Navan (2) - 25/07/09

[willie reynolds]

Foster & Connor Top Federation from Navan (2)

The East Down Combine pigeons were back in Navan for the second race of the Young Bird programme. Weather conditions were perfect in the morning with showers forecast for the afternoon. As such the birds were liberated at 8.30am in a southwesterly wind. As it happened the afternoon showers didn’t materialise but it was good to have the birds home early.

This race was in complete contrast to the week before with excellent returns reported throughout the Combine. This week saw Gordon Bros & Son Cloughey and Killyleagh completely dominate the Open and Section results, with 18 birds in the top 20 in the East Section result.

The South Down Federation was won by Dundrum’s S Foster & Connor who have certainly got their young birds in good form in the early part of the season. This was their fancied pigeon on the day picking up the DTW and the first cut of the pools for total winnings of £99. That’s great picking at this time of the year.

The pigeon was bred by Sammy’s brother Stephen, with the dam being a sister of the bird that was 3rd in the Emerald Classic race last year. The breeding is Vandenabeele while the sire is a Jan Loots.

The Foster & Connor partnership keep a small team and started off with 22 young birds on the darkness and like many other lofts lost a few in the first race so this was a good achievement for them in tough competition.

Tyrella’s S Milligan & Dtr had a great race here taking the next seven Fed positions, with their first bird less than a second behind the winner. Sean and Jennifer have invested a lot in building up a strong team of pigeons, as you will see from the quality of the breeding of these seven pigeons.

Their first pigeon is from their direct Adrie Van De Rhee stock, the same lines that were sixth Fed for Billy McSherry last week.
The sire of their second pigeon taking 3rd Fed is a De Klak direct from Cor and Anne Van-Gestel while the dam is a Braspenning from Ron McKelvey, Newry.

The sire of the pigeon taking 4th Fed was bred by Donnelly Bros Newry and is a direct son of ‘ Scarecrow’, winner of 3 x 1st NIPA. The dam is a DeWeerdt bred by Jeff and Catherine Cooper, leading National Flyers.

The pigeons at 5th and 6th Fed are nestmates and their sire is a Joop Koch, while the dam is a Grondelaar x Van Der Veken from Mr & Mrs G Delaney’s Orooray Hill Stud.

Sean and Jennifer’s next two pigeons are both Adrie Van De Rhees.

The result is completed by Tyrella’s S Halpin & Sons in ninth and tenth Fed. Both pigeons timed here are pencil blue Soontjens hens. The first one is from Harmony Lofts and these birds have done well for Sean and the boys before.

Their second pigeon taking 10th Fed is a grand daughter of their Kildare Open winner. Its sire was 2nd Open Kildare last year beaten by a loft mate while the dam is from Harmony Lofts and was 1st section, 3rd Open Pilmore Beach as a young bird last year.

Full Result: 1, S Foster & Connor Dundrum 1445.90 ABCDNom DTW £99; 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, S Milligan & Dtr Tyrella 1445.63, 1445.27, 1443, 1442, 1441, 1441, 1430; 9, 10, S Halpin & Sons 1425, 1425:

• Loft KO 3rd Round to be flown from Tullamore
1, M Croskery & Son v M Croskery; 2, D Blaney v S & E McGaw; 3, N King & Sons v McLoughlin Bros; 4, B Chambers v A Murray & Son; 5, G Maginn v S Milligan & Dtr; 6, B McConnell v M Jennings; 7, Benson Bros v J Cleland; 8, P Brown & Son v K Rooney & Son:

• Next pool race this week from Tullamore
• All pigeon numbers and money for the auction race held at the AGM to be with the secretary before this weekend’s race.

Brendan McLoughlin PO