Raising Costs
 

I have been associated in Greyhound syndicates for awhile although im at the stage where im looking at buying a dog by myself, im not sure about the costs involved in raising and training it.
Can anyone help?

Just need some rough figures.

Thanks in advance

You usually buy your pup anytime after 3 months of age.

Rearing is usually $35-$45 a week depending where you go.
This is usually up until 14-16 months of age.

Then you need to break it in which is $250-$350
Then you need to spell for a month roughly $35-$45 a week.

To name it is $30-$50 depending on what state.

Trainers are either:
50/50 prizemoney and no fees
50/50 and all 3rds and no fees
First $50/$100 then 50/50
60/40 and weekly fees
Prizemoney to owner and weekly fees of anything upto $80 a week.

~ Bundy

So a pup bought at say 11 months will need to be reared for around 4 months at say $40 a week.

+ $300 to be broken in

+ $40 for naming

From this i get figures of about

$1060

Also what do you mean ( Then you need to spell for a month roughly $35-$45 a week. )

Thanks

After breaking in are often sore and tired..... the breakers are a full on period of time....
So they need a months break, or spell, to get back to good fitness and rid soreness and any niggling injuries....

Oh okay thanks for clearing that up.

Im going to look into this over the next few weeks as syndicates are good although there is nothing like buying your own dog and raising it up to the racing stage.

morgan,

if you buy a pup no matter what age make sure you get it reared properly and fed the best etc.

i must admit i no longer buy pups like i use to due to high risk involved in success but it is the only way you will get a chance at that elusive champ or topline dog.

the last 2 years i found buying breakin or lightly raced young dogs has given me the most success and the majority of them have covered their own costs.

whichever way you go good luck.

cliffy

You very much so much be careful buying a pup at 11 months old - Some people will break them in at 10 months old to see if there is any ability there, if not they will put $2,000 or more and sell them off saying ''guaranteed untired''

Best Bet is to buy a pup around 6 months old. This way YOU choose where it is reared so make sure it gets the best of everything, and every chance to be a success - as rearing is VERY important

Brad is spot on with all costs, much so as he has been there himself! But to total it up, buying a well bred 3 month old youngster at say $2,000 plus all costs to get it to roughly 24 months old.

Im using this as my example. I have a pup 2yrs old in June, $1,500 for him, $2000 rearing, $350 breaking in, then $40 per week since he was 16 months old after breaking in.

Whether the pup could run or not was another story but either way $5000 was to be spent.

At the same price your best chance is to buy a pup recently broken in as you can witness if it can run or not - take out the 16 months worth of hope.

Usually good break ins will go for $4k and upwards depending on who you contact.

So on average to raise a pup to the racing stage costs roughly $5000.

What sort of return would you be looking at if he/she is a reasonable runner in Vic races?

Thanks

Every track (except meadows and sandown im unsure) is approx $945 a win

Depends if your dog is placed with a trainer on a 50.50 deal. Your dog would need to win $10,000 for you to get a return which is equal to 11 wins, unless the dog wins in the city which is $3,780 win prizemoney.

Thats why your best chance is to buy a dog thats lightly races or just broken in.

i have had a couple of mates who were new to the game decided to buy a lightly raced dog, then all prizemoney they won used it to buy that speculation pup and hope that the race dog paid majority of costs until it raced.

this worked quite well for them and gives them a chance of jagging that champion whilst still enjoying the thrill of racing a dog that was no champion but very competitive and paid his way.

but it all depends on what way you want to go, make sure you get good advice from people you can trust and then the rest comes down to good old plain luck.

good luck with what way you go morgan.

Thanks everyone, thought id get the views of a few experienced trainers, owners here before jumping into anything. Going to have to look at what i can afford and if im willing to wait before having my dog race.

I am moving towards buying a older pup that is about to be broken in or in the process of being broken in.

I play footy and the whole team wanted to buy a dog and get into it we had about 4-5k to spend and they all wanted to name a dog so they could have our team name or whatever.. Anyway I was searching for a break-in for months it was just too risky and to pay 4k for a dog that has only broken in it just was not going to be worth it, I ended up going for a young dog with only 6 starts had one win and a few 2nds. Breeding was hallucinate x flo jo tears. Got him from NSW and to be honest I wish I didnt we paid 4.5k and he was here for 2 weeks Id hardly touched him then he trialled pretty well and after that Ive had nothing but injuries and sheer bad luck. He did get one win at Angle Park on a Wednesday only went 30.75 and we won $375 out of it so we have a long way to go to get our money back.

Be very careful buying young dogs unless you trust the person 100% because it can be quite heartbreaking.

I just brought 3 flying scott pups a while back. had been broken in and running ok times. Two should be fairly good and the third tries but is not real good. Anyhow i waited for ages looking for a dog to buy and found these three and after some time worked out the partnership that had them was breaking down major. I soon found pat hennesey who stands flying scott and he could give me some more info, (which is how i worked out the partnership break down was for real.) I got all three for $2300 and moved them to tassie because the boy is a sizey dog and the trainer was over the moon with them. They were in great knick. These are my first three but it took me nearly 6 months of looking around before i brought. I guess the more you walk away from the closer to a good dog you may get.

PS. Mine still haven't raced so i might have dudded myself yet, but two are putting down nice times over good distance. Racing is different tho

Pat H is a great person!! You have got your pups through a trustworthy source!

Good advice. I never thought about buying a dog that was lightly raced or just broken in. At least you know it can run. Otherwise you purchase a pup, hope it is looked after, then have to wait until it is 17 months old before it can race. Good advice about spelling after breaking in as well. In the end you still have spent anywhere from $4,000 to $6,000in the hope you have something that can pay its way.

Buying an already racing dog is the easiest way to get into racing quickly although you dont have that chance of getting a group 1 winner.

More rewarding getting a pup as well.