Talbenny (1) - Sun 30/05/10

[willie reynolds]

Around South Down with Brendan McLoughlin

Another Open win for Croskery

The East Down Combine pigeons were in Talbenny in South Wales for their first channel race of the season on Saturday 29th May. When the weather committee looked at the forecast on Wednesday evening there was a good prospect of a race on the Saturday and so it was decided to basket as normal on the Thursday evening for a Saturday race. However by the Saturday the weather had taken a turn for the worse and the pigeons had to be held over. Sunday morning started off bright and with showers forecast for the afternoon the pigeons were liberated at 7.45am in a westerly wind.

The pigeons were only out of the baskets when a peregrine broke 14 birds away from the main flock. It didn’t manage to get any of them as the birds dived into the trees and bushes for cover. Within two minutes the convoy had cleared the liberation site and contrary to rumours they did not return to the race point.

The pigeons were in superb order coming home and tribute must be paid to the lorry drivers for the excellent management of the pigeons over the weekend.

The westerly wind gave a lot of hope to the South Down Federation members and it was no surprise to see a South Down member take 1st Open East Down Combine. Indeed it was no surprise that this member was Annsborough’s Mickey Croskery who has established quite a record on the channel in recent years. Two years ago Mickey won three Opens in a row and last year he was first Open from Thurles when the birds were brought back from Talbenny due to adverse weather and was then 2nd Open from Bude behind E & A Rogan, Newcastle. He followed this with another superb Open win from the Penzance Classic.

The winning pigeon is ‘Joe Ninety’, a prolific racer who has featured in the Federation results already this year. This bird was 2nd Open from Bude in 2008 but was unraced last year. This year it has been 1st Fed from Mount Charles, when it was 3rd section and 3rd Open. It was also 7th Fed, 18th section, 31st Open from the Joe Ringland Skibbereen Classic. The sire of this bird is a son of the ‘Provence’ cock while the dam is a Janus & Fox.

Mickey has a second bird in the result at 4th Fed. This bird is also well up in the Open result, taking 5th section, 17th Open. This bird is out of a daughter of the ‘Bolden’ cock and a De Richt hen. This pair bred an Open winner for D Croskery & Son.
Annsborough’s Patrick Brown had another great race here with three birds in the Fed result, with all three featuring prominently in the section and Open result. Patrick’s first pigeon is 2nd section, 5th Open and is also the winner of the 3 Bird Channel Championship Club. This pigeon was 1st Fed, 1st section, 4th Open from Tullamore in the second race of the season. The sire of this pigeon is the Lindelauf cock that won the section from Pilmore Beach in 2008. The dam is a Busschaert, which has bred a lot of prizewinners for K Rooney & Son who are responsible for the majority of Patrick’s best racers these days.

Patrick’s second bird takes 5th Fed, 6th section and 18th Open. Again this bird has been racing well all year, having been 7th Fed Mount Charles (1) and 4th Fed, 7th section, 14th Open Mount Charles (2). This one is a yearling Gus Janssen pigeon from Annalong’s K Rooney & Son.

Patrick’s third pigeon is another one from Kevin and Kristopher Rooney and is a Reynert through Herbot Bros, Belgium. This yearling was 10th Fed, Fermoy (2).

Bert Knight Annsborough is 3rd Fed, 3rd section, 15th Open this week with a yearling hen that was neither raced nor trained last year due to Bert’s work commitments. This hen was sent to the race sitting on two young birds, her first of the season. The Breeding is from Bert’s own old distance lines.

Annsborough’s Michael Jennings has been seldom out of the result this year, and this week he is 7th Fed, 8th section, 22nd Open. This bird is the same way bred as the bird that was 2nd Fed, 2nd section, 4th Open in the young bird Talbenny last year. The dam is Van der Wegan that also bred the section winner from Nenagh last year. The sire was a latebred from D Croskery & Son; out of D McNabb & Ptrs white hen and the good ‘02’ cock.

D Croskery & Son Annsborough 9th Fed, 9th and 10th section and 23rd and 24th Open. Their first bird is a two-year-old De Klak cock that won the Open from Mallow as a young bird in 2008. This bird has won quite a few prizes so far. Their second pigeon is a yearling De Klak hen that is a daughter of the best stock hen they got from John Jobey.

The result is completed by James Cleland Annsborough in 10th Fed, 12th section, 27th Open. James has had a very good season so far and the next month should see his birds at their best. James’ bird is a yearling hen from his Pros Roosen and Soontjens stock. The sire of this hen was the Fed’s bird of the year in 2007, a year that saw her win 2nd and 4th opens from Pilmore Beach.

Full Result: (All Annsborough) 1, M Croskery 1067; 2, P Brown 1049; 3, B Knight 1020; 4, M Croskery 1016; 5, 6, P Brown 1015.49, 1015.15; 7, M Jennings 1014.75; 8, 9, D Croskery & Son 1014.17, 1014.06; 10, J Cleland 1011; M Croskery 988 ABCD £32; M Croskery 986 ABCD £19.20; M Jennings 910 ABCD £ 12.80; D Croskery & Son 854 Nom £9:

• Final of the Knock Out this week from Bude, Mr & Mrs Irvine v P Brown. Having caused a major upset last week by beating strong favourite Mickey Croskery, Mervyn and Philomena will be hoping to go on to beat the in from Patrick Brown in the final.

• Pool race this week from Bude
• The Yearling national will carry a £2 Nom.
• Belated happy birthdays to Sammy Foster and Kevin Rooney who celebrated big birthdays recently.