Droopys San Remo has made an excellent start to her career here for trainer Jean Liles, having won two of her first five starts in top grade A1.

She joins the Liles kennel strength having had 37 races, so she has the know-how to compete against the best here.

The dog had raced at Romford, Pelaw Grange, Sunderland, Sheffield and Brough Park and her record shows that she has always been in the top-three grades at each venue.

After some impressive trials here, the dog went onto the race card in top grade A1 over 380m and has shown plenty of early pace running from her usual inside trap.

She can continue to be competitive if she can make the first turn without any crowding. In doing so, she looks like being a hard dog to beat and is definitely one for you to watch out for.

It is always pleasing to see dogs returning to the race card after an enforced layoff.

Fernhill Fury is one of my favourite greyhounds at Crayford, so it was good to see him after an absence of three months. Having now had four races, he looks near to his best.

The dog is always a threat in top grades here and is a regular competitor in open races against greyhounds from other tracks. With seven wins in such races, he has that little bit of extra class over and above our graded runners so, given how genuine the dog is, expect him to be a big player over the weeks.

While dogs like Fernhill Fury tend to grab the headlines, I have equal admiration for those long-serving graders who are the bread and butter of all stadiums.

We have some outstanding characters in excess of 100 competitive races. One
such dog is Ballaghboy Grump, who has 115 on his record.

A kennel mate of Fernhill Fury and thus also trained by Paul Tompsett, Grump won for the 16th time on Friday night in bottom grade S8 over 540m.

Old age catches up with us all and in 2012 you would have found the dog in the dizzy heights of S2 races but he still puts in his best shift every time he races, as this win shows.

As such, he is as important as our best dogs and will continue to give you a run for your money.