Last week’s column produced two winners. Both Popalong Benji (6/4) and General Warhorse (7/4) won well and follow-up successes can be expected.

Aghadown Donna is among the most popular dogs at the track, so it was good to see her returning to winning ways on Friday night.

This win came in grade A2 over 380 metres from a greyhound that is not unaccustomed to winning top-grade A1 and Open races over the distance.

So while this victory will not have come as any great surprise to backers, it might be a warning that she is returning to somewhere near her best.

She is competitive, as Friday’s race showed, with her refusing to give way to Blacknomilk who she beat by just a neck. This race will also prove to be a positive indicator for the latter, who was unlucky to lose.

It is always nice to see a dog winning in its 100th competitive race. Such was the case at the weekend when Carden Mary, trained by Steve Gammon, managed put the icing on the cake as she won on her big night by two lengths.

She could not have performed better with an all-the-way leading performance from trap to line and never looked in any danger. Her time of 23.93 seconds in the A7 event, if repeated, is certainly good enough to win an A6 race. The record book shows that this is about as fast as she can go but in late 2010 she raced at A3 level, so keep an eye on her.

Last December I tipped Afira here and she went on to put together four straight wins.

Since then she has done little, which has been somewhat of a mystery to me – in fact she has only managed one second place in the past seven months.

Clearly she is the type who is unlikely to ever win unless leading from the outset but on the clock her latest win says she has plenty to spare in grade A7 next time, so let’s hope that she traps out in front. It is time for her to show that she is better than the past few months reflect.