From the fair city
With Kevin Barry & Tucker Daniel
Hello folks, hope you are all well,
The last of the I.S.R.F. old bird inland open races was flown from Barleycove (approx 200 mile) on Sunday the 22nd of June after a one day holdover.
After 2 fine weeks of weather the forecast for the weekend was for heavy rain and high winds and it certainly didnt disappoint, Saturday was an absolute washout and with the gale force winds you couldnt even let the young birds exercise never mind liberate race birds, the Sunday started the same way but with the rain moving eastwards the decision to wait as long as possible for a lib was made, eventually the birds where released into a very strong westerly wind right on the deadline of 2pm. At the time of liberation in Dublin it was still bucketing down but by the time the winners made it up the country they just caught the last of the heavy showers but it didnt slow them down, with the winning velocity well into the 1900s, so a brave call from the liberator and one I think that must have been agonising.
The winning pigeon was clocked after 2 hours and 57 minutes flying 194 miles to the loft of Brian Brady from the Greenhills club, Brian is flying out of his skin this year , this being his 6th win in the club and has 2nd 5th and 8th fed already to his credit. The open win didnt come without a portion of good luck, Brian told me the self bred Janseen yearling widowhood cock had lost his hen 2 weeks previous to the big race and he had contemplated not sending him but on the night before basketing she turned up out of the blue, spent the night with the cock and as the saying goes the rest is history, some say its luck but the harder you work the luckier you get in my opinion, the winning velocity was 1924, right behind in 2nd club 2nd open is previous fed topper the McGovern Bros on 1920, another Greenhills flyer Bobby Traynor comes next in the club and also takes 4th open in what turned out to be a great day for the club M/M Jimmy Roberts have 4th club 25th open, with Alan Nulty next for 33rd open.
Cabra R.P.C.
1st club & 1st Finglas station & 4th open was W Mc Carthy this is his 2nd win
of the season vel 1914.228. 2nd club was M MC Manus vel 1897.608. 3rd went
to John Aylmer with a vel of 1893.964. 4th & 6th club was T.OBrien with vel's
of 1893.742 & 1870.706 5th club was C. Brennan vel 1887.686.Thats all for this
week Kevin and I wish everybody thats racing France next week the BEST OF LUCK
John O Callaghan secretary Cabra R.P.C.
P & D Donnelly win the Shelbourne club and tops the station and splits the Greenhills lads for 3rd open, Brian Lyons is 2nd club and Bob Allen 3rd, Bill O Mara & G/Dtr win the Coolock club and tops the Northside station and 6th open on 1914, C & J Bradley again win the Homing club for 13th open.
Kildonagh & Dist.
J. Gannon has a good one this week and wins the club also taking 7th open on 1905.4, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th club is Gerry O Mara & Fam all 4 getting into the open result for 15th, 26th 47th and 61st, M. Matthews gets in between these for 4th club 32nd open.
Sarsfield R.P.C.
A very popular winner this week and the second fancier this year to break his novice in our club is Gary Byrne, you may remember last week I mentioned Gary as one of our up and coming flyers well this week he proved how good he is with his first win and 8th open on 1902. The competition in this club is fierce and just to show how well Gary done this week he has 3 of the most consistent flyers right behind him, Anto Sweeney has a couple for 2nd & 6th club 11th and 20th open, Pat Craven is 3rd club 16th open with M/M Padner Byrne a decimal behind Pat in 4th club 17th open on 1897. Pat Byrne & Fam finish off the result in 6th.
Finglas R.P.C. 16/210
Again the cream rose to the top in this club with 2 in form lofts battling it out for the club win, winning the battle and not for the first time is James Boland & Dtr on 1901.2 right behind just .1 of a yard in fact is that man again Spike Emmett racing as C & K Emmett & Sons on 1901.1 and this pair take 9th & 10th open, Spike had another in the clock for 3rd club 16th open with Collie Owens right there as well 4th club 19th open doing 1895.
DUBLIN NORTH EAST.
Doesnt seem to matter how hard the day, or what velocities the birds be it 1100 to 2000 yards per minute. When your loft is if form its wont stop you winning and that what the Haydens loft is IN FORM.
Taking their 6th win of the year and 4 birds in the top 20 of the North side Station it really was a great day.
The winner this week is a yearling Blue Pied hen flying roundabout of Janssen crossed Frank Tasker breeding, She really is yet another star in the making for this partnership with 3 x 1st under her belt, 2 so far this year and 29th fed 6013 birds, 17th fed 3741 and I am sure a top 20 open position from Barley cove good going by anyones standard.
1st , 2nd & 4th Mr & Hayden 1889, 1888 & 1841. 3rd Joe White 1854.
Northside & Dist.
A couple here to catch up with.
Mallow 14/6/08
Shay Mc Mahon doing a vel 1506.5 wins this one, next up and hitting the crossbar is M & G Mc Court in 2nd & 7th,
T Smith takes 3rd & 9th, in 4th & 8th its Teeling & O'Leary S Mohan takes 5th, K & D Perry & Dtrs take the 6th position
& the final card goes to Gem Browne
Sennen Cove 14/6/08
D Mahon wraps up the channel averages with another win, winning with a blue yearling hen, have to say well done to Derek as
he has won the channel averages in super fashion... he also takes 4th position, T Norris takes 2nd, P & D Cleary takes 3rd
T Smith takes 5th, S Mohan is next up in 6th, having a good year is K & D Perry & Dtrs in 7th & 9th,M & G Mc Court take 8th
while good auld Johnny Henry takes 10th well done lads
Barleycove (Open)
T Smith takes the red card in this one he also takes 8th,the winning bird is a Cheq pied hen and doing a vel 1834,the consistent K & D Perry & Dtrs take a couple here with 2nd & 10th , J Rohan & Hosey take the next two with 3rd & 4th,
D Mahon takes 5th & 9th, next up is S Mc Mahon and the final card goes to Devesey Bros.
Well with the old bird season winding down the reports are getting shorter and the birdage getting fewer but it wont be long before the babies are filling the panniers and the hopes of some of us including myself who havent had a good year with the old birds will be raised again. As I finish this off on Friday the birds in France are being held at the moment, another nightmare for the liberators and one I dont envy them, I just hope we get a race this year.
The photos this week again come from Billy Harris and he took them at the open station after the Barleycove race last week.
Thats it for this week folks,
Happy racing.
Kevin Barry
0863292654
kevinbarry88@gmail.com
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Barleycove - 22/06/2008