Advice from those who know please 7D settings

I am going to try to get some pics of greyhounds racing this afternoon. I plan on being on the bend so will try to get some shots sort of head on to 3/4 view as they round the bend, I wont be going for side on shots. I will have my 70-200 lens but what I am not sure of is the AF mode. I dont know if I need zone or expanded or automatic or or or or, you get the picture.
I will try to practice on previous races so might have a bit of a chance to try a few before the important race (the one my friends dog is in) but I'd really like to get it right.
any advice please, you need to be quick cause I have to leave in about 45mins.

I'd suggest spot AF to lock inon your target of choice, then AI Servo tracking to keep it in focus while you shoot a burst of shots.

You can configure the joystick on the back of the camera to be able to move around your AF spot, which can be helpful to lock in on what you want.

thanks for you suggestion. I'll probably try a few depending on how much time I have.

I'd use either Zone or expansion AF modes definitely not spot AF.

spot AF will be way too difficult to keep up with running dogs.

I'm back, I used expanded automatic AF. No time to practice before her race. Not great. Next time I'll try zone AF I think. I'll post a couple later.
Oh, she ran second.

same examples?

Not too happy but no, I am not blaming the camera, I am sure it's me. Let me say first that the conditions were difficult, the fence where I was standing was almost as high as my head and I had to stand on a gutter, so with elbows level with my head and standing on uneven ground, well.
This is cropped a fair bit. I used expanded AF and it says it was focussed on the yellow jacket although the leading dog looks more in focus to me.

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You uploaded without Exif, so it's almost impossible to comment on your settings. Which aperture did you use?

I am more after advice on the AF mode I need to be using. As to the exif I dont know how to block it, I know people have checked up on it before without me posting it but for you the aperture on the first pic was f/4 and on the second f/2.8

anyone?

what custom function AF settings do you have?

Whippeticious wrote in post #10107164
I am more after advice on the AF mode I need to be using. As to the exif I dont know how to block it, I know people have checked up on it before without me posting it but for you the aperture on the first pic was f/4 and on the second f/2.8

other settings besides AF come into play, so it is easier for us to diagnose if we know all the settings (eg shutter speed, aperture, etc)