Penzance - 19/06/10

[willie reynolds]

Around South Down by Brendan McLaughlin

Maguires win DTW in Classic style

The East Down Combine pigeons were in Penzance, in Cornwall for their last channel race of the old bird season on Saturday 19th June. The early morning saw fog and mist along the coast but this soon cleared and the pigeons were released at 9.30am into a light north east wind. With the headway along the entire route home we knew to expect a difficult race and while many struggled to get birds before dark the early birds made good progress.

The winning pigeon in the East Down Combine was to the Dundonald lofts of J Young & Ptrs and I believe this was the same bird that was the best Combine pigeon in the Yearling National from Sennen Cove. The South Down Fed members had another good race with many featuring in the Open and section results.

J Maguire & Ptrs Dundrum are winners of the Fed this week and while they have had a quieter season than usual by their own high standards, they can always pull one out of the bag. This pigeon wins the DTW and Nom in the Fed for total Fed winnings of £411. It is also 2nd in the Classic winning another £158.85 to give Keith and Josie a very successful day. In the Open race they were 1st section and 3rd Open. The Maguire partnership won the Penzance Classic in 2007 so they have a good record from this race, and they won the DTW on that occasion as well.

The winning pigeon is a two-year-old Busschaert cock bred by “The Master Breeder”, Herbie Phillips, Lisburn. This bird was sent to the race paired to two hens and was selected for the DTW as it had come home from Bude the week before ‘crowing’ and in great form.

M Croskery & Son Annsborough are 2nd and 3rd Fed, 2nd and 4th section, 4th and 6th Open and 3rd and 4th Classic for an excellent race. I hear that Sean took some advice from Mickey and that his birds haven’t looked back since.

The first of their pigeons is a yearling hen out of a son of the ‘Broken Wing’ cock, who sadly is no longer with us. The dam is a Harthog from the McBride of Harryville pigeons, which have done so well for them.

Their second pigeon at 3rd Fed, is another yearling hen with the dam from the stock they obtained from Mr & Mrs Girvan, Newry. The sire is from club mate Mickey Croskery.

Annsborough’s Pritchard Bros are 4th Fed, 5th section, 8th Open and 6th Classic this week. The pigeon timed here is the same pigeon that was 8th Fed, 8th section, 17th Open last week from Bude. It is a yearling Staf Van Reet cock from Andy Gregson, Preston. This bird wasn’t raced as a young bird and was trained as far as Loughbrickland but has been in every club race this year including the four channel races.

R J Keown Annsborough, is enjoying a wonderful channel season and is 5th Fed, 6th section, 9th Open and 7th Classic this week. This bird while not making the Fed result last week was 39th Open last week from Bude. It was also 15th section, 27th Open Skibbereen Classic and was 10th Fed from Tullamore. It is a Joop Jongue x Steenhaut with the dam being a daughter of ‘Oscar’.

Mickey Croskery Annsborough, the leading Channel fancier this past few years has three in the result this week at 6th 7th and 8th Fed on a day when many were struggling to get any birds home at all. The first of these taking 9th section, 14th Open and 10th Classic is a ½ De Richt while the dam is a De Klak from the Croskerys old stock. This two-year-old cock is now going to this week’s King’s Cup race from Vannes. This bird was in the first three to Mickey’s loft in all the channel races this year.

Mickey’s second pigeon is the 2008 Classic winner. It was 7th Fed, 7th section, 16th Open last week from Bude and is a three-year-old cock. This week it is 7th Fed, 10th section, 16th Open, and 11th Classic. It is a full brother of the pigeon that was 1st Fed, 1st section 1st Open from the 1st Talbenny this year. The breeding is De Klak and Janus & Fox, with the sire being a son of the ‘Provence’ cock.

The third pigeon timed by Mickey is another three-year-old cock. This time the breeding is De Klak x Thas. This bird is 8th Fed, 11th section, 19th Open, and 14th Classic.

R McDowell & Son Annsborough are 9th Fed this week as they continue with their run of form. This bird is 12th section, 20th Open and 15th Classic. It is a yearling cock out of a son of the ‘French hen’, a winner of the Old Bird Derby. On the dam side it is down from the good stock birds obtained from Derek Best, Lisburn. These birds feature in many of the McDowell partnerships best prizewinners.

The result is completed by Annsborough’s Michael Jennings at 10th Fed. Michael has had a very successful Old Bird season. This week he is 10th Fed, 14th section, 32nd Open and 20th Classic. The pigeon timed is a yearling hen whose sire is on loan from Michael’s father Brian. The dam is a Van Der Wegan hen.

Full Result: 1, J Maguire & Ptrs Dundrum 1003.64 Nom DTW £411; 2, 3, M Croskery & Son Annsborough 1003.17; 995.13; 4, Pritchard Bros Annsborough 985; 5, R J Keown Annsborough 984; 6, 7, 8, M Croskery Annsborough 976, 971, 965.93; 9, R McDowell & Son Annsborough 965.79; 10, M Jennings 949:

• £2Nom in both the Kings Cup and Friendship National races.
• The DTW will resume from the first young bird race. All members joining the DTW must do so in their first young bird race. Anybody joining after the first race must pay back to the first week. The DTW is £1 per week.