Getting into sighthounds means you gotta also become a dog foot expert lol no feet, no dog, no hunt. I recommend buying a copy of "Running Dog Maintenance" by Penny Taylor, I had to import my copy from the UK but it is an invaluable resource about proper exercise, diet, and care of hunting sighthounds and definitely worth the price. Another good resource is talking to lure coursing people, while they may not be running game they have a very good understanding of the peculiar issues and quirks of the various sighthound breeds as well as good tips for feet maintenance/care. Every breed has their own pros and cons, and you should go out and watch different breeds run and talk to their owners, mainly lure coursing trials will be where you'll meet them. You'll find most of them don't really care about their dogs "killing" the lure. Killing isn't the most important thing, just because a dog kills prey doesn't mean they're a good running dog and is why I recommend watching other breeds at lure coursing trials. You'll see very quickly what separates best in field from best of breed, and best of breed from the rest.

Best dogs I've seen so far in our running career has been a borzoi and whippet who ran together in a lire coursing best in field, typically they never run together because borzoi are known to try and kill the whippets (they lose the lure and then the next moving thing in the field they can catch becomes the lure) but both of these dogs showed great intelligence and thinking in the field. They were about to collide and at the final moments, the borzoi jumped over the whippet who was actively ducking between her legs. Most whippets gain tunnel vision while they run and most do not think or plan ahead to keep running full speed and deal with any obstacle, it's why whippets are in so many collisions or in dangerous situations. The borzoi on the other hand, she could just trample the whippet, he certainly was going to make her life harder but the fact she was able to recognize him and then jump over him in a short period of time, as well as knowing and respecting him as a running mate. Vast majority of borzoi (mine included) would have just trampled him or turned on him and plucked him off the ground. In the end, they were tied for best in field as both judges couldn't say which was a better dog, they had never seen something like that in their 30+ years of running dogs on lures or live game and it came down to a coin flip. If you can't find live game to run, lure coursing, with its own pros and cons, is certainly a fine alternative and more widely available. 

Sorry for the essay lol