Tyone Mills - 14/08/10

[willie reynolds]

Brendan McLoughlin around South Down

Paddy McCartan tops section from Tyone Mills

The East Down Combine were in Tyone Mills, near Nenagh in Co Tipperary for the fifth race of the season. The weather was once again kind to us and the pigeons were released at 12 noon in a northeasterly wind. Once again this brought and tough but honest race as the birds faced into a head wind, but we always seem to do better for returns in a head wind and at the end of the day there were few empty perches.

While there were many superb positions in the Open result by South Down fanciers the Open was won by Dundonald’s R Irwin.
The winner of the South Down Federation taking a tremendous 2nd Open was Annsborough’s Paddy McCartan in only his second year racing. Paddy has the pleasure of winning the east section of the east Down Combine here. Paddy has made an immediate impact by taking a few section and Open positions in his two years. Most people take awhile longer to settle into the sport but Paddy had two great mentors in Albert and Stanley McKinstry Dromara.

Paddy is obviously a good listener and has put everything into practice exactly as he was told. The sire of the pigeon timed here, a Soontjens, was 5th Fed, 7th East section, and 13th Open from Nenagh last year. The dam is another Soontjens from McKinstry Bros. Indeed all Paddy’s pigeons are from the McKinstrys.

D Croskery & Son are 2nd Fed, 2nd section, 3rd Open here for another great result for them. The pigeon timed here is from a Willy Thas hen and a cock from Sonny Galloway’s pied hen and the Natural Breeding Station cock, a pair that have bred numerous winners for them.

Dominic and Dolen have another bird in the result at 9th Fed but the sweetest thing for them this week will be beating Mickey in the Fed Knock Out. The bird at 9th Fed is also 11th section, 26th Open and a from a Walter De Richt hen paired to a cock from Rodney & Jason Walker, Killyleagh.

Mickey Croskery had a superb race with five birds in the Fed result and seven in the Open result. I don’t recall anybody finishing as high as 4th Open and going out of the Knock Out but that’s the luck of the draw.

Mickey’s first pigeon is 3rd Fed, 3rd section, 4th Open and was 6th Fed last week when it was 30th Open. It 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 4th Fed, 4th section, 6th Open and is from two superb racers. The sire won the Penzance Classic in 2008 while the dam was 1st Open Thurles last year when the birds were brought back from Talbenny.
The third bird timed by Mickey takes 6th Fed, 7th section, 17th Open. The dam of this bird won the Open from Bude two years in a row while the sire is a son of ‘02’, from D Croskery & Son. This cock is from the ‘Bolden’ lines and has bred many priewinners.

The next bird timed by Mickey takes 7th Fed, 8th section, 18th Open, The sire of this one is a De Richt cock while the dam is the last daughter of the Father of both Croskery Lofts. This bird was responsible for all the main prizewinners from the original De Klak pigeons. He was 14 years old when the dam of the pigeon timed here was born.

The pigeon at 10th Fed for Mickey is from a De Klak cock and a Janus & Fox hen from John Jobey. This bird takes 12th section, 27th Open.

Dundrum’s Brendan Chambers keeps his run of good form going by taking 5th Fed, 6th section, 12th Open. Brendan has put together some good results with his young birds this year. The bird timed here is again from the Verheye and Braspenning pigeons, which are the base of his loft.

The result is completed by Annsborough’s James Cleland, another fancier enjoying a good young bird season. The pigeon timed here is off the hen that was 24th Open Kings Cup in 2002 when only 25 birds were timed. The sire is a Freddie Vandenheede.

Full Result: 1, P McCartan Annsborough 1323; 2, D Croskery & Son Annsborough 1319; 3, 4, M Croskery Annsborough 1318, 1316; 5, B Chambers Dundrum 1304; 6, 7, M Croskery 1299, 1298; 8, J Cleland Annsborough 1292.9; 9, D Croskery & Son 1292.1; 10 M Croskery 1291:

• Draw for Semi Final of Loft Knock Out to be flown from Tyone Mills: 1, J Cleland V M Jennings; 2, D Croskery & Son v J Maguire & Ptrs:

• Both Derbies this week will have a £2 Nom. One bird per loft. Winner takes all
• There will be no DTW this week but it will resume from Tyone Mills.