Greyhound sectional times: the first split, the run home and the finish

Greyhound sectional times are a dog's times at fixed timing points in a race: the first split, sometimes a second split, and the finish, with the run home worked out between them. Each gap between two times converts to lengths at 0.07 seconds a length, the figure the Greyhounds Australasia Rules (GAR) set in rule 113, so illustrative first splits of 5.36 and 5.50 put two dogs 2 lengths apart at the first timing point.

Two dogs can record the same finishing time after very different runs, one quick to the first turn and fading, the other slow away and finishing strongly. Their splits show which, but only beside splits from the same track and distance, because the first timing point sits at a different distance from the boxes for each start.

What the first split, the run home and the overall time measure

Each time answers a different question about a run:

The first split matters because the dog that leads into the first turn can miss the crowding behind it. The run home time is a subtraction rather than a separate clock: run home = finish time - time at the last timing point.

How much of the race that covers depends on the results. With only a first split printed, run home = finish time - first split, most of the race; with a second split, it is the shorter stretch after that point. Keep one definition, or you will compare two different stretches of track.

The splits printed under a race result are not every dog's. In Greyhound Racing Victoria's glossary, split times are the times of the leading greyhound at each section of the track, and its results print the rug number of the dog that led at each point. A runner's own first split sits beside its name in the results table.

Why splits only compare at the same track and distance

Even at one track, each trip has its own timing point. Greyhound Racing Victoria's FastTrack lists, track by track and distance by distance, the record first split beside the track record:

Records as listed on FastTrack, checked 8 October 2026; any meeting can lower one.

A first split of 5.20 would be slow at Sandown's 515m, 5.20 - 4.90 = 0.30 seconds or about 4.3 lengths outside the record. The same 5.20 would beat the 595m record by 8.92 - 5.20 = 3.72 seconds, which no dog does: the 595m timing point is further from its boxes. Bendigo's 660m and Geelong's 680m are trips of similar length whose record first splits sit 17.92 - 4.03 = 13.89 seconds apart.

Finishing times follow the same rule. Greyhound Racing Victoria's Tier 3 time standards, which decide whether a dog is eligible for its Tier 3 races under its grading guidelines effective 5 August 2026, are 26.2 seconds for Geelong's 460m and 26.35 for Warragul's 460m. That is 0.15 seconds, about 2.1 lengths, at the same distance. Over 350m the standard is 19.5 seconds at Healesville, a straight track, and 20.3 at Traralgon, 0.8 seconds or about 11.4 lengths apart.

Turning greyhound race times into lengths and speed

Three conversions cover most uses, all built on the 0.07-second length in GAR rule 113:

• lengths = time gap in seconds / 0.07, so 0.21 seconds is 0.21 / 0.07 = 3 lengths;
• a beaten dog's time = winner's time + lengths beaten x 0.07, which turns a margin back into a time;
• average speed in km/h = distance in metres / time in seconds x 3.6.

The last one answers most questions about greyhound race times. Healesville's 300m record of 16.057 seconds averages 300 / 16.057 x 3.6 = about 67.3 km/h, and The Meadows' 730m record of 41.933 seconds averages 730 / 41.933 x 3.6 = about 62.7 km/h. Everyday races run slower than records, and a whole race lasts well under a minute.

Read margins with care. Greyhound Racing NSW's results state that margins are expressed cumulatively from the winner, in lengths, so a dog listed at 3.00 finished 3 lengths behind the winner, not behind the dog in front.

Worked: two runs with the same overall time

Two dogs each ran 30.12 seconds over 520m at Track A, on nights that ran to the track's usual times. Illustrative times, not real runs:

Dog A's first split was 5.49 - 5.28 = 0.21 seconds, or 3 lengths, quicker than Dog B's. It was still 17.82 - 17.70 = 0.12 seconds, about 1.7 lengths, ahead at the second point, and Dog B made that up over the run home. Both averaged 520 / 30.12 x 3.6 = about 62.2 km/h, a figure that hides the whole difference.

What the two runs say about their next start:

• Matched with no trouble, Dog A projects to be about 3 lengths clear at the first timing point, so Dog B needs Dog A to tire, or to meet traffic, to beat it.
• Read the comments before you trust the gap. If Dog B was slow to begin or checked early, its first split understates its early speed; if Dog A led untroubled, no traffic cost it time on the way home.
• The box changes the read. Dog A drawn outside a quicker beginner has to cross that dog to lead, and a greyhound speed map puts the whole field's splits and boxes together.

Track condition, weather and the night's times

The national rules set no going allowance: an official time is the electronic time, whatever the weather did. Rain, wind and work on the track can shift a whole meeting, so a slow time on a slow night is not necessarily a slow run. Measure the night before you compare:

1. Set a standard for each distance at the track, such as the median winning time over a period you write down.
2. For each race that night, take the winning time minus that distance's standard.
3. Average the differences: that is the night's variant.
4. Subtract the variant from each time you want to compare.

With illustrative numbers, five races at Track A on a wet night ran 0.14, 0.09, 0.17, 0.11 and 0.14 seconds slower than their standards: (0.14 + 0.09 + 0.17 + 0.11 + 0.14) / 5 = 0.65 / 5 = 0.13 seconds. Had Dog B's 30.12 come on that night, it would be worth 30.12 - 0.13 = 29.99 on a normal one, about 0.13 / 0.07 = 1.9 lengths better than Dog A's run.

Work out a separate figure for first splits from the night's first splits, because the early section and the run home need not slow by the same amount. Greyhound ratings builds box and weight adjustments onto the same method.

A changed track resets the comparison. Racing Queensland's April 2025 grading procedures make Masters and Pathways races at The Q penalty bearing until a time standard is set for each distance there. Greyhound Racing Victoria's August 2026 table lists Cranbourne's standards as still to be confirmed. Times from before a rebuild or a moved start do not compare with times after it.

Where to find official greyhound times

The state controlling bodies publish results with splits:

• Greyhound Racing Victoria's FastTrack results system prints, for each runner, its box, rug, weight, first split, positions in running, finish time and margin, then the race's split times and the stewards' report. Its statistics pages hold the track record and the record first split for Victoria's tracks and distances.
• Greyhound Racing NSW's thedogs.com.au racing pages print each runner's first and second sectional, time and margin, then the race's sectional times. Its race fields give each dog's best time over the track and distance, shown as NBT (no best time) where it has none, and its average first section over the two years to the day before the race.
• Racing Queensland publishes results, replays and a greyhound sectionals page that lists each meeting's sectionals as PDF and CSV files (checked 8 October 2026). Greyhound Racing SA's website carries results and replays.

Under GAR rule 100 the Stewards must also publish each dog's weight before its race, and form guides print it beside the times. How to read greyhound form shows where each figure sits in a form line.

Mistakes that make sectional times mislead

• Comparing first splits across trips. Sandown's 595m record split is 8.92 - 4.90 = 4.02 seconds slower than its 515m record, which would read as 4.02 / 0.07 = about 57 lengths if you forgot the 595m timing point sits further from its boxes.
• Taking the race split as a runner's own. If the leader reached the first timing point in an illustrative 5.34 and your dog sat 3 lengths back, its own split was about 5.34 + 3 x 0.07 = 5.55, so crediting it with 5.34 overrates its early speed by 3 lengths.
• Rating a troubled start as early speed. An illustrative check costing 0.35 seconds before the first timing point makes a dog look 0.35 / 0.07 = 5 lengths slower early than it is, so leave that split out of any average.
• Mixing two definitions of the run home. The illustrative dog above ran home in 12.30 seconds from the second timing point or 24.55 from the first split, and the 24.55 - 12.30 = 12.25 seconds between them is extra track, not a slower finish.
• Treating trial times as race times. Greyhound Racing Victoria's glossary describes trials run solo, with two dogs or in a half field, so a trial split comes without a full field's traffic.

Using sectional times before you bet

The first split and the box draw shape the run to the first turn, and the run home, adjusted for the night, shows how much a dog has left after it. Turn both into your own chance for each dog, then set that chance against the prices; greyhound racing betting maps the bets and rules around the race.

Skip the sectional read for a dog that has never run today's track and distance, or has not run it since the track changed: there is nothing comparable to read.

B337 neither rates dogs nor picks winners, so the sectional read stays yours. What its Terminal adds is the market side: each bookmaker's price on a dog in its own column, with exchange back and lay prices next to them, plus flucs, closing lines and EV overlays.

It carries 40+ bookmakers' prices across racing and sports, though a given dog race may draw only some of them. They are read on a repeating cycle, so the number you see can lag a move the bookmaker has already made: your bookmaker account shows the live price, so check it there before you bet. A free account opens a limited view of the Terminal with live odds, and the odds comparison board shows how it is laid out.