Mount Charles (2) - 30/04/11

[willie reynolds]

G & P Brown pick the right one

The East Down Combine pigeons were back in Mount Charles for their fourth race of the season on Saturday 30 April. The birds were released at 9.30am in a northeast wind, which was to freshen on the way home. While the easterly element in the wind isn’t the most favoured by the South Down fanciers they can be very pleased with the performances here with eleven Fed birds in the Open result.

The Open was topped for the second time this year by Dundonald’s Roy Irwin but with a touch of north in the wind the pigeons were able to tuck down into it and there were a good spread of clubs in the Open result.

The winners of the South Down Fed this week are Annsborough’s G & P Brown with their fancied bird on the day taking pools, Nom
and DTW to give them winnings of £376.50. I believe there was also a substantial amount in the club DTW as well.
Geraldine and Patrick have got off to a great start to the season and had two birds in the Fed result last week as well. This was another great result for them to take 1st east section, 4th Open East Down Combine. They have another bird in the result at 4th Fed, 6th section, 18th Open to round off a good days racing.

The winning pigeon was 4th Fed, 9th section, 13th Open last week from the first Mount Charles and had been 3rd club the previous week from Tullamore. I can see from this why Geraldine picked it for the DTW. This two-year-old cock had some very impressive results last year, when it was 1st Fed, 1st section, 4th Open Tullamore and 2nd Fed, 2nd section, 5th Open Talbenny also winning the 3 Bird Channel Championship.

The sire of this pigeon is the Lindelauf cock that won the section from Pilmore Beach in 2008. The dam is a Busschaert, which has bred a lot of prizewinners for K Rooney & Son who are responsible for the majority of Patrick and Geraldine’s best racers these days.
Their second pigeon is a yearling cock out of a son of the ‘19’ cock winner of Penzance two years in a row in the Corrigs club and 2nd section ‘F’ on both occasions. The dam of the bird timed here is a Grondelaar. These birds originated from V Reid & Son, Dromore.
Mickey Croskery Annsborough had a good race too with three birds in the result. We haven’t heard a lot from Mickey this year yet so this could well be the start of his birds coming into form.

Mickey’s first bird was 2nd Fed, 4th section, 13th Open and is aptly named ‘The Devil’. It’s a yearling that raced well as a young bird and made the prizes twice. She is off a daughter of the treble Open winner, a winner of the Open from Bude, Sennen Cove and Penzance, when paired to ‘The Cairn’, a winner of a host of prizes including 2nd Open Talbenny and 6th Open Bude. The sire of the bird time here is a Walter De Rick pigeon.

The pigeon at 6th Fed, 8th section, 20th Open is a yearling cock, out of D Croskery & Son’s good blue hen, a winner of a host of prizes and also a phenomenal stock hen. The sire is another from their Walter De Rick pigeons.
Mickey’s third pigeon is a yearling hen from the old family of De Klaks, which have served the Croskerys so well over the years.
Annsborough’s R McDowell & Son are 3rd Fed, 5th section, 17th Open to get their season under way. This bird was actually 5th Club, 6th Fed, and 16th section, 27th Open St Malo last year. The pigeon timed is a yearling cock out of a Blue Pied cock obtained from Joe McGreevy, Crossgar while the dam is from Billy Lecky, Ards.

Last week’s Open winner Noel Maguire Annsborough keeps his good run of form going by taking 5th Fed, 7th section, 19th Open this week. This bird is a two-year-old Pros Roosen hen from James Cleland Annsborough. This bird was 7th Fed from Mullingar, and was fourth club, sixth Fed, seventh section, 18th Open Young Bird Talbenny in 2009.

Dundrum’s J Maguire & Ptrs are 7th Fed, 12th section, 34th Open to give them their best result of the season. This was a sure sign that their birds were coming into form and this was shown two days later when they were 1st and 2nd Fed in the Fed’s May Day race. The pigeon timed here is a yearling hen and is a Busschaert x Van Reet cross.

A Murray & Son Dundrum winner of the first three races in the Dundrum club are 2nd club, 9th Fed, 14th section, 36th Open this week. The bird timed here is a yearling cock that had two races as young bird when he was 3rd club Tullamore. This year he has been 10th club Tullamore, 5th club Mount Charles (1), and now 2nd club Mount Charles (2). The sire is Maurice Corens stock while the dam is Maurice Corens x Frans Laermans. There are numerous winners on both sides of this breeding.

The result is completed by Annsborough’s James Cleland 10th Fed. James is also 15th section, 37th Open here. James’ bird is a yearling hen with the sire coming from the Pros Roosens of Martin Flynn while the dam is a Sootjens from Maurice Alexander. These birds have crossed well and have been responsible for many prizewinners for James and others.

Hard luck to our youngest members J & J Rogan Newcastle who were 11th Fed and made the Open result at 16th section, 40th Open.

Full Result: 1, G & P Brown Annsborough 1227 ABCD Nom DTW £376.50; 2, M Croskery Annsborough 1207; 3, R McDowell & Son Annsborough 1202; 4, G & P Brown 1201; 5, N Maguire Annsborough 1200.776; 6, M Croskery 1200.370; 7, J Maguire & Ptrs Dundrum 1190.118; 8, M Croskery 1190.118; 9, A Murray & Son Dundrum 1189.93; 10, J Cleland Annsborough 1189.37.

* Draw for Round 3 of the Knock Out to be flown from 2nd Fermoy. 1, L & A Toner v Benson Bros; 2, S Foster, Connor & Parry v D McNabb & Ptrs; 3, N King & Son v P McCartan; 4, Mr & Mrs Irvine v J Maguire & Ptrs; 5, R McDowell & Son v G & P Brown; 6, N Maguire v J Newell; 7, D Croskery & Son v P Brown & Son; 8, R J Keown v S Milligan & Dtr:

* The Skibbereen Classic will have a £2 Nom. One bird per loft - winner takes all.