Gotta B An AngelBk M 5/8/99 Wigwam Wag x My Sweet Angel Owned by:- K.Shue&K.Pauley&L.M.Thompson

First there is the name line. Gotta B An Angel is Gabe's registered name. Bk means he is black. M means he is a male. 5/8/99 is the date he was whelped. Wigwam Wag and My Sweet Angel were his sire and dam, respectively. And K.Shue, K. Pauley & L.M. Thompson are his registered owners.

Column 1 shows the track at which the race was run. TS = Tri-State. Each track has a unique 2-letter designation.

Column 2 shows the date of the race. The most recent race is always at the top, so if you want to see how a dog has progressed through his career, you read from the bottom up.

Column 3 shows whether it was an evening race (E), an afternoon race (A) or an official schooling race (S).

Column 4 is the number of the race. The race shown in row 1 was the 7th race of the evening.

Column 5 shows the distance of the race. The distance of the race in row 1 was 7/16 mile. This is also called a Marathon race, and some tracks will show it as Mar instead of 7/16. A few tracks will show SM, which means Super Marathon, a 9/16 mile race. Other tracks give race distances in yards instead of fractions of a mile.

Column 6 shows the track conditions. F means fast, M means muddy. I've been told that some tracks use the designations S for slow and D for deep, but I haven't seen that.

Column 7 shows the running time of the winner, not necessarily of the dog whose lines you're reading.

Column 8 shows the dog's weight at race time. Each dog has a set weight, determined by the trainer, and must weigh within 1.5 lbs of this weight when he weighs in before races begin for the day. If a dog is more than 1.5 lbs over or under his set weight, he will be scratched and the trainer fined. As a dog matures he will sometimes need to gain some weight and the trainer can change the set weight. But this must be done before the dog has drawn in for his next race, usually 2 days ahead. On many racing programs the dog's set weight will be included in the name line. Gabe's set weight doesn't show here, but it was 72 lbs.  Rosnet will not show set weights, but most track programs will.

Column 9 shows the dog's starting position. 1 is the inside box, closest to the rail, and for most dogs considered an advantage. Starting positions are drawn by lot at American tracks, and assigned by the racing secretary at European tracks. This number would match the number on the racing blanket he wore in that race.

Column 10 shows the dog's position in the race at the break, or the first call . As you might notice, a fast break from the box was not Gabe's strong point. He was more a come from behind kind of guy.

Column 11 shows the dog's position at the second call, or coming out of the first turn.

Column 12 shows the dog's position at the third call, coming out of the far turn.

Column 13 shows the dog's lead at the third call. If the dog whose lines you're looking at wasn't in the lead at that point, this column will be blank. The number is in lengths. In line 6 you can see that Gabe was leading at the third call by 7 lengths. That's my boy! :-)

Column 14 shows the dog's finishing position.

Column 15 shows the distance between that dog and the winner at the finish, or if that dog was the winner, the distance between him and the dog who placed second. Again, the number is in lengths. In line 2 you see "ns" in this column. That means Gabe won by a nose (a few inches). "hd" would mean he won by a head (roughly a foot). In line 3 you can see he didn't do so well, finishing last, 18 lengths behind the winner. :-( Not a good day for our Gaby Baby. His comment line (column 19) sort of explains his poor performance, trouble after break. He may have been bumped by another dog or any number of other things that would throw a dog off his pace.

Column 16 shows the running time of the dog whose lines you are reading. In line 1 it says Scr because Gabe was scratched from that race due to a very minor injury. Soon after that he broke a hock in morning schooling and his career was over. He's been home on the couch since August of 2001.

Column 17 shows the odds, or the amount the holder of a $2 ticket would collect if that dog won. Notice in line 8 there is a 0 in this column. There is no wagering on schooling races.

Column 18 shows the grade of the race. Normal grades run M, D, C, B, A, and AA at some tracks (including Tri-State) and M, E, D, C, B, and A at others. M designates a maiden race for young dogs who have not yet won an official start. When a dog wins a race in one grade, he automatically moves up to the next grade. If a dog runs three consecutive races without placing 3rd or better, he moves down a grade. There are a few variations to this from one grade to another, and from one track to another, but that's the general rule.

A grade designation starting with a T is a mixed race put together by the racing secretary from "left over" dogs that were due to race. A TB race would be B and C dogs, a TA race would be A and B dogs, and a TAA race would be AA and A dogs.

nS indicates a schooling race. And S in this column would indicate a stakes race.

Column 19 shows the chart writer's comments about the dog's performance in that race. Each chart writer has a different style and set of abbreviations, and some can be hard to decipher if you aren't familiar with his style. Some chart writer's comments will make you wonder if he even saw a tape of the race. <G> One comment you may see often on a good dog's lines is "box to wire". That means the dog led the entire race.

Column 20 shows the names of the dogs who finished first through fourth in that race. Sometimes the names are abbreviated to save space.

Column 21 shows the number of dogs in the race. It will usually, but not always, be 8.  Since Gabe was scratched from the race in line 1, the number of dogs in that race was 7.

I'm sure there are details that I've left out, especially things used at other tracks but not at Tri-State. If you're trying to figure out your dog's lines on Rosnet and run into something you don't understand, email me and I'll try to help you figure them out.

Once you understand how to read racing lines, studying them can be really interesting and sometimes will give you some insight into a dog's character.  For instance, if you see that a dog doesn't often break fast, but his race position improves at each call for a good finish, it's probably a dog with a lot of determination, very likely a bit stubborn.  These characteristics will often show up in his life as a retiree.