Mallow (1) - 09/05/09

[willie reynolds]

Croskerys back on top from Mallow

The East Down Combine pigeons were in Mallow for their fifth race of the season on Saturday 9 May. Saturday started off wet and very overcast but this soon cleared to good sunshine with good visibility, although there may still have been an odd shower around. The birds were liberated in a west southwesterly wind and homed in speeds in excess of sixty miles per hour. When racing from westerly lying racepoints like Mallow, the Open results tend to be more evenly spread throughout the Combine clubs. The East Down Open winner is the master, John Patterson of Ballylesson, and the top ten sees Killyleagh Central, Dundonald, Cloughey, Bangor and Annsborough all represented.

The winners of The South Down Federation are Annsborough’s ace flyers D Croskery & Son who always seem to bring their birds to the top in time for the major races. As usual Dolen was very quick to point out that this win again was down to all the work put in my his mother Josie, as he was spending so much time taking his sons to football training and matches throughout the country.

The winning pigeon is a two-year-old hen whose sire is the Blue cock that they reared for Shaw Bros of the Grosvenor club, winning an Ulster Fed for them, before going back to the Croskerys on loan when the Shaws took a year out of the sport. He is a son of the good ‘69’ cock that was timed in every inland race. The dam is a Ganus & Fox from John Jobey Dunstan. This bird has had several club positions and made the fed result two weeks in a row from Skibbereen as young bird. The bird timed here is also 6th section, 8th Open for another excellent result for the Croskerys.

S Halpin & Sons Tyrella continue their good run of form taking 2nd Fed, 12th east section and 20th Open for another great result for the Ardglass lofts. Sean and the boys have put up some great performances over the years with many Open and section wins. The sire of the bird timed here was one of their top racers having won the Marybank Classic in 2003. The breeding is Van Wildermeersch with the dam coming from Yates of Tamworth. This bird was 5th club, 19th section, 32nd Open the previous week from Nenagh (2).

Annalong’s Gareth Maginn takes third Fed this week, as well as 13th section, 22nd Open which is another great result for this young fancier in only his second year racing old birds. Gareth has the birds on a good system and with his silent partner putting a lot of work in, in the background he fully deserves this reward. The pigeon itself is a yearling cock that was 1st club Clonmel last year and is from pigeons obtained from Kevin and Kristopher Rooney Annalong. The sire is a Janssen while the dam is a Lindelauf.

S Milligan & Dtr, Tyrella are another loft showing a good run of form and are 4th Fed, 20th section and 34th Open this week. Last week Sean and Jennifer were 10th section, 19th Open from Nenagh. The pigeon timed here is a two-year-old cock from their direct Yoop Koch pigeons.

Micky Croskery Annsborough has two birds in the Fed result this week at fifth and ninth and maintains that they are just warming up for the channel at this stage. It will be hard for him to improve on last year when he won three Opens in a row from the channel. The first pigeon timed here is a two-year-old hen that returned from the difficult St Malo last year just out of race time. The sire is a son of John Jobey’s ‘Provence’ cock while the dam is also a De Klak. His second bird is a yearling De Klak hen.

Annsborough’s R McDowell & Son are sixth Fed this week to set them up for the forthcoming major Derby and National races. The pigeon timed here is a yearling hen, whose dam is a Kenyon while the sire is a Van Hagan.

Patrick Brown Annsborough maintains his run of good form with seventh Fed this week. This pigeon is again from Annalong’s Kevin and Kristopher Rooney and is a Soontjens x Van Wildermeersch. The sire of this bird was also the sire of the Rooney’s Bird of the Year in the Fed.

Tyrella’s Denis McNabb & Ptrs are back in the Fed result this week taking a good eighth position. The pigeon timed here is a three-year-old hen from stock obtained from the late Jimmy Quinn, Tandragee. Denis has this one earmarked for some of the French races so hopefully we will hear more about it then.

The result is completed by Annsborough’s R J Keown in tenth position. RJ has been having a very steady season so far featuring most weeks in the Fed result. The bird timed here is from his Steenhaut pigeons.

Full Result: 1, D Croskery & Son Annsborough 1864; 2, S Halpin & Sons Tyrella 1846; 3, G Maginn Annalong 1843; 4, S Milligan & Dtr Tyrella 1836; 5, M Croskery Annsborough 1822.8; 6, R McDowell & Son Annsborough 1822.1; 7, P Brown Annsborough 1821; 8, D McNabb & Ptrs Tyrella 1815; 9, M Croskery 1814.6; 10, R J Keown 1814.5:

• Pool race this week from Mallow
• DTW resumes from Mallow
• The Skibbereen National next Wednesday will have a £2Nom. One bird per loft.
• The Loft KO Third Round takes place this week from Mallow

Brendan McLoughlin PO