Skibbereen Classic - 14/05/11

[willie reynolds]

Geraldine’s Delight and Paddy’ Dream in Dream Result for G & P Brown

The East Down Combine had their first major race of the season when the birds were in Skibbereen for the Joe Ringland Old Bird Classic. The pigeons were released at 7.45am in a light west-northwest wind. Many pundits predicted that this would suit the coastal fanciers but others said that nowadays a west wind is more beneficial to clubs like Annsborough that lie just off the coast. In any case it was felt that this would be a great opportunity for South Down fanciers to perform well.

There were some heavy showers throughout the day but the birds skirted round these and made good time with the winning pigeon timed at 12.13pm. It turned out a great day for the South Down fancy, taking 10 of the top 20 positions in the Open with many more making the Open result.

Pride of place for the day goes once again to the Annsborough lofts of G & P Brown who took 1st and 2nd Open, with Dundonald’s S Brown & Son 3rd and Mickey Croskery, Annsborough 4th and 5th. This is another wonderful result for Geraldine and Patrick and puts them in second place in the Combine’s Inland Championship. It follows hot on their section win from 2nd Mount Charles when they scooped the Annsborough club and South Down Fed’s DTW.

The two pigeons timed here to take 1st and 2nd Open are two class pigeons with wonderful race records. The Open winner is ‘Geraldine’s Delight’, the pigeon that was 1st North section, 41st Open Irish National Flying Club Skibbereen Young Bird National last year. This year this yearling cock was 1st club, 12th section, 12th open Tullamore.

The parents of this pigeon are on loan from Annalong’s K Rooney & Son, and Patrick asked me to record his thanks again to Kevin and Kristopher for all the help they have given him over the past few years.
The sire of the pigeon timed here won an East Down Combine Open from Durrow in 2003 and has bred quite a few winners for Kevin and Kristopher. The breeding is Staf Van Reet from Brownlee, Ward & Nee. The dam is a Janssen from a pair bought at McCormack and Schofield’s clearance sale in Blackpool in 2006. The Janssen pair are ‘Mr Mack’ and ‘Amazing Grace’ and what a superb pedigree they have, having bred numerous winners for McCormack and Schofield including ‘Double 500’ winner of 1st City of Leeds Fed two years in a row from 500 miles. They have also bred many prizewinners for the Rooneys at Club, Fed and Combine level.
Geraldine and Patrick’s second pigeon is the bird that was 1st section, 4th Open from 2nd Mount Charles. This pigeon has now won £1650 in three weeks racing. This bird was also 3rd club, 4th South Down Fed, 9th section, 13th Open from the first Mount Charles and had been 3rd club the previous week from Tullamore. This two-year-old cock had some very impressive results last year, when it was 1st South Down Fed, 1st section, 4th Open Tullamore and 2nd South Down Fed, 2nd section, 5th Open Talbenny also winning the 3 Bird Channel Championship. This bird is known as ‘Paddy’s Dream’.
The sire of this pigeon is a 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.

To finish off a memorable day for Geraldine and Patrick they were 1st and 2nd in the Dundonald 3-bird challenge taking £520 for their efforts.

Mickey Croskery Annsborough bounced back to form with three birds in the Fed result at 3rd, 4th and 8th. Over the past few seasons Mickey has managed to get his birds to hit peak form on the channel so I’m sure we will hear a lot more from him in the coming weeks.
Mickey’s first bird is 3rd Fed, 3rd section and 4th Open winning £231.88. This bird is a yearling cock out of the Walter De Ryck hen that bred the Young Bird Derby winner for D Croskery & Son in 2008. The sire is a Kees Bosua bird, and these have done well for the Croskerys since their introduction. The bird timed here had only one race last year.
Mickey’s second bird is 4th Fed, 4th section, 5th Open and is another yearling cock. The sire of this one is another Walter De Rych, while the dam is from the original De Klak pigeons.
Mickey’s third pigeon is 8th Fed, 10th section, 14th Open winning £95.08 to take his winnings on the day to
£426.37. This one is a yearling hen in only its second race this year. She was 4th Fed, 5th Open Skibbereen Young Bird Derby last year. Her sire is from Eddie Coulter, Lisburn. These birds have bred many prizewinners for the Croskerys. The dam again is one of their De Klaks.

S Milligan & Dtr Tyrella are 5th Fed, 7th section, 11th Open this week with winnings of £310.89. The pigeon timed is a yearling blue pied hen and was their fancied pigeon on the day. The sire is a Braspenning from R McKelvey, Newry, while the dam is a Jos Van der Veken from G Delaney Dromore. This yearling hen has won the Nom in the club for Sean and Jennifer three times this year.

Annsborough’s Noel Maguire is 6th Fed, 8th section, 12th Open in what has been another wonderful year for him. It’s great to see Noel doing so well with such a small team. The pigeon timed here is from W Hardy & Son’s stock and is down from ‘Tina Turner’ their Hall of fame winner. This bird is Noel’s selection for the One Bird Challenge in the King’s Cup.
D Croskery & Son, Annsborough are 7th Fed, 9th section, 13th Open here with a grandson of their Hall of Fame winner. The dam is from N Black & Son Dromara (Does Gary know this?). This yearling cock had two prizes as a young bird.

Annsborough’s Benson Bros are 9th Fed, 13th section, 18th Open here winning £160.98. This bird was 7th Fed, 64th North section, 155th Open in the Skibbereen Young bird National last year having been 8th Fed, 11th section, 39th Open East Down Combine Skibbereen Young Bird Derby. The sire is From John Abernethy’s Harmony lofts while the dam is a Vandenabeele from M & D Evans.
The result is completed by Annsborough’s James Cleland who takes 10th Fed, 14th section, 20th Open. The sire of the bird timed here is off the ‘01’ cock that was 2nd Open in the Derek Wishart race from Pilmore Beach in 2007 and 4th Open Mallow in the same year. The dam is a Van Osche from Maurice Alexander.

Full Result: 1, 2, G & P Brown Annsborough 1533.098, 1533.003 Nom £42; 3, 4, M Croskery Annsborough 1531, 1530; 5, S Milligan & Dtr Tyrella 1521; 6, N Maguire Annsborough 1520; 7, D Croskery & Son Annsborough 1519; 8, M Croskery 1518; 9, Benson Bros Annsborough 1516; 10, J Cleland Annsborough 1514:

• Draw for Quarter Final of Loft Knock Out: 1, Benson Bros v D McNabb & Ptrs; 2, P McCartan v Mr & Mrs Irvine; 3, G & P Brown v N Maguire; 4, D Croskery & Son v R J Keown:
• Pools this week from 1st Talbenny.