Fermoy - Sunday 17/06/12

[willie reynolds]

Kevin and Kristopher Rooney 1st and 2nd Open from Fermoy

The East Down Combine weather committee decided against going to Bude for their race on Saturday 16th June. It was decided however that conditions were favourable for an inland race from either Fermoy or Mount Charles, with Fermoy being the selected race point. According to the forecast the forecast was never going to be favourable enough for a race and as a result the birds were hampered on Saturday evening for a Sunday race.

Many used the race as an opportunity to give their French candidates a good fly before the forthcoming Derby and National races while others saw it as another race. As it turned out there was a good entry of birds with 163 members sending 2,213 birds.
Sunday morning was bright and clear and the birds were released at 9.15am in a light north west wind and South Down fanciers were hopeful once again of obtaining good Combine honours and they weren’t to be disappointed with 13 Fed birds in the Open result. Pride of place goes to Annalong’s K Rooney & Son who were 1st and 2nd Open and rounded the day off well with another bird taking 5th Fed, 8th section, 8th Open. Kevin and Kristopher’s birds have shown a lot of good form in recent weeks and they have featured in both the Fed and Open results over the last few races. Their birds have put up some wonderful performances for other fanciers throughout the country and Geraldine and Patrick Brown Annsborough have achieved a lot of success at Combine level with their performances. Kevin and Kristopher will be delighted with this win in their own name, and I know that they have been putting in a big effort with Kristopher putting a few of his own ideas on motivating the birds into practice.

Their Open winner this week is off a Danny Van Dyke cock that was newly bought in last year. This bird has already produced a few winners for them and for other fanciers, in particular for G & P Brown, as mentioned above. The dam is a direct Marijke Vink hen. This yearling cock has been their most consistent racer this year and should have won a few weeks ago only for a bad trap. This pigeon is now aptly named ‘Superstar’.

The pigeon at second Open is off a Staf Van Reet cock that was ironically second Open himself, also beaten by a loft mate. The dam is a Janssen from Simon Schofield, Leeds, and she has already bred two Open winners. Scolfield’s Janssens have been their number one stock pigeons breeding many many winners. This yearling cock wasn’t raced as a young bird and has been called ‘Buster’.

Their pigeon taking 8th Open is off a Gust Jansen pigeon when paired to a daughter of McCartan & Woodsides’ ‘601’ cock, which has bred numerous winners at Open and club level. This pair has been together for a couple of years now and has bred many good winners.

Geraldine & Patrick Brown have another superb race here with three birds in the result. This has been another super season for one of the leading lofts in the Combine. Having already achieved 1st and 2nd Open themselves they wont begrudge the same achievement to Kevin and Kristopher whose birds do so well for them.

Geraldine and Patrick’s first bird is from the Rooney loft and is a Van Dyke x Lindelauf yearling cock winning its first club race here. It also takes 3rd Fed, 6th section, 6th Open.
Their second pigeon taking 4th Fed, 7th section, 7th Open is the bird that was 1st Open from 1st Fermoy. Another one from the Rooneys this one is a yearling Busschaert and is from the same lines as the bird that was 1st Fed, 3rd section, 9th Open from 1st Mount Charles. 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 Shields, Son & Dtr from the North East of England.
Their third bird at 6th Fed, 11th section, 11th Open again from Kevin and Kristopher and is a Van Dyke yearling cock. This one was 3rd Open from 3rd Mount Charles.

Michael Jennings Annsborough is 7th Fed, 15th section, 16th Open here for another good result. Michael has had a very consistent season taking a Fed position most weeks and that’s not easy. The pigeon timed here was 4th Open 1st Fermoy, and 5th Fed, 23rd Open from the Derek Wishart Fermoy. He obviously likes Fermoy. The pigeon timed is a Willy Jacobs cock from Mr & Mrs Gerald Delaney’s Oroory Hill Stud. The dam of this cock was 1st club, 1st Fed from Mullingar last year.

James Cleland Annsborough with three birds in the top ten completes the result. This has been another wonderful season for James who has taken some impressive positions this year. James’ first bird here was 8th Fed, 16th section, 17th Open and is a Freddy Vandenheede. This one has already put up some sterling results this year taking, was 12th Open from 1st Mount Charles and 1st Fed, 2nd Open Fermoy. This yearling cock was unraced as a young bird but certainly has learned very quickly this year and will be a contender for Old Bird of the Year at both Fed and Combine level.

James’ second pigeon, taking 9th Fed, 17th section, 18th Open is off the ‘01’ cock, that was 2nd Open in the first ever Derek Wishart Memorial race in 2007. James was 2nd Open last year again in the Derek Wishart race with another the same way bred. The bird at 9th Fed here was 3rd Fed in the Derek Wishart race this year when he was 19th Open.
The pigeon at 10th Fed for James, taking 18th section, 20th Open is a Pros Roosen x Soontjens, from Maurice Alexander. This pigeon was 10th Fed, 32nd Open in the Derek Wishart race.

Full Result: 1, 2, K Rooney & Son Annalong 1520.944, 1520.810; 3, 4, G & P Brown Annsborough 1483.9, 1483.0; 5, K Rooney & Son 1481; 6, G & P Brown 1477; 7, M Jennings Annsborough 1465; 8, 9, 10, J Cleland 1461, 1460, 1459:
• The three French races will have a £2 Nom
• The DTW will resume from 1st Navan
• The committee and members of the South Down Fed would like to sympathise with Alan and Albert Benson on the death of their mother last week.
• The report on the Derek Wishart has had to be deferred for another week


Brendan McLoughlin