Mullingar - 10/04/10

[willie reynolds]

SOUTH DOWN FEDERATION with Brendan McLoughlin

East Down Combine win for McNabb & Ptrs

The 2010 pigeon-racing season got underway on Saturday 10th April with the East Down Combine pigeons liberated in Mullingar in a light southerly wind. The weather in the week prior to the first race while cold and wet to begin with improved sufficiently to permit the birds to be trained in preparation for their first race.

Saturday morning itself started off very bright with scattered patches of mist which cleared by early morning. As a result the race controller Trevor McKelvey and his young assistant Patrick McComb had the pigeons on their way at 10.30am.

It was a lovely day for the first race of the season and it was a great race for South Down Fed members who took the top two positions in the East Down Combine Open result. Tyrella’s D McNabb & Ptrs were 1st section 1st Open to take their first ever major Combine honours. Denis and Eileen have been putting a lot of work into their pigeons in recent years and its good to see this effort rewarded with a Combine win.

The southerly wind wouldn’t have been considered the most favourable for coastal members from the Mullingar race point but the two pigeons timed in Tyrella certainly took the shortest route home to edge out the Dundonald loft of R Irwin who took 3rd and 4th Open. These four pigeons were well clear of the rest of the convoy.

The winning pigeon is a yearling Busschaert hen and is a half sister of the pigeon, which they bred for D Croskery & Son that will be going for a Hall of Fame award from the King’s Cup this year. This breed of pigeon have shown that they can perform well at all distances.

The McNabb & Ptrs loft are closely followed by clubmates S Halpin & Son who take 2nd section, 2nd Open. The Halpins took the first 3 in the Open from this race two years ago and came close again. Their pigeon is a Jacobs x Soontjens yearling hen that was 1st club, 6th South Down Fed, 15th section and 43rd Open in the Skibbereen Derby last year. I’ve just heard that this bird was 4th club this week from Tullamore to show good consistency. The Halpins had six birds in the top ten in the Tyrella result from Mullingar for another excellent start to the season.

Annsborough’s P Brown had another great race with three birds in the Fed result at 3rd, 5th and 8th. All three were either bred by Annalong’s K Rooney & Son or were off birds that Kevin and Kristopher had bred for Patrick.

The first pigeon is a Busschaert x Van Reet from lines that have produced numerous prizewinners. The pigeon at 5th Fed is a Gus Janssen and these birds featured prominently for the Rooneys and for Patrick last year. The third bird timed to the Lakeside lofts was a Busschaert whose sire was 1st SDF, 1st section from Pilmore Beach in 2008.

Last years Fed’s Fanciers of the Year D Croskery & Son, Annsborough get off to a good start here and are 4th Fed. The pigeon timed here is out of their main stock lines, being a De Klak x Wily Thas cross.
Mickey Croskery Annsborough takes the next two positions at 6th and 7th with a couple of two-year-old cocks from their own breed of De Klaks and Wily Thas.

Annsborough’s M Croskery & Son are 9th Fed with a yearling hen that is a daughter of the ‘Broken Wing’ cock from D Croskery & Son stock, and a hen bought from Mr & Mrs Girvan Newry. This bird had all the young bird races last year taking a couple of club positions along the way.

The result is completed by Annsborough’s Michael Jennings in 10th position. The sire of this two-year-old cock was 1st Fed from the Skibbereen National in 2007 and the breeding is De Klak from D Croskery & Son and Staf Van Reet.
Full Result: 1,D McNabb & Ptrs Tyrella 1576; 2, S Halpin & Sons Tyrella 1570; 3, P Brown Annsborough 1441; 4, D Croskery & Son Annsborough 1439; 5, P Brown 1429; 6, 7, M Croskery Annsborough 1417.2, 1417.0; 8, P Brown 1415; 9, M Croskery & Son Annsborough 1411.7; 10, M Jennings Annsborough 1411.6:

• May Day race will take place on Monday 3 May from Mullingar. Birds will be hampered on Monday morning in Annsborough from 8.30 to 10.00. Cost will be £2.50 for first 5 birds or less and 50p per bird for more than 5. This race is open to Federation members only.
• The loft KO will start from 2nd Mount Charles with the final from Bude.