Having watched greyhound racing for the last 40 years, perhaps the two most important facts I have learnt is that you must never forget luck is temporary, class is permanent and also that the racing manager knows no more about the runners than you – providing you do your homework and follow the cards on a regular basis.

Like all sports, luck will always play a big part and in addition you know that the racing office will have dealt themselves a strong hand when grading a race card – but this does not necessarily mean they hold all the aces.

Numerically and percentage-wise, they have the better hand, so accept this and use the trump cards you hold to land the pot.

In essence, you must use what you know to be factual to your advantage and never be put off a greyhound because of a bookmaker’s price because they do not get results right every time.

All tracks use a grading system which should correctly be considered as an aid that you can use to your advantage because greyhounds are graded in accordance with their current form, rather than their full range of ability.

The racing manger is obliged to grade a dog on the basis of how it is performing at the moment but the dog may well have had better results in the past and won in a higher grade, so there are always dogs on the card that are in too low a grade.

With the above in mind, you are more likely to get a winner when this situation applies – as was the case last weekend when two greyhounds with known ability won for no other reason than to my mind, they were among weaker company than usual.

Ryves Rock won at odds of 5-1, while Leamaneigh Mick scored at 6-1.

The former is a dog that has done it all before and has won plenty of top grade A1 races. No doubt there was a concern he would not get to the first bend in front given the early pace in the field. However, he did and won as I expected he would.

Similarly, Mick was in grade A4 at the weekend having won in grade A2 and competed at A1 in the past.

It just shows that ability remains and can be used in your favour.

My dogs for you to consider at the moment are Inishowen Impact, Gosputnicgo and Sharons Delight.