Nenagh (1) - 15/08/09

[willie reynolds]

Lakeside Lofts land the Open from Nenagh (1)

The East Down Combine moved on to Nenagh in Co Tipperary for the fifth race of the season. The Saturday morning started off damp and overcast but the forecast was for this to clear by late morning or early afternoon. The race controller Trevor McKelvey held the birds until 1pm to ensure the birds were off in the best of the weather.

With the birds off in a westerly wind hopes were high for South Down Federation fanciers for obtaining good Open positions. The result was even better than expected with Federation members taking the top 20 in the Open result and with 28 birds placing in the Top 40.

The winner of the Federation, the east section and the Open this week is Annsborough’s Patrick Brown. This was an excellent result for Patrick and Geraldine who looks after the Combine birds. It was expected with the fresh westerly wind the Open would have been won by a member of one of the coastal clubs so this makes this win more special for the for the dedicated Annsborough couple. I believe we may see a name change here next year to include Geraldine to acknowledge her huge contribution to the success with the birds. The Lakeside lofts have had a great start to the young bird season winning four of the five races in the strong Annsborough club so far and finishing second in the other one.

The breeding of this pigeon is fairly much all from K Rooney & Son, Annalong, who claimed the top ten in the Fed result last week. On the sire side Patrick got a pair of Lindelaufs from Kevin and Kristopher. One of these was paired to the ‘19’ cock. One of the youngsters off this pair was then paired to one of the Rooneys’ Inbred Staf Van Reets that had bred two Open winners for them. The dam of this weeks Open winner is a Soontjens on loan from the Rooneys and was herself the winner of three firsts before being blinded and being put to stock. She is a full sister and a half sister to many club, Fed and Open prizewinners including a cock that won three firsts for Davy Shields, Craghead, Durham. Today's winner was also second club Tullamore.

Annalong’s Jim Newell takes second Fed, East section and Open this week. Jim was a bit later getting his young birds going this year due to holiday commitments but he certainly has them going well now and had another bird in the Open result at 15th.
The breeding of this bird is more for the distance with the parents being direct Belgian pigeons. The sire is an Imbrecht from Van Camp while the dam is a Jan Arden from Carlo Geets. The Van Camp pigeons have performed well for Gardner & Rice, of the Cleethorpes Fed.

Following on from their record breaking exploits last week when they took the top 10 in the Fed result Kevin and Kristopher Rooney, Annalong have 8 birds in the Fed and Open results this week from third right through to tenth. They also have other birds at 11th, 13th, 14 and 16th Open for another super days racing.

The pigeon at 3rd Open is a Lindelauf whose sire is a son of ‘Hercules’ and is direct from the Lindelauf lofts. The dam is a half sister of ‘Wonderboy’. A bird the same way bred as this youngster was 10th Fed last week from Tullamore while another was 4th Fed from Navan.

The sire of the pigeon that is 4th Open is a direct Marijke Vink and is a son of ‘Fara Diba’. The dam is another direct Marijke Vink and is ‘Kleine Diba’. One the same way bred, as this was 9th Fed last week.

The pigeon that is 5th Open is another Marijke Vink. The sire is a son of a brother of ‘Reza’ while the dam is a half sister of ‘Tips’.
Their fourth pigeon this week taking 6th Open is a Gus Janssen. This bird was 2nd Fed 5th Open from Mullingar.

The next one taking 7th Fed and 7th Open is Kristopher’s White. The sire is Louis Cooremans bred by Jackie Scates, Hillfoot, while the dam is a Staf Van Reet, a full sister of two Open winners.

The sire of the pigeon at 8th Open is a Soontjens cock that bred their Fed Old Bird of the Year. Locally it has bred winners for Gareth Maginn, Annalong and for Annsborough’s P Brown. It has also bred winners in England. The dam is another Staf Van Reet. This hen was one of their best racing hens having won 2nd Open behind a loftmate as well as a 3rd and 5th Open.

Kevin and Kristopher’s next bird was 9th Fed and Open. The sire of this one is a Janssen cock that won an Open from Thurles and won the Jefford Trophy for lowest inland velocity. This bird also featured in the Open result from Skibbereen and in the NIPA Open result from Rosscarberry. The dam is a Van Wildermeersch and was another good racing hen, having been 2nd Open Skibbereen Old Bird Classic, 7th Open Bude and 18th Open Tramore as well as other positions.

The sire of the pigeon at 10th Open is a Staf Van Reet coming from M & B McConville Crumlin. The dam is a ten-year-old Staf Van Reet hen that bred two Open winners for the Rooneys in one nest. This youngster was 4th Fed, 7th Open Mullingar.

Full Result: 1, P Brown Annsborough 1966; 2, J Newell Annalong 1963; 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, K Rooney & Son Annalong 1953, 1952, 1951, 1950.82, 1950.25, 1949.96, 1949.67, 1949.67

• Both this weeks Derbies will have a £2 Nom
• The final of the Young Bird Knock Out to be flown from Nenagh will be between Annsborough’s Micky Croskery and Tyrella’s S Milligan & Dtr.

Brendan McLoughlin PO