Dance, a one-time centre three-quarter for Balmain Tigers reserve and third grade rugby league sides, has been training greyhounds on the central coast since the early 1980s.
"I won a treble during the 1980s but can't remember the exact date, and have a particularly high opinion of Ibrox Braveheart, who won over 388m in a quick 22.04 at Gosford on Tuesday,'' Dance said.
"He is really a 500m dog but I have had trouble working him up to that distance as he has been a problem child.
"Ibrox Braveheart 'knocked up' a toe six months ago and has had ongoing troubles in that department ever since.
"My wife Cathy and I bought Ibrox Braveheart and Ibrox Rocks as unraced youngsters when they were 11 months and seven months of age respectively.
"Unfortunately Ibrox Avatar drew box seven on Tuesday and he is desperate for an inside box.
"He has a really big motor and providing he can draw some inside boxes I expect him to win plenty of races.
"We used to breed all our own but when the greyhound ban was mooted we became gun-shy as far as breeding went and have since concentrated on buying young stock.''
Not everyone has fond memories of their time at school but that obviously does not apply to Billy Dance, who has named most of the greyhounds owned by he and his wife Cathy after Ibrox, the Leichhardt high school he attended.
"Monotony, the second greyhound I owned, did not race but became the mother of Chariot's Gift, who won 27 races between 1988 and 1991,'' Dance recalled.
"I was still a rookie trainer in those days and made a few mistakes with her so she did well to win 11 races at Wentworth Park, six over 720m and five over 520m.
"After Chariot's Gift retired I attended a reunion at my old high school and when I got home promised myself I would name one of her offspring Ibrox Park.
"Her son Ibrox Park gave me my biggest win when he took out the group 1 National Distance Championship at Adelaide's Angle Park in 1997.
"Ibrox Park was by Worthy Reward and when mated to GROVE WHISPER, Chariot's Gift produced War Whisper, who won the 1997 WP Potential Stakes, a semi-classic event in those days, while I also won a Richmond Derby in 2007 with Laurie's Tigers.''
Jungle Deuce and Zipping Kyrgios gave the 516m track record a shake when they trialled at Dubbo in preparation for Saturday night's heats of the Ladbrokes Brother Fox Dubbo Cup.
The Jack Smith-trained Jungle Deuce has box four in heat one while Zipping Kyrgios, from the John Finn kennels, has drawn two in heat two.
Zipping Kyrgios overcame a moderate start to win the group 3 Bob Payne Sprint at WP at his most recent start but John Finn's wife Minnie said he can't afford to dwell at box rise at Dubbo.
"Dubbo has a shorter run to the first turn than Wenty Park, a track Zipping Kyrgios just loves,'' she said.
Zulu Warlord, who led until the last couple of strides when beaten a head by the Finns' dog in the May 8 Bob Payne, disappointed trainer Michael Hardman when he trialled at Dubbo.
But Hardman is not terribly concerned, pointing out that Zulu Warlord, who has box four in heat two of the Brother Fox, seldom runs fast times in solo trials.
"He is a real race dog, not a trial greyhound,'' Hardman said.
