Top Dogs is a greyhound racing tipster service which is operated by Steve Clark of Winning Online. It shows a decent amount of income potential from a relatively niche sport.
Introduction to Top Dogs
Greyhound racing is an area which rarely excites me and honestly, I am rather disappointed by this fact. On paper, it is a thrilling sport with explosive and dynamic races.
Perhaps it is the lack of coverage and the effort involved in going to the track. Irrespective of why I’ve never got into greyhound racing, it doesn’t mean that I don’t have an interest in making money from it. Enter Top Dogs, a greyhound tipster service which if you believe Steve Clark (and I am actually rather inclined to) has a very strong pedigree (pun entirely intended, and no, I won’t apologise for it). The question is, can it deliver on the claims made?
What Does Top Dogs Offer?
In terms of how it is operated, there is actually quite a lot about Top Dogs that I feel subverts expectations. There is a lot of greyhound racing on a given day and as such, I was expecting a high volume service however this is not the case. Selections are frequent enough however they are some way from the kind of daily affair I see so often. When selections are available, Steve Clark sends them out via email whilst there is also an option to receive bets as text messages as well.
All of this sounds fine but truth be told, it is not all so straight forward. The quality of information contained within the emails is reasonable enough however there aren’t advised odds which is unusual. Instead, you are given a link to Oddschecker to get the best odds there. This is problematic for a number of reasons, not least of which is that it makes maintaining accurate records difficult.
As well as this, there is little order to when emails are sent out. You can receive them any time of day which on the days when there aren’t tips (for which you receive no indication), you could spend the day waiting which is frustrating from a consumer perspective.
One of the bits of information that are included with the emails are the stakes which leads me to the staking plan. There are two tipsters involved with Steve Clark (I will get to this shortly) each of which essentially provide their own Tips. One of them recommends staking just 1 or 2 points on bets whilst the other goes as high as 3 points. This can mean that there is a hypothetical top stake of 5 points on a bet should both tipsters back the same dog.
The strike rate for Top Dogs is one of the things that really stands out about the service. Between the two tipsters, the historic figure is in excess of 50%.The last month has produced below this figure which whilst still a solid looking 45%, ultimately incurred a loss. This highlights the need to get the best possible odds and ties back in with the problem I have with them not being provided.
How Does Top Dogs Work?
Whilst Steve Clark is the face of Top Dogs, the tips actually come from two different sources. These are referred to as “The Inside Man” and “The Dog Scientist”. The Inside Man is supposedly a “Well-established greyhound TV presenter and expert” with “Enviable connections within the greyhound world”. On top of this, he is a professional and profitable backer and layer as well as an owner with “multi-decade involvement in all things greyhounds”.
“The Dog Scientist” is claimed to be a full time professional backer, layer and trader with an extensive history in bookmaking. On top of this, he used to be the head of Betfair Greyhounds. Described as having an “Encyclopaedic knowledge of UK and Irish dog scene” as well as having owned and bred dogs, we are told that Greyhound racing is his life.
Of course what Steve Clark is trying to sell us here is that these two figureheads clearly know their stuff. Now it is worth noting that whilst there is technically no real evidence to suggest that either of these people are real, I do feel that the results are substantial enough to back this up.
What is the Initial Investment?
Top Dogs is priced at £47 per month, a figure that I feel is a tad pricier than I would want to pay. Of course this is entirely subjective and if Top Dogs can make money, then the pricing is ultimately pretty irrelevant. It is worth mentioning that Steve Clark does offer a 30 day money back guarantee however payment is processed directly through Paypal and you will have to claim this directly through Winning Online.
On the plus side they are a well established company and I don’t believe that you will struggle here.
What is the Rate of Return?
There are a lot of numbers which are thrown about when it comes to Top Dogs and this is clearly due to how Steve Clark markets. He throws about numbers like £103 in 23.83 seconds, £150 in 27.18 seconds and £206 in 15.95 seconds, all of which clearly refer to the length of the race. I believe that these numbers are also based on £50 stakes. Being more realistic about things, you are looking at around 8 points per month on average.
Conclusion on Top Dogs?
Top Dogs has not necessarily had the best of runs recently and this is something that I have definitely taken into consideration. With that having been said, I also believe that this is one o the better quality tipster services that I have looked at recently for a number of reasons. First of all, the historic result fare much better.
The unfortunate fact of the matter is that every service will have ups and downs and whilst I would love to find something that does nothing but make me money, it is unlikely to happen.
I also don’t doubt that Steve Clark has brought on board the guys that he claims he has. This is a little bit gut feeling and a little bit evidence based, but here is something you can take to the bank. Disingenuous people do not generally tend to put their mobile number on their website. I know this because I have looked at a lot of products that fit this bill.
All of these positives don’t however get around the biggest problem that I have with Top Dogs which is value for money. Top Dogs is quite pricey if I am honest and for this, you are not getting a lot of profit. Even using £50 stakes, you are looking at around £350 per month extra once you have paid your subs. This isn’t bad, don’t get me wrong, but I can think of services that offer better returns.
My final thoughts on Top Dogs look a bit like this. If you are looking to specifically add a greyhound tipster service to a wider portfolio, it is a pretty decent offer. Otherwise, the tipster market is very competitive at the moment and when compared to the bigger picture I don’t really believe that Top Dogs cuts the mustard.
