While a racing greyhound’s career can be between the ages of 18 months and five years, most dogs reach a point when they are at their prime.

The problem, of course, is identifying early when that stage is reached.

It would appear Dash On Black, trained by Barry O’Sullivan, is a classic case having won seven of her last 10 races including two second-place finishes. We may not be too late to benefit from her exceptional form as she is showing no signs of taking her foot off the pedal.

During the last two and a half months, all of the dog’s wins have been against top- flight company in the high grades and open races and she would have had to raise her game for these victories.

Her latest win over 380m came in grade A2, so an upgrading can be expected for her next race over this distance. But be warned – the dog has never won an A1 race, probably because the distance is too short and the rivals too strong over a sprint distance.

The advice here must be to wait for her to drop back down to A2 level.

Over 540m it is a different story. She is a winner of S1 races and open events so back her with confidence.

Like all sports in which you are closely involved, you come across a lot of stories and with greyhounds, it is usually about a dog’s past.

At the weekend I presented a trophy to Paul Tompsett – trainer of Ice Cream Charlie – who had just won his first open race. Without any prompting, Paul, who was clearly delighted with the dog and his win odds of 8-1, explained how the dog’s name came about – he was originally owned by an ice cream vendor in Ireland and apparently he had an ice cream van.

The dog was certainly cool on Saturday and despite that big price, did not look out of place. With just 12 races on his card, he has climbed from A4 up to open class in three months and I expect improvements to continue. Listen for that ice cream van!

The furthest distance we race here is 874m, although such races are far and few between. However, it is possible we may have one such race on Boxing Day.

If we do, watch out for Powerfast Puma. The O’Sullivan-trained runner finished strongly to win over 714m at the weekend.