I have been following the steady progress of Garrison Phanter who has had just 12 races here and seems to me to be one of those greyhounds who will continue to improve with experience.

His first six races were all over the four-bend 380metre distance and although he did not manage a win, he did figure prominently with two second and three third-place finishes.

All the indications were that the dog needed further and he has subsequently had six races over 540m which have resulted in two wins at eye catching odds of 4-1 and 6-1 latest.

I am of the opinion that the local bookmakers may be underestimating the dog’s potential and if that is so then more decent odds wins will be forthcoming.

Phanter’s litter brother, Garrison Cheeta, has taken longer to get onto the race card and only had his first race here two weeks ago when finishing fourth, however he made no mistake at the second time of asking, at the weekend, when romping home by almost four lengths.

Saturday night was an all-sponsored 12-trophy race meeting, and as I oversee the presentations after each race, it gives me an opportunity to speak to both the trainers and owner.

The connections of Rising Dawn were rightly excited about their dog’s win in the A3 grade race over 380m in a good time of 23.59sec. This was the dog’s second successive win in nine days in only her third race after having joined Julie Luckhurst’s kennels recently.

Her win time would suggest that she would figure prominently in a grade A2 race which will be next for her.

Hello Navigator won the top grade A1 race at odds of 7-1 and somewhat surprised his trainer.

Credit where credit is due, the ex-Henlow racer went up the grades from A6 up to A2 level and has now won four of his eight starts here winning in A3, A2 and now A1 races.

Surely he is in the top grade now on merit? The next couple of races will confirm this view.