Tullamore - 07/08/10

[willie reynolds]

Around South Down with Brendan McLoughlin

Another super result for A Murray & Son

The East Down Combine pigeons were in Tullamore in Co Offaly for their fourth race of the young bird season. The early morning saw low cloud but this cleared by late morning and the birds were liberated at 11.50am in a west-northwest wind. This filled the South Down members with hope of good Combine positions and they weren’t to be disappointed, with 13 Fed birds making the Open result in a race that was pretty much dominated by Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey/Killyleagh who had 14 of a flight, and ended up with 16 in the top 40 of the Combine result. The Combine was won by Clifford Healy in Killyleagh in a race that was well suited to coastal fanciers.

The winners of the South Down Fed this week are Dundrum’s A Murray & Son who take a superb 2nd section and 3rd Open. Archie and Paddy have put up some great performances in recent years and while they are best known for Murray’s Dream, their King’s Cup winner they keep a team of Corriens that have obtained some wonderful results in Inland racing.

The winning pigeon this week is a daughter of the “66” cock”, a winner of 3 Feds and 10 club races. The “66” is a Corriens. The dam of this weeks winner is a Corriens x Soontjens. The Soontjens cock won a Fed himself and is the sire of 3 Fed winners. The dam was put to stock and so far has bred a Fed winner for themselves and one for clubmates J Ringland & Son.

Tyrella’s S Halpin & Son are 2nd Fed this week also taking 4th section, 5th Open for another top result for the Ardglass lofts. The pigeon timed here is a Vandenabeele from J Abernethy’s Harmony Lofts. This bird wins the second prize in the Hotspot race from this race and I believe it’s in with a good chance from Tyone Mills as well.
Annsborough’s D Croskery & Son had another super race here with three birds in the Fed result. The first of these is 3rd Fed, 26th Open. This bird is out of their top stock hen, a daughter of the ‘Bolden’ cock. She has had a club position in every inland race. The sire is a Kees Bosua cock that was bought from John Gerard at the Blackpool Show.

Their second pigeon is 4th Fed, 26th Open. The sire of this one is a Walter De Richt while the dam is a daughter of the ‘Bolden’ cock, another great stock bird

Their third bird is 5th Fed, 29th Open and a daughter of Mickey’s Bude hen, winner of two Opens from Bude. The sire is another De Richt.

Mickey Croskery Annsborough has two pigeons in the result this week at 6th and 10th Fed. The first of these is 30th Open and is out of a De Richt hen that was the dam of D Croskery & Son’s YB Derby winner two years ago. The sire is from a John Jobey Bolden cock and a Kees Bosua hen.

Mickey’s second pigeon is from their own De Klak family, a family of pigeons that help put the Croskerys to the top of pigeon racing in Northern Ireland.

Annsborough’s M Croskery & Son are 7th Fed, 31st Open this week. There’s a bit of new blood here with this bird coming from Paul Keegan in Dublin. The breeding is Janus & Fox.

The result is completed by Annsborough’s Michael Jennings who is 8th and 9th Fed, 32nd and 33rd Open. Michael is having a steady start to the young bird season. The pigeon at 8th Fed is the same pigeon that was 2nd Fed, 3rd section, 6th Open from Navan (2). The sire of this pigeon was bought at Croskery's Sale in the Grosvenor club last year and is a son of the original ‘Joe 90’. The dam is a Janus & Fox which Michael bought from John Jobey, from Dunstan in the Up North Combine
Michael’s second pigeon is a distance pigeon with the sire being a son of D Croskery & Son’s Hall of Fame winner, while the dam is a Van Der Wegen from former Gold Medal winner, Annalong’s John McCartan.

Full Result: 1, A Murray & Son Dundrum 1359; 2, S Halpin & Sons Tyrella 1350; 3, 4, 5, D Croskery & Son Annsborough 1321.2, 1321.1, 1320.2; 6, M Croskery Annsborough 1320.0; 7, M Croskery & Annsborough 1319; 8, 9, M Jennings Annsborough 1317.0, 1317.0; 10, M Croskery 1315.9 ABCD; D Croskery & Son 1303 ABCD Nom; S Foster, Connor & Parry1237 ABCD:

• Draw for Quarter Finals of Loft Knock Out: 1, J Cleland v G Maginn; 2, P McCartan v M Jennings; 3, D Croskery & Son; 4, P Brown & Son v J Maguire & Ptrs:
• Pool race this week from Fermoy.