Talbenny (2) - 02/06/12

[willie reynolds]

Pritchard Bros on top from difficult Talbenny

The East Down Combine had their first channel race of the season on Saturday 2nd June, when the birds were released in Talbenny in South Wales. With bad weather coming in to the south of Ireland on the Saturday morning and moving northwards during the day, the birds were released at 7.30am in an attempt to get them home before the rain from the south had moved northwards towards the line of flight. Wind at the racepoint for the liberation was southeast.

Talbenny has produced many erratic races over the years and this was to be another one, with even the early pigeons well behind schedule. Indications are that the pigeons may have ran into a fog on the Irish Sea, although this didn’t show on any of the early morning forecasts. This then caused the birds to cross lower down in Ireland where some of them ran into the rain, which had moved swiftly up from the south.

The winners of the South Down Fed this week are Pritchard Bros of Annsborough whose pigeons always seem to thrive in difficult conditions. This bird also takes 3rd section, 16th Open East Down Combine. The partnership is made up of brothers Charlie and Denzil and they have put up sterling performances in recent years, with their best results coming in races where the winning velocities are low. The pigeon timed here is a three-year-old Van Reet hen from birds bred down off stock obtained from Tony Smyth, Downpatrick. These birds have been a great purchase for the Annsborough duo as they have featured regularly in the club and Fed results.

Bobby McConnell Annalong is second Fed this week with the pigeon that won a Meritorious Award last year in the East Down Combine for best single bird average from 2nd Talbenny and Penzance.

The pigeon timed is a two-year-old hen takes 4th section, 20th Open and was 3rd club, 33rd Open from 2nd Fermoy last year after a bad trap when she could have been pushing for top honours. She was also 2nd club from 2nd Talbenny and then 3rd Fed, 6th section, 7th Open and 5th Classic Penzance. The sire was bred by K Rooney & Son for the club’s Breeder Exchange while the dam was bred by Arnie Tonks.

Annsborough’s RJ Keown is another well established channel loft and here he has two birds in the Fed result at 3rd and 9th Fed with these birds taking 5th section, 27th Open and 18th section respectively. RJ’s first pigeon is a yearling hen that had only one race as a young bird. The sire was 1st South Down Fed from the King’s Cup in 2009 when he was 41st Open. The dam is a winner of an East Down Combine achievement award for three times in the Open result from the St. Malo Derby having been 2nd, 16th and 9th Open from St. Malo.

RJ’s second pigeon is a two-year-old red cheq hen. Its dam was a top class racer having been 6th Open Bude and 39th Open Penzance in 2010, and 24th Open Bude last year. The sire, a Louella Roland Janssen is a grandson of ‘Rode Bingo’, 4 times Ace pigeon in Belgium

K Rooney & Son Annalong are 4th Fed, 9th section, 34th Open this week as their run of good form continues. The pigeon timed is a yearling grizzle cock. It’s off a son of ‘The Joker’ a Cooremans cock from Jackie Scates, Hillfoot, while the dam is a granddaughter of ‘The joker’ which the bought at the Blackpool Show. This pairing has produced a lot of winners for Kevin and Kristopher and for others.

Annsborough’s R McDowell & Son are 5th Fed, 11th section this week. Somebody remarked to me last week that the results for this race featured all the recognised channel flyers and with the McDowells we again have one of the Fed’s most consistent Channel lofts. The pigeon timed here is a yearling hen. The sire is from Billy Lecky, Ards, lines while the dam has the Joe McGreevy, Crossgar lines crossed with their own old Fletcher Busschaert lines.

G & P Brown Annsborough are 6th Fed, 13th section here following on from their superb race the previous week when they were 2nd, 3rd, and 12th section, and 3rd, 4th and 22nd Open. The pigeon timed is a two-year-old cock that was 1st Open Fermoy last year and like most of Geraldine and Patrick’s birds is from K Rooney & Son Annalong. Its sire is a Busschaert from Davy Shields and Dtr of the Cragshead club in Durham while the dam is a Janssen and is a full sister of Geraldine and Patrick’s Skibbereen Classic winner last year.

On the same yard we have the other Brown Loft in Annsborough, P Brown & Son, taking 7th Fed, 14th section. This two-year-old is another from the K Rooney & Son lofts which have bred so many prizewinners for both the Brown lofts in Annsborough. The pigeon timed here is a Lindelauf.

H Knight Annsborough is a loft showing a lot of form in recent weeks. This week Bert is 8th Fed, 15th section. Bert’s is another name that seems to appear when the going gets tough. The pigeon timed here is another from his own old bloodlines.
The result is completed by Annsborough’s Benson Bros at 10th Fed. The Benson’s for many years relied on their old Barker family of pigeons for harder days but now their M & D Evans’ Vandenabeeles are doing the job. The pigeon timed here is a yearling from their Vandenabeele lines.

Full Result: 1, Pritchard Bros Annsborough 983; 2, B McConnell Annalong 978; 3, R J Keown Annsborough 971; 4, K Rooney & Son Annalong 961; 5, R McDowell & Son Annsborough 948; 6, G & P Brown Annsborough 946.873; 7, P Brown & Son Annsborough 946.805; 8, B Knight Annsborough 945; 9, R J Keown 937; 10, Benson Bros Annsborough 935

* Next Pool race this week from Bude
* Final of Loft Knock Out this week sees James Cleland go head to head against J McNally & Son in what should be a very close affair.

Brendan McLoughlin