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SNFC – Falaise 2005 - Analysis Part 1... | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Again we must thank our hard working convoyer Matthew Boyle who looked after
the birds for the members and again did a first class job. I saw Kevin’s pigeons later on in the day that had returned and they looked as fresh as paint, so well done Matthew on a very hard and at times thankless task. Both Matthew and Colin Gray have shown their true class in the way they have both managed to care for the SNFC member’s pigeons this year and on behalf of the membership I thank them very much. What can I say about our race control team who have spent hours and hours on the phone during the old bird season trying to obtain a race. They had the same problems at Falaise as the convoy were delayed yet again due to heavy cloud and it being overcast at the liberation site from early morning the English Channel was very good. It was only a matter of waiting for the weather to improve and the birds were liberated at 07.00am with the convoy of 2,337 birds released into a light west wind. On behalf of the members of the club I would like to again thank Bobby Graham, Richard Combe and Jim Hannah the race control team for all their efforts. They have done a first class job this year and we the members have reaped the benefit. I would go on record and say that from the Alencon race we had the best race out of France that week end because of these ‘3 Wise Men’. Thank you gentlemen!
periods resulting in a clear line of flight from the south coast to Scotland. (See
satellite image in pigeon press.)
When I spoke to Scott to obtain details of his winner at noon the next day he had 5 out
of his 7 home which was very good as some people were struggling to time in.
Sire of Honey Potter is a stock pigeon at Honeysuckle lofts and is a direct son of
‘Master Bange’ who is the sire and grand sire of numerous winners for the stud. He in
turn is bred down from the ‘Merckx’. Dam of the sire is a daughter of the Merckx
who own 21 x 1st prizes. Dam of Honey Potter is another stock hen at Honeysuckle
lofts and she is a daughter of ‘Bruce’ who has bred many federation winners and his
brother has bred multiple winners. Bruce was paired to Abby another top breeding
hen from the stud. The base line of these Honeysuckle pigeons are Janssen bloodlines
and Scott was going to inform them of his win.
In my Alencon report I tried to put over the quality of fancier Scott Gibson is and this
race proves yet again how important observation plays in good management. Last
week end Scott had a race with the Combine and therefore was very busy so could not
train his SFNC Falaise candidates. So he put his 10 birds that he was going to pick
from out with his darkness youngsters for a fly. Then as they were coming down he
let out his natural birds to keep them going and managed to obtain 1hour 50 minutes
exercise. As they were just finishing off he walked down to the local shop and on
return the birds were going about the top of the loft. He noticed the cock paired to
Honey Potter walking about the garden so he tried to chase him onto the loft and
discovered that he had hit one of the trees and broke his wing. The next day Sunday
the eggs under Honey Potter hatched and Scott took one away as he did not want the
cock to become stressed as he was having to be lifted up to the nest box to take his
turn sitting the youngster. Scott basketed his Falaise team including Honey Potter for
a toss from Kelso on Sunday and Monday with a short one from Macmerry on
Tuesday morning the day of race basketing. When he put Honey Potter in the basket
he put the broken wing cock in the nest box. Scott also noticed that on return she was
always on the baby and would not leave it she was so keen. Scott picked out 7 birds to
represent him in the race and here we have another story. Many of you readers will
not know but before Scott knew how much money he had won for begin 3rd open
Tours he phoned me up to say that he would donate ALL his winnings to Cancer
Research, which I thought was a wonderful gesture from this young man. Scott only
sent one bird to Alencon and was 4th open, 2 birds to Tours and was 3rd open and now
had a team of 7 for Falaise, his mate Davie joked with him he could not pick one
pigeon out. So Scott took up this challenge and gave him the GB ring of Honey Potter
as his nomination. Now we have another story Scott met a fancier who criticised him
about his season and said he was only in pigeons for the money. Scott told him about
giving his Tours winning away to no avail, he was so mad that he sent his 7 birds
without putting a penny on any of them. Scott has a very successful business and is
not short of a bob or two and keeps his pigeons as a hobby and to prove his point he
sent his team bare.
The good Doctor timed in a 2 year old red chequer hen at 21.49 hours to win second
section D 7th open flying 521 miles and recording a velocity of 1030. As a youngster
this red hen had 2 races to 100 miles and then as a yearling she had 6 races to
Maidstone. This year she was flown on roundabout up to the south coast with her last race being from the inland national race from Newbury. She then received daily training tosses after she was down on eggs right up until basketing for the Falaise race were she was sent sitting 12 days on eggs. Her sire is an unrung cock being from The Cardinal who
won 9th open SNFC Nantes when he was paired to Belle Claire who won 3rd open SNFC Nantes. Dam of Phil’s 7th open red hen is another unrung pigeon being form the father of Belle Claire when he was paired to Belle Claire so a father /daughter pairing. It is little wonder that Phil Lynch does so well in the distance races when you read his pedigrees as he practices inbreeding to all his top winning pigeons. As many of you will have noticed
Phil was 2nd section D 10th open from the Gold Cup race from Alencon a few weeks
before, well done to Phil on another successful season in the greatest club in Scotland
the SNFC.
First section B 2nd east section 2nd open with a velocity of 1072 are Willie Kinnear &
Son Barry of Edinburgh who timed in their amazing blue bar cock Auld Reekie at 20-
49pm. I was so excited when Barry phoned lib line that I forgot to put out his time on
the text message. Barry said he notice this as he has this service which he says is great
and a boost for the SNFC. The whole Kinnear family were in the back garden when
Barry spotted him coming form a north east direction as soon as he shut his wings to
descend Barry said the knots in his stomach started to churn, he knew it was Auld
Reekie. If you don’t become excited when a pigeon of this calibre comes then God
knows what will excite you.
Second section B 6th open is one of the most respected SNFC fanciers in the country
Bobby Carruthers of Bonnyrigg who timed in his yearling blue chequer hen at 21.08 hours on the day flying a distance of 501miles and recording a velocity 1040. She had a full wing and was sent to the race feeding a 6 day old baby on the day of basketing. As a young bird she flown all races to Newark a distance of 213 miles then as a yearling she was raced out to Maidstone a distance of 350 miles she then had 3 weeks training from Selkirk and was then entered into the SNFC Falaise race. Her sire is a dark chequer white flight GB 03 cock direct from Louella Pigeon World and is a Jos Soontjens one of a group of four for £179.99 + carriage no pedigree. Dam is a blue bar hen also GB 03 X bred by M D Evens down from their Vandenabeele strain being one of the Europa one loft winners she was purchased by Bobby’s good friend Danny Driscol for him. Grand
sire is Joe Jonier and the grand dam was Kimberley. It is good to see Bob Carruthers
name back at the top of the tree and like his good friend Jim Sanderson of Pathhead
who did so well at Tours, their names have been associated with the history of the
SNFC for so long. They maybe have been quiet these last few years but what you
must remember is that they have ‘been there – done that – and wore the T shirt’, two
great fanciers and more importantly two very nice people.
Third section B 8th open from Falaise is Harry Armstrong of Bonnyrigg who timed in
his 3 year old dark chequer hen at 21.26 hours on the day flying 502 miles and recorded a velocity 1020. She returned with a full wing and was sent feeding a 14 day old baby. As a
yearling she was flown out to Maidstone and then as a 2 year old she won 217th open SNFC Falaise (2) 2004, this year she had 6 federation races to Leicester she was then trained from Dunbar and entered into the Tours race winning 47th open from a distance of 610 miles she was then set up for the SNFC Falaise race and here she is winning 8th open. How many of us would send out Tours pigeons back not many however Harry must have had great faith in her as she won him over £878 in this race.
Her sire is a Busschaert with the grand parent’s origin from George Corbett of
Busschaerts fame. Dam of Harry’s winner is a Krauth and was bred by J Robertson,
our congratulations to Harry on this win and for showing faith in his dark chequer hen
to send her back after winning out of Tours; do we have another up and coming star in
the making?
Len is a past winner of the SNFC Nantes race of 1988 and has achieved other outstanding performance over the years. Len timed in a 3 year old pencil blue bar widowhood cock to win 1st section C 3rd east section 3rd open velocity of 1069. As a youngster he was raced out to Ripon a distance of 170 miles, then as a yearling he won 1st club 5th federation Wakefield 5,570 birds, he also won other minor prizes in both club and federation.
He then won 22nd open SNFC Newbury from an entry of 4,837 birds he was then sent to the federation Maidstone race a distance of 385 miles returning with a small hole in his side, so Len put him aside for the year. This year Len set himself a target of being on the 5 open race results these being Fife federation Leicester and Maidstone races, plus the national races from Newbury, Alencon and Falaise and he achieved this goal. The pencil blue cock was his 3rd bird in the SNRPC race from Newbury and he was then sent to the federation open Maidstone race winning 12th open. He was then given his daily exercise of one hour morning and night and Len stressed that none of his birds have been in a training basket this year. The pencil cock was given his hen for 1 ¼ hours prior to basketing for Falaise and he was going like an express train when he arrived home. Len had heard of Mr& Mrs Guenther pigeon
on lib line and he had to time in at 21.50pm to beat it, when he saw the pencil cock racing towards the loft his heart was pounding and he received a fantastic buzz. After he timed him in he looked at the clock and low and
behold it read 21.45 hours, he knew he had a good one and phoned it into the lib line service. He then discovered about the other early pigeons which Len states are ‘Great Doo’s’ and he would like to congratulate the winners. The breeding of the pencil blue cock is Taveirme - Rigole of Belgium bred down from their line of international long distance winners out to Barcelona. Len tried this family a few years ago when he obtained some from Les Parkinson the BHW scribe who was selling some at the time. Les sent Len some up in a basket for him to take his pick and since then some direct from the Belgium partnership have been introduced. A full brother to the pencil cock won 4th open from Maidstone last year when Len was 3rd, 4th 6th and 17th open. Another hen from the family a grand daughter of the 14th International Dax winner, has won 4th and 14th
open Fife federation Maidstone and she was also 45th open Alencon SNFC this year
being 100% Taveirme – Rigole. Since the introduction of this family Len has built up
a friendship with Les Parkinson who this year made a good will gesture to Len by
sending him up 4 out of the same family of birds to try in his young bird race team.
Len would like to thank Les Parkinson for his assistance in helping him acquire this
family of pigeon that are standing up to the rigours of our Scottish climate with
success. Many people thought that they were just sprint pigeons however Len has
proved that they are distance pigeons and in the right hands will do what is required of
them. Len feeds Versa Lage PLX and sometimes breaks them down with depurative;
they also receive Versa Lage grit and pick stones. Congratulations to Len on this win
and it is good to see that a man who has kept pigeons for 40 years still gets excited out
of long distance racing with the premier club in Scotland the SNFC.
Second section C 12th open is Bob Baldie of Forfar who timed in a 7 year old blue bar
hen at 05.47am second morning she was flying a distance of 551 miles and recording
a velocity of 993. She was flown on the natural system and was entered sitting 14
days on eggs.
The blue hen has been over the channel 4 times and in 2002 she won 47th east section
71st open SNFC Claremont, the following year she returned from Maidstone hawked
and was stopped for the year. Last year she was lightly raced as Bob wanted to see if
she had recovered from her injury and then this year she was given the following
preparation races prior to the national Kelso, Otterburn, Ripon, Leicester and the 2
come back races from Tow Law. Her breeding is ¼ Albert Bennett and ¾ Jim Biss
through Supercrack, as a matter of interest Bob sent 14 birds to Falaise and at the time
George Briggs verified his winner he had 9 home. My thanks to George Briggs for
obtaining the details and the photograph and our congratulations to Bob on his good
win in the premier club in the land the SNFC.
Third section C 13th open is Dougie Barnes of Crossgates in Fife who timed in a 2 year old chequer hen at 22.24 hours on the day in semi darkness, she was flying 519 miles and recorded a velocity of 988. She is a nice small to medium apple bodied hen with good feather quality and balance and she also has a good length of wing. When I verified her,
her 4th flight was ½ up and she was sent sitting on 12 day eggs. She has a red yellow iris with a full serrated yellow circle of coloration with a little touch of dark towards the front. She is a Tommy Gilbertson of Carlisle 100% bred pigeons as he is a very good friend of Dougie’s. Sire is down from Red Burn Mary who won 1st C S C Pau race, dam
of the sire has won 3 x 1st in the 2 bird club for Tommy and she is a grand daughter of Fortune Lady the double SNFC Gold Award winner. Dam of Dougie’s hen is 19 who in turn is from a son of Red Rubby who won 1st club 7th east Cumbria federation from Rennes she in turn from Red Alert and the Showman lines of Tommy. Dam of 19
has won 2nd Vire, 2nd and 6th Nantes. Our congratulations to Dougie who works hard in the Crossgates club which I would have to say is the best club in Fife at the moment competing in the SNFC races.
