Mount Charles (1) - 04/28/2012

[willie reynolds]

G & P Brown make it 2 wins out of 3 races

The East Down Combine moved on to Mount Charles in Co Tipperary for their third race of the season. With the birds released at 11.15 am in a north northeasterly wind this was going to be a more difficult race for the birds. Last weeks winner was doing 1701 yards per minute but this weeks South Down Federation winner was doing 1205, with the East Down Combine Open being won in Dundonald by Roy Irwin on a velocity of 1220.

The winner of the Fed this week is Annsborough’s G & P Brown who got off to a great start taking 1st and 2nd Fed in the first race from Mullingar. This week they are 1st and 3rd Fed with both birds featuring in the section and Open results at 3rd and 5th section, 9th and 27th Open.

Geraldine and Patrick were Fanciers of the Year in the Federation last year and have started off well in their quest to retain that honour. Their first bird is a yearling cock from stock obtained from Kevin and Kristopher Rooney. The sire is Lindelauf and these birds have featured regularly for both the Rooneys and the Browns. The dam is Busschaert from the birds Kevin and Kristopher got from D Shield Son & Dtr from the North East of England.
Geraldine & Patrick’s second pigeon is a Van Dyck bred by the Rooneys and is another yearling cock. This one was 3rd club Tullamore the previous week.

James Cleland Annsborough had a great race here with three birds in the Fed result and his fourth bird taking 10th club. James’ first bird was 5th section, 12th Open. For many years James concentrated solely on distance racing but in recent years has built an impressive team of birds to compete in the sprint – middle distance races as well. For the most part these pigeons are Soontjens from Maurice Alexander, Ballymena and Pros Roosens from Martin Flynn, Drumaness. However it is to another strain that we go to for his first bird this week. This one is a Freddy Vandenheede yearling cock that was unraced as a young bird.

James’ second pigeon this week taking 8th Fed is a two-year-old hen. The breeding is Pros Roosen x Gust Janssen. The pigeon at 10th Fed is a yearling hen and is a Soontjens. The sire is down from pigeons obtained from Maurice Alexander while the dam is from John Greenaway, Bondhill.

Annsborough’s Michael Jennings is 4th Fed, 12th section, 31st Open with a yearling hen with a great race record as a young bird. This bird was 8th Fed, 95th North section in the Skibbereen Young Bird National, having been 8th Fed the previous week from Skibbereen Derby, and 6th Fed, 7th section, 16th Open Talbenny the week before. It’s sire is a mealy Van De Ryck cock that he got from John Jobey in November. The dam is the Van De Wegan hen that bred his section winner in 2008 and the Talbenny winner in 2009, plus other prizewinners.

Mickey Croskery Annsborough is 5th Fed, 14th section this week with a daughter of ‘Joe 90’, winner of a Talbenny Open in the East Down Combine in 2010. He was also 2nd Open from Bude in 2008 but was unraced in 2009. In 2010 he was also 1st Fed from Mount Charles, when it was 3rd section and 3rd Open. It was also 7th Fed, 18th section, 31st Open from the Joe Ringland Skibbereen Classic. The sire of this bird is a son of the ‘Provence’ cock while the dam is a Janus & Fox.

D Croskery & Son are 6th Fed this week with the blue cock that was 1st Fed, 19th North section, 127th Open Skibbereen Young Bird National last year. It’s nest mate had been 1st Fed the previous week from the Skibbereen Derby. The dam was reared for the late Eddie Coulter of Lisburn, but when Eddie gave up the pigeons Dolen got this pigeon back. It is from the De Klaks and its dam was 9th Open from Portland. The sire is from the racing loft and has had two x 1sts racing. The breeding again is from the original De Klaks.

Newcastle’s E & A Rogan are 7th Fed this week and they have been having a super season having taken the first seven positions in the club result from Tullamore. The pigeon timed here is a De Klak Janssen from their Brian Murray, Manchester pigeons. These birds have done really well for Eddie and Aidie and I know that they have picked up a lot of tips from Brian.
The result is completed by Annsborough’s R J Keown at 9th Fed. RJ’s pigeon is exceptionally well bred and is from a son of ‘Oscar’, a prolific breeder and on the dam’s side it is down from the ‘show cock’. These pigeons have bred numerous prizewinners in recent years for RJ.

Full Result: 1, G & P Brown Annsborough 1205; 2, J Cleland Annsborough 1204; 3, G & P Brown 1188; 4, M Jennings Annsborough 1187; 5, M Croskery Annsborough 1186; 6, D Croskery & Son 1176; 7, E & A Rogan Newcastle 1175.5; 8, J Cleland 1175.4; 9, R J Keown Annsborough 1175.0; 10, J Cleland 1170:

• Around the Clubs: In Tyrella S Milligan & Dtr take the top three, while in Annalong K Rooney & Son take the top three there. In Dundrum J Maguire & Ptrs lead the way from S Foster, Connor & Parry and A Murray & Son. In Newcastle E & A Rogan are 1st and 2nd with Dan Hillen 3rd. Annsborough is as per the Fed result.

• The 2nd Round of the Knock Out is on this week from Fermoy. The first round saw a few big names go down, with G & P Brown, D Croskery & Son and M Croskery all going out at this stage. Ties of the 2nd round are J Cleland v R J Keown and S Milligan & Dtr v B Higgins.


Brendan McLoughlin PO.