We have had some really interesting newcomers to the track in the last month, being the type of greyhounds that look like they have that extra bit of class that will see them win plenty of races here.

While most of our newcomers are youngsters, occasionally we have a greyhound arrive with plenty of race experience who are in the latter stages of their careers, as is the case with hurdler Saleen Tompajoe who is now with Crayford trainer Steve Gammon.

The dog started in Tralee Ireland in April 2011 and had raced 49 times before arriving at Crayford. The dog ran at five other tracks in Ireland before coming over to this country to compete at Sittingbourne, Romford and Coventry.

In the interim, he appeared here in early February to run in an Open race over 380 metres when trained by Kevin Hutton. He showed his class when romping home to win at odds of 10-1 and his connections must have been impressed with the way he ran the track here which is not the easiest for dogs weighing in at nearly 36kgs.

Having also been schooled over hurdles and then winning at Tralee in mid June 11, it was also evident that his flat speed could be put to good effect over the sticks. After a scintillating hurdles trial here when he recorded a time of 23.66 seconds, he ran his first hurdle race at Crayford on September 7 when he met hot favourite Soviet Military trained by Ricky Holloway at Wimbledon who generally wins here for fun.

While Soviet went off at very short price of 2-9 odds-on favourite, he was soundly and fairly beaten by Tompajoe who was 10-1 at one point but was returned at odds of 7-1. I am confident more victories will follow.

In contrast, puppy Dash On Black announced her arrival when winning just her third race here on September 10. Not two until next February, the pup caught the eye when recording a trial time of 23.77 seconds over 380m. This put her straight on to the card at A2 level and she managed two consecutive second places. Dropping a level last week, she made no mistake in her A3 race when romping in 23.66. She is one for your notebook.