National Bulletin 15 - 2004 Pau Grand National Report
Mother and son take 1st & 2nd Pau National.
For the partnerships of
Lloyd & Kelly and Gilbert & Le Carr
The Pau birds were held over until Sunday morning after bad weather at the race point and further deterioration along the line of flight. I have spoken to a few race controllers and from what I hear these jobs are hard and I did have a talk to race advisor Ray Barrington who was telling me that the birds are always foremost on his mind and that the conditions were not right so he could only advise the convoyer of those conditions. I have just made a few calls at 5.30pm Sunday and the birds are not having an easy day of it, they are having to work for the corn. There were 28 gallant birds on the day of liberation and they were obviously up early next morning to show their owners that they like many fanciers do not stay in bed in the morning. I was aware that we would not be getting the birds up into this part of the world early but I was still outside by 5.20am looking at a clear blue sky. They were not going to get hear by that time but when I woke at 4.45am and thoughts were on the birds I could not go back to sleep so ended up doing a bit of light gardening by 5.30am. I than had a phone call from Chris Knowles a little later after he had been on the web site and was telling me about the early morning birds clocked. It was great to see Jim Biss had once again shown his enthusiasm with a pigeon that comes in at 3rd open.
Frank Lloyd and Eammon Kelly are 1st section F 1st Open National FC Pau with “Little Margaret” duly named after Frank’s wife Margaret who died 2yrs ago. “Little Margaret”is a mid to small 4y blue pied hen. She is a pure Grooter from Pat King a local fancier who has bred many top National and Classic birds. Eammon and Frank would like to thank Pat for all his help also Sam Watson and Peter hall who have both been a big influence. The partnership of Lloyd & Kelly keep a total of 150 birds with 70 of these being youngsters. The system is normally the traditional widowhood but for this race the birds were re-paired. They are fed on Gerry Plus which is mixed with widowhood plus three days prior to basketing. Other additions include garlic twice each week and they did stress that they do not like to use medication other than what is absolutely necessary. “Little Margaret’s” build up to this race was one race with the BICC plus approximately fifteen tosses to the coast with her son by Peter Gilbert. “Little Margaret” won one race as a young bird and was 13th sec 192nd open in the Saintes/Pau National last year. Eammon’s interest in pigeons started at the age of 8yrs when he would go down to Franks loft and feed his chickens. This interest led to further interest by watching the pigeons, which eventually led to Frank making him a partner, and 32yrs later they are still going strong. Since their formation they have had many top club, fed and combine wins but this win is their dream come true. The lofts are nicely sited in the middle of a field with easy access into the lofts for the birds although there are peregrines nesting a few miles away at Didcot power station they have been fortunate because they have not had many attacks from them or the sparrow hawks. Frank said that “Little Margaret” dropped in the trap almost without being seen, but when she was they moved. They race their birds in the BBO South road Fed with the Didcot & Hagbourne club also the Wantage club. Both these clubs have had their fair share of National winners with the exceptional lofts of Mr & Mrs Paul Kendall 1st National Pau plus many more top positions, Ted Brown two 2nd places at Nantes National to name just a few. We don’t normally include the second pigeon if it is not a section or open winner but because they second pigeon is a son of the winner I feel it is well worth mentioning. This is to the lofts of Gilbert & Le Carr, they have named their pigeon “Fast Eddie” who was clocked in this race just 2 minutes after his mother a few miles away. The sire is a Belgium stray that came into Lloyd & Kelly’s loft and later transferred to them, the dam being “Little Margaret” 1st National Pau. Peter started up in pigeons 40yrs ago then packed up 13yrs later before re-starting 7yrs ago with Lawrence to for the present partnership. Peter & Lawrence keep just 54 birds including the stock. The race team are on the roundabout and they are fed three days hald depurative and half general mix, two days depurartive and two days general mix with garlic being used in the water. The build up to this race for “Fast Eddie” was 15 tosses to the coast with his mother “Little Margaret” with many tosses from 40mls plus. Lawrence & Peter live next door to each other with the loft at the bottom of the garden. Their main line of birds are Jan Aardens and Mark Kidby’s Van Treist plus a big influence from the “Fast Eddie” Grooter Lines. Thanks to Ron Crook for his help in gathering this information, it is much appreciated.
1st section A goes to Ron Dove down in Ashford took the rubber off a 2y blue chequer hen raced on the roundabout. The present day family is made up of Ron’s old family with the addition of birds form his good friend Ron Muggaridge of Plymouth who has been a good fancier and friend for many years. Ron also used to live in Plymouth but moved to Ashford 5yrs ago to race the pigeons in peace, away from the birds of prey who were taking their toll. This winner has been a good hen for Ron and was sent to Nantes with the BBC where she put nearly 11hrs in on the wing in a North East wind after that she was kept back for this Pau race where she proved Ron was right in the system. Ron is an old fashioned fancier who takes no notice of the pigeons that are flavour of the day and prefers to be an old fashioned fancier who swaps a few pigeons with friends and does not go out spending lots of money that is not needed. Pigeon racing is his beloved hobby, he likes competing in his selective races and that is how he wants it to stay.
1st section B sees M & L. Jarvis of Southampton who I had a good talk to about the sport in general but I shall not go into that for this report. Mike & Linda saw home a 3y chequer w/f cock from their Rutter/Mitcheson/Van der Esp lines. They came back in the sport in 93 with the Rutter pigeons and have added to them since with a natural outlook to racing i.e. no antibiotics just a natural system. The section winner was just reward after Mike failed to clock correctly when they should have won the section a few years ago. Another point was that they have only joined the club for the last years and are now wondering if it has helped in the preparation of their birds for the bigger events, something that you may find out by the end of the season Mike. I enjoyed my conversation with Mike because I felt that he was not hiding anything in his views and a fancier that I would like to sit and talk to a bit more. Every fancier has something to offer during a conversation, some more some less but all worth talking too for one reason or another.
R. Dennis & R. Phillips take the glory in section C, the partnership being Roy Phillips and very helpful wife Barbara (can’t wait for the photo) with father in law Roy Dennis who got quite excited when the pigeon arrived. This 4y chequer pied Busschaert hen was sent sitting 14 day eggs and obviously raced on the natural system. She was prepared with races from Messac and Picauville and only lightly raced during the earlier part of the season. She was well fancied and pooled to £10 in the section because she has shown well in the past. Previous channel performances include 2nd Saintes and 4th Bergerac. There are 16 w/h cocks plus 6prs on the natural with 35ybs housed; this can vary slightly from year to year. Their goods friend Ray Dibben breeds them a few pigeons from his “Irelands Dream Girl” and “Barnie” lines and was the one who saw the flash reflection on the door when this hen went in and again she looked well and capable of doing more time on the wing.
1st sec D is collected by B & S. Parkhouse who now show the rest that they can compete in the longer races after friend Andy Gridland stood watch while Ringo was at work which was rather unfortunate because it is a good performance. This 3y blue chequer Schlephorst cock is a very good pigeon that was also 11th open Nantes NFC, not only has he won but has also bred the winners as well so there could be a good future at this new race point for the team. Sire is the excellent stock cock “Wonky Leg” who is sire, g-sire, g-g-sire of many winners for Ringo who sent a father and son to this race so must have had some confidence in them to negotiate the distance.
A few days before this race I had a talk to James Roy after he had clocked a good bird in the BICC International Pau race when he told me about his NFC Pau entries. This was certainly a good weekend for the man who has the hens paired to himself, they even go into the house where their favourite place is the coffee table. Jimmy was 3rd open in the BICC Pau race and to make it that little bit better they are both off the same cock plus this is also his Greater Distance Club bird. She was nominated on the strength of her past performances including 5th Barcelona last year; they are also a family that are covering the distances for others. When I asked about his winning ways with pigeons he told me that he has won racing pigeons in England, Ireland and Australia so obviously knows what he is doing. The family are a blend that Jimmy started to put together in 1991 since then he has bred them to the type that suits his racing. The pigeons are raced on happiness at home and to Jimmy that is the way he likes to race them because content pigeons win prizes.
L & P. Emery win section G with a 4y red w/h cock bred from a Fear bros hen when paired to a Brian Shepard cock from the Jingles lines. Patience paid in this case because this winner did not get one race last year after hitting the wires but rewarded his owners with a good section win. He was prepared with two inland races at the coast then to Vains and a 10hr fly out of Nantes, there has been no other basket work at all. What was pleasing was the fact that when he arrived you wouldn’t have thought he had been out of the loft and certainly not that amount of time on the wing. The partnership treat their bird sin the same way as Brian Shepard who gives advice, they feed on Versele Laga which must have done them good because they clocked 3 of their 4 entries.
A fancier who I am always ready to talk to is Jim Biss the Brundall Ace who seems to have been winning with pigeons since the year dot. Jim comes in with 1st section G after clocking a blue 4y cock bred from children of Red Perpignan and Cheq Perpignan. This is the first showing for this cock although Jim did say that he may have been towards the font in the club races but they are of no interest so he does not take a great deal of notice. One thing that Jim said and several others have made the same point that is “The pigeon came back in excellent condition” in fact he did do a few circles on arrival to show that he was happy to be home and still some left in the tank. Whenever I have spoken to Jim he always makes a good point about something to do with the races and on this occasion pointed out that the returns were the slowest that he can remember since 1992. That was highlighted in the way the birds returned and they kept a steady flow going to the secretary’s and workers most of the day.
Mr & Mrs Roy Stretton & Daughter collect the top spot in section I with a 3y blue hen known as “Beaudica” who was 1st club Messac and then three weeks later was 3rd sec 24th Open in the Dax National. This is here third channel race of the season and was timed at the NFC Nantes after which she was paired to be sent sitting 7 days for this Pau NFC race. The same partnership will also be 2nd section so a good day all round for the team. The winner is a g-daughter of “Jackpots” brother from the Supercrack lines of Robert Venus. She is also a g-g-daughter of Leadbeaters number one pair. Roy was saying that the first pigeon was very fresh when she came but the second was showing more signs of putting some hard work in but still looked good. Roy added that he has been 2nd section 8 times so just reward. Just to add this loft was also 2nd section at Nantes so the season has gone very well.
The highly successful loft of J & T.Barnett & Daughter lead the way with another good performance in section J. (More Info to follow)
Eddie Wright who is better known for the Fountainhead lofts showed that he can race them as well as breed them coming home with 1st section K and a very delighted man he is, I though he would have gone past getting so excited but he did say that this as the type of result that he had always aimed for. Eddie had been racing in the shorter races but thinks that he has found that these pigeons are better a bit further down the line. This is the first time at Pau for this 3y red cock raced on the w/h and no doubt will not be the last. The breeding is half Chris Gordon out of a son of 17th open Pau. The dam is off Norman Barrett’s 1st sec 37th open NFC Saintes. Although Eddie has had good pigeons in other top races he said that this tops them all and is one to be remembered.
1st section L and it is a very easy winner is a Mealy cock racing to the lofts of Arthur & Roy Gough just outside Knutsford. This is a mix of all their old top line Classic type racing winners who have won thousands between them and contains the bloodlines of many distance winners. The sire is a blue cock off the “Minstral” in turn off a brother to the legendary “Northern Dancer” when paired to a daughter of Bob Mayo’s “Nightwatman” who is another legend in distance racing. The blue cock was paired to a mealy hen off the “Ashley Hen” a top winner from the top winning Van Bruane cock known as the “Ashley Cock” winner of 2nd section 27th open Pau and on another occasion was 18th section and in the top 300 of the open. The actual lines are three quarters Albert Bennett plus the Bob Mayo cock. Dam of the section winner was in inbred Van Hee to the “Diamond” cock winner of 5 classic type races an exceptional pigeon, his brother topped section L and between them they won £4000. This line has produced an awful lot of specialist race winners. The section winner was raced at Vains where he finished 59th Three Counties Combine against 3842 birds. He has never done a lot but this year has seen him come good as with most of these lines, the breeding has come through when it matters.
As always if you have not had a mention why not send me the info and if possible photos for a future Bulletin.
News to Les.J.Parkinson. Elimar, 11 Rushton Drive, Middlewich, Cheshire CW10 ONJ. Tel/Fax; 01606 836036. Mobile 07742 072713. ljohnp@elimarpigeons.fsnet.co.uk
