Navan (1) - 18/07/09

[willie reynolds]

Bobby Best from Navan

The East Down Combine had their first race of the season on Saturday 18 July when the pigeons were released in Navan. Wind at the racepoint was light northwesterly and a good steady race was expected. Normally from Navan the pigeons are all home in a matter of minutes but for some reason this turned out to be quite an erratic race. I have heard of pigeons being reported in Scotland, Isle of Man, and in the Dublin and Wicklow areas. Its hard to know what exactly happened but lots of pigeons were seen heading back south over the South Down area. At the end of the day many lofts had some losses which seem to increase in the more northern areas of the combine. At the same time I know of many lofts that had full returns. A quick look at the Open result shows a good spread of clubs with the winners Gordon Bros and Sons having an absolutely superb race.

The winner of the South Down Federation this week and taking second section, second Open is Annalong’s Bobby McConnell. Ironically Bobby was second Open in this race last year too behind Dundonald’s Mark Foulis. Booby has been working very hard with his young birds this year and that effort has certainly paid off.

The sire of the winning pigeon is a son of a pigeon bought from an elite Welsh loft as a squeaker. The grandsire was 29th Open Maidstone, 16th Open Ramsgate and 24th Open Maidstone in the WSE Nationals.

It’s dam was an outstanding breeder and is the dam of the pigeon that was 4th in the RPRA One Loft race winning £5,350.
The dam of this week’s winner was 7th Open East Down Combine from Cashel and put to stock as a two-year-old. It is also the dam of a pigeon that was 29th East Down Combine Thurles, 7th East Down Combine Skibbereen and 3rd East Down Combine Sennen Cove. It’s sire was an Ali Bros cock that was an outstanding breeder and its dam was a J Dicken’s hen that was a daughter of ‘Terror’, a winner of 25 firsts.

Annalong’s K Rooney & Son is another to show early season form. Having taken seven position sin the Fed result from the Fed’s race from Navan on the Wednesday Kevin and Kristopher followed this up with five Fed positions here with the first four taking Open and section positions.

Their first pigeon, a direct Lindelauf is 2nd Fed, 8th section, 9th Open. Its sire is a full brother of ‘Miss World’, Lindelauf’s last National winner. Its dam is a full sister of a pigeon that was second national competing against 130,000 pigeons.
Their second pigeon is new blood introduced in 2008 from MarijkeVink so very encouraging to see them in the result so soon. This bird is 3rd Fed, 9th section, 10th Open.

Kevin and Kristopher’s third pigeon is 4th Fed, 11th section, 12th Open. This one is another Lindelauf and its sire is off a half sister of ‘Wonderboy’, while the dam is a grand daughter of ‘Wonderboy’.

Their fourth pigeon is 5th Fed, 12th section, 13th Open. The sire is a Janssen while the dam is the best breeding daughter of their old Van Wildermeersch pair.

Their fifth pigeon is tenth Fed this week and is similar lines to the last one with the sire being a Janssen and the dam another daughter of the Van Wildermeersch pair. This hen bred an Open winner for Annalong’s Billy Higgins.
Tyrella’s Billy McSherry is sixth Fed this week to get his young bird season off to a great start. The training from Kilkeel has been worth it for Billy. The bird timed here is an Adrie Van De Rhee from clubmates S Milligan & Dtr.

Tyrella’s D McNabb & Ptrs who have three in the result taking 7th, 8th and 9th Fed complete the result. Denis and Eileen were happy with their performances in the Nationals and will be happy with this start to the young bird season too. The sire of their first pigeon is from their Alex Crawford pigeons while the dam is a Petron Busschaert.

Their second pigeon is a grandson of S Halpin and Sons’ Open winner while the dam is a Lefebre Dhaenens. Their third pigeon is a grandson of the white cock, the sire of the pigeon timed by D Croskery & Son Annsborough in the King’s Cup. The white cock is a Louella Busschaert while the dam is another Pertain Busschaert.

Full Result: 1, B McConnell Annalong 1327; 2, 3, 4, 5, K Rooney & Son Annalong 1290.9, 1290.5, 1288, 1281; 6, B McSherry Tyrella 1230; 7, 8, 9, D McNabb & Ptrs Tyrella 1227, 1226, 1225; 10, K Rooney & Son 1219:

• The DTW has been won by S Foster & Connor from 2nd Navan. A new DTW will start this week.
• The second round of the Loft KO also takes place this week.

Brendan McLoughlin PO