INFC Friendship National Delight for Malachy & Mark

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INFC Friendship National Delight for Malachy & Mark

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Malachy Maquire and son Mark have finished 1st and 2nd INFC Friendship National Picauville 2009 with "Newry Queen"and "Lady Rose" winning close to £2,000 and the 2 Bird Average. Loft profile to follow.
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willie reynolds
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Re: INFC Friendship National - Just 22 Birds

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The great success from the Kings Cup Plaudren when many day arrivals were recorded giving us one of the best ever races no doubt influenced the entry for the Friendship Nat, just for one moment we were led into thinking this racing out of France was not so difficult at all. Just over 1,000 birds were race marked for Picauville, due to a film being done we only had the use of the side shed, a bit tighter that usual but the job was managed in the usual dedicated way. Not just as many helpers but with the expected smaller entry enough to get the job done. The small transporter was on site early and the larger than usual crates were set up for the ring marking. Due to pressure on the space the filled crates were not leaded until the ringing was complete, just a few short minutes and the transporter was filled and ready to go. Liberation was as planned on Friday 10th July at 6.00am, and birds were expected on the day from what was regarded as a middle distance race. It turned out a long wait and still no birds after 12 hours, confidence was getting high in Newry for M Maguire & Son were getting the race they were looking for. At 8.39pm not only did they get one bird but two arrivals together and they took 1st & 2nd Open INFC both doing velocity 911 for the 393 miles. Just 8 day birds were confirmed in total from Picauville and with good conditions in the early part of Saturday more birds should have been recorded, although down the country was not as good. On the first day the race closed at 22.50hrs to re-open Saturday at 4.50am. We all know now the final total for the three days was just 22 gallant arrivals, some others made home over the next number of days.

Hard to know what the problem was, it did look like the big band of rain that swept across the lower part of Ireland and on across the Irish Sea and on to the mainland did the damage. The weather this season has been almost impossible, for the Kings Cup the weather changed for the better over the course of the race while from Picauville it appeared the big band of heavy rain was impossible to get around. I am no expert on either the weather or related websites but I did notice a very good weather display on the popular Met Eireann, a site all the local fancy should be watching. It certainly put racing from France back in perspective; we nearly got carried away with the highly successful Kings Cup. The Friendship Nat was sponsored by Versele-Laga and the three top cups for competition will be won by M Maguire & Son from the Millvale club in Newry. The Friendship Cup for 1st Open INFC, British Barcelona Cup for race runner-up and the Henry Beattie & Son Trophy for the Best 2 Bird Average.

Malachy Maguire & Son (Millvale) - 1st & 2nd Open, Vel 911, 911 plus £1,955

What more can you say about this outstanding Newry Loft. Malachy and Mark Maguire have continually shown over recent years what distance racing is all about, surprisingly this is the lofts first National Success flying with the INFC, having already enjoyed National winning success with the NIPA, including winning the Yearling Hens National as well as Mark winning the O/Bird National last year to name just a couple of their extensive CV of success especially at the distance. They are without any doubt one of the leading lofts around Ireland at this present time when it comes to the challenging cross channel events especially those flown from France.

With only 22 pigeons recorded in race time, what an achievement to record 1st and 2nd Open with literally only seconds separating both pigeons, which was down to the order of trapping via the ETS, as both pigeons came together battling it out, some say it is possible they stayed together from the off right back to the loft in Newry, as if both pigeons knew each other which is a great possibility when you learn that they are flying to nest boxes beside each other.

There has to be a 1st Open winner among them and the honour falls to "Newry Queen" a National win that Malachy has dedicated to his wonderful wife who many in the area will know is named the "Queen". The National winner a two year old Blue Hen was timed at 6.39pm recording a velocity of 911ypm flying 393 miles to the lofts that over look Newry City. This hen was sent to the race in theory sitting 16 days, but a couple of days prior to basketing Malachy slipped the hen a chipping egg and once a few hours hatched the youngster was swapped for a 3 - 4 day old youngster just before basketing. This was the hens first eggs of the year, something that Malachy believes very highly on is motivation and he has a tendency not to breed from his hens for maybe two or three years keeping this area of motivation for the ultimate challenge that he has pencilled in for certain pigeons. What more Motivation does a pigeon require than this. The breeding is once a gain centred on the fantastic "Home Alone" winner of the Fourges smash for Malachy in 2002. What a pigeon this is and a more detailed report on Malachy's successful family will be covered by Adie in a loft profile he is doing for the BHW Stud Book, so keep an eye for that. Also in the National winners pedigree is the Kings Cup winning Bloodlines of David Black of Dromore.

The 2nd Open pigeon which was as equal a National winner to the above pigeon was also timed at 6.39pm once again yet another Blue Hen this one was a 3 year old and prepared in the exact same way and this one once again has the fantastic "Home Alone" in the pedigree the National winner is a Double Granddaughter and this one is a direct Daughter of "Home Alone", responsible now for well over 35 first prize winners at various levels of competition including 1st National. “Lady Rose” was named after Malachy's late mother who always knew he was destined to winner an Irish National. Both pigeons were trained hard prior to the race with a few single tosses in all weathers from a distance of 60 miles. A very worthy National winning loft and a huge following is likely at the National Dinner to celebrate this National success for a very much admired father and son partnership.
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