Tyone Mills - 05/09/10

[willie reynolds]

Around South Down with Brendan McLoughlin

Back to back Open wins for Mickey

The East Down Combine were in Tyone Mills, just outside Nenagh in Co Tipperary for the final club race of the season on Sunday 5th September. The forecast for Saturday was for very poor weather conditions and so the birds were hampered on the Saturday night for a Sunday race. The forecast for the Sunday morning gave only a short window of opportunity to get the birds away, as another spell of bad weather was moving in from the south. The race controllers Trevor McKelvey and Patrick McComb checked with all their contacts and with the weather clear right up to Dundalk and clearing all the time north of that decided to liberate at 9.20am.
Around the Mourne area and indeed into Annsborough and Dundrum the weather seem to deteriorate for a period and we feared the worse. Tyone Mills is the race point and is the one which lies furthest west so it was always going to be a difficult race for the clubs to the east of the Combine.

However we need not have had any concerns as the birds made good headway and returns were excellent all round, so well done to Trevor and Patrick. Annsborough fanciers were able to tell me that they saw more pigeons passing over that day tan they had all season. It was no surprise then to hear that they provide the winner of the East Down Combine for the second week in a row and no further surprise that it was the same fancier – Mickey Croskery who again came out on top.

What a super season Mickey has had and he has come with a strong challenge for the East section fancier of the year. Of course Mickey has a bit of a habit of knocking up back to back Combine wins and this is the third year in a row that he has done so, but the previous two were with old birds. With four birds in the Fed, section and Open results this was another magnificent race for the indomitable Seaview Lofts.

The winning pigeon this week has a pedigree that would blend into any sales brochure. The sire is the ‘Bolden’ cock a superb breeder of many top prizewinners for both Mickey and D Croskery & Son. The ‘Bolden’ cock is now ten years old and came from John Jobey of Dunstan in the Up North Combine. The dam is a Harthog and is a daughter of one of John Gerard’s old original Harthogs when paired to ‘The Policewoman’ another top Harthog when on loan from Gary Shaw of the Grosvenor club, who incidentally was also responsible for the ‘Pool’ cock another prolific breeder for the Croskerys.

Mickey’s second pigeon was 2nd Fed, 2nd section, 4th Open. This bird is one from their old De Klak stock. These were the original pigeons obtained from John Jobey and are the birds that put them on the road to success.

The third pigeon is 6th Fed, 6th section, 13th Open and is a son of the Penzance Classic winner in 2008 and the Ash hen that won the Open from Thurles last year when the birds were brought back from Talbenny. This pair bred the Young bird of the Year in the Fed in 2008.

Mickey's fourth pigeon was 7th Fed, 7th section and 14th Open. This bird was 3rd Fed, 4th section, 4th Open the previous week from the 1st Skibbereen Derby. This bird is from a Willy Thas hen from Merpett & Scott while the sire is from their older stock, being down from the Sonny Galloway and the Natural Breeding Station cock. The Croskerys have blended the new birds in well with their existing to stock and they just keep getting better and better.

D Croskery & Son are 3rd, 4th and 5th Fed and section as the Annsborough club dominated both the Fed and section result taking the top ten in both. This has been another brilliant season for Dominic and Dolen. I have just learned that they are the winners of the Robin Duddy Challenge, for the best average 3 Bird Nomination in the Yearling National and Channel Young Bird National. This is another prestigious honour to add to their Hall of Fame win.

Their first pigeon here is again from the original family of De Klaks as mentioned above for Mickey’s second pigeon. These two lofts buy all their pigeons together and share the birds out of the stock lofts. This bird is 6th Open here.
Their second pigeon takes 11th Open and is from a daughter of the ‘Bolden’ cock when paired to a Walter De Ryck hen. Their third pigeon is 13th section and the breeding is identical to their second pigeon. The two mothers are sisters and were both paired to De Ryck cocks.

James Cleland is 8th and 10th club, 8th and 10th Fed, and 15th and 19th Open this week and he too has had a tremendous young bird season. James is a renowned distance fancier but as I have said often in this column he has a super team of Pros Roosens that have kept him towards in the top in the shorter races. It is these Pros Roosens again that are the providers of the two young birds timed here.

Michael Jennings is 9th Fed, 9th section 18th Open to complete the result this week. These four fanciers have pretty much dominated the young bird season at Fed level and even beyond. Michael’s pigeon was the pigeon that was 3rd Fed, 5th section, 19th Open from Talbenny the previous week. It is out of a G Delaney Jacobs cock from John McCartan, Annalong when paired to a De Klak from John Jobey. This one is from new stock that he got in last year.

Full Result: (All Annsborough) 1, 2, M Croskery 1413, 1409; 3, 4, 5, D Croskery & Son 1406, 1402.96, 1402.69 ABCD; 6, 7, M Croskery 1400.96, 1400.68; 8, J Cleland 1400; 9, M Jennings 1399; 10, J Cleland 1398; M Croskery 1341 ABCDNom; D Croskery & Son 1339 ABCD:

• This week’s Skibbereen National will have the usual £2 Nom.
• The Annual Dinner and Prize Distribution will take place in the Dundrum Inn on Friday 15th October.