Skibb (2) YB Derby - 11/09/10

[willie reynolds]

Around South Down with Brendan McLoughlin

D Croskery & Son Best in Skibbereen Derby

The East Down Combine held their last race of the 2010 season when the pigeons were released in Skibbereen in a west-northwesterly wind. Expectations were high among the South Down fanciers of emulating Mickey Croskery’s Open win in the first Skibbereen Derby as the wind was deemed favourable. However it wasn’t to be on this occasion as the Open was won by Crossgar’s S & K Duke who have had a superb young bird season.

The winners of the South Down Federation this week are Annsborough’s D Croskery & Son who are on the crest of a wave at the moment following an outstanding result in the Young Bird National that saw them win the Robin Duddy Challenge and a prize fund of £1000. This week they are 1st Fed, 1st section, 12th Open for another impressive performance. Dominic and Dolen have once again put up some wonderful performances over the season. For me the highlight was their Hall of Fame win in the King’s Cup.
The dam of the pigeon timed here is a Direct Walter De Ryck hen while the sire is a son of the cock that was 4th National from Portsmouth.

Dolen asked me to ensure that I highlighted again the amount of work that his mother Josie does with the pigeons and without her help he reckons they would not be anywhere near as successful as they are.
Mickey Croskery had another magnificent race with five birds in the result at 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 10th Fed, 2nd, 7th, 8th, 9th and 20th section and 13th, 31st, 32nd and 33rd Open. This all follows back to back Open wins from Skibbereen and Tyone Mills in the previous two weeks.

Mickey’s first pigeon is an ash hen and is a daughter of the bird that won the Open from Bude twice. The sire is a son of the ‘02’, one of D Croskery & Son’s main racers which is from their ‘Bolden’ pigeons.
The sire of the pigeon at 4th Fed is a direct Walter De Ryck cock while the dam is a daughter of the ‘Bolden’ cock and the Old ash hen. This pair are a prolific pair of stock pigeons.

Mickey’s third pigeon is a nest mate of last week’s Open winner. 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.

The next pigeon timed at the Seaview lofts is a son of the Kees Bosua cock while the dam is a daughter of the ‘Bolden’ cock. It’s worth noting how often this ‘Bolden’ cock gets mentioned week in week out.

Mickey’s fifth pigeon, taking 10th Fed is out of the Penzance Classic winner and the Ash hen that was 1st Open from Thurles last year when the birds were brought back from Talbenny. This bird was 6th Fed, 6th section, 13th Open last week from Tyone Mills.
Annsborough’s Patrick Brown had two pigeons in the Fed result this week at 3rd and 9th. These birds are 3rd and 15th section with the first one taking 17th Open. The first pigeon is a Busschaert x Janssen from K Rooney & Son Annalong. We will hear more about this breeding next week as it’s nest mate was 1st Fed, 1st North section from the Skibbereen National on Friday past.

Patrick’s second pigeon is from his Grondelaar lines when paired to a hen from Peter Martin, Fortfield from the ‘Red Rum’ lines.
A Murray & Son Dundrum are 3rd Fed, 11th section and 38th Open this week. Breeding is Corriens x Soontjens. The sire a yearling Corriens was lightly raced as a young bird and this year has been 1st club Fermoy, 4th club Skibbereen Classic and 5th club in the Derek Wishart race from Fermoy racing in the Combine and 2nd club 3rd Section F 133rd Open NIPA Old Bird Rosscarbery and 2nd club 7th Section F 42nd Open NIPA 5 Bird Fermoy. The dam is yearling from original JS Lofts Soontjens via B McCormick Dundrum, that was 1st club 16th East Section 36th Open Young Bird Talbenny 2009 and 1st club 31st Section F NIPA Penzance 2010.

The result is completed by Annsborough’s Benson Bros at 8th Fed, 12th section, 39th Open. The Bensons have had a great young bird season. No doubt using the Darkness system for the first time has been a great help. The pigeon timed here is a Vandenabeele with the sire coming from John Abernethy and the dam from M & D Evans.

Full Result: 1 D Croskery & Son Annsborough 1556.18; 2, M Croskery Annsborough 1556.12; 3, P Brown Annsborough 1551; 4, 5, 6, M Croskery 1530, 1529.8, 1529.8; 7, A Murray & Son 1524.6; 8, Benson Bros Annsborough 1524.5; 9, P Brown 1522; 10, M Croskery 1517:

• The Annual Dinner and Prize Distribution will be held in the Dundrum Inn on Friday 15th October
• All applications for Old Bird and Young Bird of the Year should be with the secretary before 1st October.