St Malo - 25/06/10

[willie reynolds]

Around South Down with Brendan McLoughlin

Keown in Derby delight.

The East Down Combine pigeons were in St Malo in France for their last race of the Old Bird season on Friday 25th June. The early morning weather saw low cloud, mist and fog at the race point and we had to wait to 9.15am before we got a liberation. All the Irish pigeons were together for this race and a new cup has been presented for the winning pigeons across all the organisations, with the first winner being G Cully of the Irish South Road Fed.

The pigeons were released in a light northerly wind and the forecast for the day was to be very warm en route. This led to a hard race with only 5 pigeons timed on the day in the Combine, with the winner T Mrashall & Son, Newtownbreda repeating his success in this race last year.

The winner of the South Down Fed was Annsborough’s R J Keown who timed at 6.20am on the second day to take 5th section, 9th Open and winnings of £237.18. RJ had another pigeon in the South Down Fed result at 9th Fed, 19th section, 30th Open.

The winning pigeon is a very special hen as this is her third time in the Open result in this race. In 2008 she was 2nd Fed, 2nd section, 2nd Open. Last year she was timed around 7am on the second morning to take 5th Fed, 6th section and 16th Open. She is a four-year-old hen whose sire is the ‘National’ cock. His four grandparents were all timed from France so the breeding for this type of race is definitely there. The National cock itself was 130th Open in the Yearling National and followed this up 10 days later by taking 6th club from Sennen Cove, and then went on to take 132nd Open from Portsmouth in the same year. In 2008 he was 7th club Sennen Cove and 106th Open Portsmouth. The dam was twice second from Talbenny.

This year RJ prepared this hen by giving her 3 Fermoys only. This result helped to make RJ the East Down Combine’s Channel Championship winner.

RJ’s second pigeon is a two-year-old cock that flew the full programme last year through to Penzance. The sire, a Louella Roland Janssen is a grandson of ‘Rode Bingo’, 4 times Ace pigeon in Belgium. The dam is a sister of the ‘Show’ cock.
Annsborough’s M Croskery & Son are 2nd Fed this week and are in a rich vein of form, having been 2nd and 3rd Fed, 4th and 6th Open last week from Penzance. This week they are 2nd Fed, 6th section, 10th Open with winnings of £126.88. This yearling hen was 7th club from 2nd Talbenny this year, and was timed at 5.15am on the second day from the Yearling National. This week it was timed at 6.38am so she knows how to get up and go on, on the second day. She is a half sister of the pigeon that was 2nd Fed, 4th Open last week. The sire is a De Klak on loan from D Croskery & Son, while the dam is from Mr & Mrs Girvan, Newry.

Third Fed this week goes to Dundrum’s S Foster, Connor and Parry who are also 7th section, 15th Open. Distance racing is this partnerships main priority and they have reached the dizzy heights of having been second Open from the King’s Cup. The sire of the pigeon timed here is an Edwin De Cat Janssen while the dam is a Catrysse. This three-year-old hen arrived home on the fourth morning from this race last year to just miss out on a prize. Her sister was 15th Open Young Bird National Sennen Cove for S & A Foster and she has taken several club positions on the channel.

Benson Bros Annsborough are 4th Fed, 8th section and 17th Open here. The pigeon timed here is a yearling cock that was in the Open result from the Yearling National. It is from a pair bought in from John Alliss, Dundee. The Bensons have a well-established reputation for French racing.

Tyrella’s S & E McGaw is 5th Fed, 15tth section, 16th Open with a two-year-old black hen. This Busschaert hen won the club race from Bude last year by over 20 minutes and is a grand daughter of J Maguire & Ptrs ‘white eyes’. Stephen and Eric timed two in the Kings Cup last year and are beginning to revel at the distance.

R McDowell & Son Annsborough, former open winners from this race are 6th Fed, 16th section, 27th Open here. The pigeon timed is a yearling cock out of a Blue Pied cock obtained from Joe McGreevy, Crossgar who himself was 6th Open in this race. The dam is from Billy Lecky, Ards.

L & A Toner Annsborough were 3rd Fed, 4th section, 12th Open in this race last year. This year they are 7th Fed, 17th section and 28th Open. This three-year-old cock was bred by Dundrum’s J Maguire & Ptrs and is another Busschaert. Liam and Andy were preparing this bird for the King’s Cup last year when it broke its leg. This year it was just right for this race.
Dundrum’s J Ringland & Son are having a consistent season and are 8th Fed, 18th section, 29th Open here. The pigeon timed is a two-year-old cock that is a Grandson of a pigeon obtained from A Murray & Son, Dundrum, former Kings Cup winners. The dam is from Brian Irvine, Crossgar. This race was only this pigeon’s second race on the channel.

The result is completed by Dundrum’s Brendan Chambers at 10th Fed, 21st section, 33rd Open. Brendan was 1st Fed, 2nd section, 6th Open in this race last year. The pigeon timed here is a three–year-old Verheye cock that was timed in the King’s Cup last year.

Full result: 1, R J Keown Annsborough 805; 2, M Croskery & Son Annsborough 791; 3, S Foster, Connor & Parry, Dundrum 753; 4, Benson Bros Annsborough 730; 5, S & E McGaw Tyrella 627; 6, R McDowell & Son 618; 7, L & A Toner Annsborough 614; 8, J Ringland & Son Dundrum 602; 9, R J Keown 583; 10, B Chambers Dundrum 565:

• This week’s friendship National will have a £2 Nom.

• It is hoped to have a Young Bird race on Tuesday 13th July from Navan. This race will be open to South Down Federation members only. Birds will be race marked in their own clubrooms with normal rules applying in that there must be 5 members present for race marking. Birds will cost 25p each. Pick up times Tyrella 9am, Dundrum 9.15am, Annsborough 9.30am, Newcastle 9.45am and Annalong 10am. Clocks will be checked in Annsborough at 7pm. No clocks will be checked after this time.