if you're prepared to put in the time it can certainly be a profitable one.