| Author: Joe Murphy | Title: SNFC Young Bird Cheltenham 2005 |
| Date: 2005-10-13 00:19:51 | Uploaded by: webmaster |
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Scottish National Flying Club
Established 1894
Young Bird Cheltenham Race
What a race this turned out to be for the furthest flying fanciers in the club as they had a field day I cannot remember in my time associated with the club so many fanciers north of the Tay having such a good race from the young bird national. There are 46 birds flying over 300 miles timed in the first 90 open positions in this race which is truly amazing. When you have the 4th open winner flying nearly 400 miles it is quite remarkable and when I tell you that these fanciers did not have their clocks reset for the next day. Which is just as well or they would have had more pigeon on the open result as they had birds arriving home when daylight came in on Tuesday morning. Over the past years this race has been dominated by the east coast side of the country hence the members moved the liberation site to try to combat this happening. Even this did not stop the influx of pigeons into the lofts on the east coast and many people have stopped entering the young bird national because they felt that Cheltenham was off the line the youngsters have been racing all season.
This year’s race has been surprising in many ways in that so many fanciers from the north did so well whereas their counterparts in the centre and west section struggled to have birds home on the day and the west section fanciers were timing in pigeons the following day for prizes cards and pools. Having spoken to fanciers from every area of Scotland it is a mystery not just to me but those fanciers also on how some lofts have them all home while others have only had one or two birds returned home. Could it have been the 2 day hold over and the youngsters could not cope with being in the baskets for 4 days? You would think that after the minimum of at least 6 races the youngsters would be able to handle the transportation and overnight stay in the basket but no. Something happened to these youngsters that have not returned and to be honest I do not have the answer to solve this problem out. However we cannot take anything away from the fanciers who won so I will now highlight the winners from each section however before doing so could I ask the other fanciers who won 2nd and 3rd to contact me or if they have had their bird verified then the committee member these will have been sent in. Please help me with supplying the details as this would allow me to compile an analysis on the race as quickly as possible so everyone’s help is appreciated.
Winners Details
First Section B, 1st East Section, 1st Open in the SNFC Cheltenham race is Tim Hall of Chirnside he timed in his dark chequer cock at 16.29 flying 268 miles velocity of 1372. Tim has named his winner Jet as he was going so hard when he arrived home from the race. He is a darkness youngster and his 2nd flight was just burst through when I handled him 2 days after the race. He had a good firm body and was a fantastic handler of medium size and good feather quality. His eye is of pearl and is like his mothers with good rich deep pigmentation. He was raced every week and his first race was from Thirsk which is over 100 miles so he was well trained prior to going into the race basket. He had every race with his last being from Melton Mowbray the weekend prior to the national which is a distance of 220 miles. He has been racing to eggs for a month or so and after the Melton Mowbray race Tim noticed him come off the eggs on the Sunday for longer than usual so he slipped a 10 day old youngster under him and he took to it like a duck to water. He sat this youngster for the next four days and was sent to Cheltenham in this nest condition, he arrived from the south west direction and landed on the roof of the house next door with another bird prior to being timed in. He was not interested in the youngster on his return and Tim disposed of it so as not to put the young cock under any stress.
Another interesting factor was that his rubbers were covered in mud which indicated that had been down for a drink of water. Tom Davidson the club president also remarked on this as he had taken Tim’s clock off. Both parents were bred by Colin Crees of Simprim which is near Coldstream and are from Strong of Hexham bloodlines. Our congratulations to Tim on winning the SNFC young bird race and we wish him well in the future.
First section C 2nd east section 2nd open is to Gregor McCaulay of Forfar who timed in a black pied hen at 17.57 for a distance of 333 miles and recorded a velocity of 1358. Gregor purchased this hen from Ian Parson of Cumbria in a batch lot of six Andre Clements he also purchased a batch of 6 Frans Van Wildemeersch at the same time. The dark chequer pied hen is related to Gerald McPherson 2nd open SNFC young bird race from a few years back when he lived at Coldingham. These are the same family of birds that SNFC committee member Willie Hay of Methil has been so successful with over the past few years. Gregor’s 2nd open hen was raced from Arniston 1 & 2, Kelso, Tow Law Northallerton and Wakefield which was flown on the previous Saturday to the national race. She was brought up on darkness but was not paired up and was in fact flying to the perch. After the Wakefield race she was just given her daily exercise twice a day with the remainder of Gregor’s team. At this point Gregor would like to thank Gavin Ferguson for all his help to him this past year as Gavin assists Gregor with the pigeons. Gregor sent 11 youngsters to the SNFC race and has them all home he also sent 13 to the SNRPC and has 12 home so not a bad return when so many others have lost pigeons. As a matter of interest Gregor timed the nest mate to his 2nd open SNFC winner in the Leicester race with the SNRPC and she won 5th open which is quite incredible when you think of them being nest mates, so well done Gregor. He also told me that when he took his birds to the race marking station Bruce McKenzie of Dundee was race marking the pigeons and he remarked that he thought his own birds were in good condition until he put through Gregor’s whom Bruce thought were out of this world. Bruce was spot on as Gregor was 2nd, 30th, 48th and 131st and Bruce himself was 17th and 18th open well done to you both.
First section G 1st North section 4th open is Jackie Ritchie of Inverallochy who timed in a blue bar pied hen at 19.22pm flying 398 miles and recording a velocity of 1354. What a fantastic performance from this youngster and to be so close to winning the national away up in the north of Scotland is just incredible. This young hen was purchased from Louella Pigeon World a batch of 6 for £99. She was raced from Montrose 70 mile, Arniston 132 miles, Whitley Bay 180 miles and Northallerton 230miles the week before the young bird national from Cheltenham. Jackie separated her and 2 other hens into a section on their own for 2 weeks prior to the national at this time the birds were trained 9 times from Aberdeen by Jackie cousin Ian to whom he very grateful as he has been a tremendous help to Jackie. The night before basketing for the Cheltenham race he allowed the 3 hens with their cocks until he basketed them for the race. He fancied the Louella pied hen and she was marked down as his main pooled pigeon in the race and she will recoup Jackie investment to Louella you will read in my analysis on this race about other fanciers who have won with Louella Pigeon World stock in this young bird national and at 6 for £99 you cannot go wrong. The great thing about this offer is that fanciers are prepared to race them and test them out at the distance in the SNFC and you cannot get a better advert than winning 1st north section 4th open flying nearly 400 miles. Well done to Jackie Ritchie and not forgetting Ian well done to you both.
First section E winners and 1st west section (for the 5th time in the SNFC) 74th Open are W & H Holland of Muirhead who timed in a blue chequer hen at 17.52 flying a distance of 289miles and recording a velocity of 1183. This young hen had every race in the Lanarkshire federation (6 in total) out to Wetherby 176 miles prior to going to the Cheltenham young bird national she has previously won 3rd club Tow Law 120 miles which, was a very hard race with quite a number of youngsters lost. Her 7th flight was half way up and she was flying to the perch she was given 2 x 30 mile training tosses I don’t know if this was prior to the national or during the season. Both sire and dam are from Ian McDonough of Stepps with the sire already winning 4th west section SNFC Niort and the dam flew from Le Ferte Bernard in 2004, my thanks to Derek Hay for faxing this material to me. While on about Tow Law race point after speaking to fanciers from Midlothian and Pentlands they too experienced the same problems of heavy losses from Tow Law and have now taken it out their race programme and now jump their pigeons to the next race point. My advice to not just Lanarkshire (and Fife who experience heavy losses at this race point) is to look into this situation and find an alternative solution for next year food for thought ladies and gentlemen.
First section A 1st south section 13th open is Robert Rome of Annan who won the section from the Newbury inland national thus this makes it 10 x 1st south section wins for this fancier which is a truly outstanding achievement. Robert timed in a blue bar cock at 15.42pm flying approx 217 miles with a probable velocity of 1307 this was his 5th race of the season he won 4th club 25th open Melton Mowbray the week prior to the national. He was on the darkness method however he was a later developer than some of the others as he had just started to mess around with a hen over the last couple of weeks or so, hence his improvement in performance over the final two races.
He is bred in the purple sire is a 98 cock a son of Roberta and he is also a half brother to Roberts good hen ‘518’ who won 9th open Worchester, 6th open Sartilly, 4th open Rennes and 53rd open Sartilly. The 98 cock is sire of 1st national Frome in 2002, now this 1st section winner from Cheltenham in 2005 he is also the great grand sire of Motivator who won 1st south section 21st open Newbury 2005 so is a top quality pigeon. Sire of the 98 cock is Hat-Trick bed by F & J Gray of UNC fame dam of the 98 cock is Roberta top Toye hen who is dam of car winner and 100’s of 1st prize winners. She is grand dam of Spartacus 1st open Sartilly, dam of 1st section 4th open Rennes, dam of 1st national hens from Frome, Roberta is the mother of the Rome loft and in fact she is dam of 7 individual 1st prize winners with 7 different cocks. Dam of the Cheltenham section winner is Super Hen being from Andre Roodhooft bloodlines this hen has bred a yearling cock who has won 3 x 1st this year. The Super Hen is also dam of 6 x 1st prize winners between 2002 and 2004 and is now the dam of a 1st south section winner. Her sire was also bred by Andre Roodhooft being a son of 168 who won 2nd Dourdan from 2,894 birds and was a multi-winner for Andre, dam of the sire was a daughter of Bonte Van De Poel when paired to a son of Gesch Hengst crossed De 500. Dam of the Super Hen is a daughter of W Van Hekken stock crossed with Hofken line from Van De Poel of Weelde, my thanks to Robert Rome for the details of his winner and congratulations on this 10th section win.
First section D 64th open is Tom and Georgina Weir of Linlithgow who timed in a blue chequer cock at 17.43 flying 286 miles recording a velocity of 1202. He was a darkness youngster and was sent to the young bird national race with his 3rd flight 1/2 way up and he was in very good condition on return.
He has been a very steady bird for the partnership and won 3 x 2nd in club racing he was flown for Otterburn 1 & 2 a distance of 73 miles. Then to Bishop Auckland 117 miles, Tow Law with the North
West federation and he won 2nd club. Northallerton a distance of 149 miles and he won 2nd club again. He was then entered into the Wakefield open race a distance of 188 miles and he won 2nd club 36th open, this race was flown on the Saturday prior to the Cheltenham race. He was then given the open bowl and started to look at a young hen prior to basketing for the national and it was in this condition he was entered to the race.
Sire is a 6 year old Busschaert cock that flew steady as a racer but never set the heather on fire however at stock he has already bred a cock that won 2nd open Scottish Central Combine yearling race from Huntingdon in 2003. Dam of the young section winner is a Jeff Van Winkel hen that Tom and Georgina purchased at Blackpool show of the year, she breeds steady pigeons however she is now the dam of a section winner in the SNFC so well done to Tom and Georgina.
First section F 2nd west section 107th open is William Wallace of Paisley who timed in his only entry at 18.23 flying 290 miles and recording a velocity of 1116. Now here is a story that will make you think I could not make this up supposing I dreamt it up.
William is a pensioner and only keeps a handful of pigeons and for normal he rears only about 12 youngsters each year. However this year he had the most rings for a number of years when he filled 18. The reason for this is he obtained some new stock from Allan Love from Lochwinnoch down from his Marden Staff Van Reet crossed with Marden Rene Nauwelarts. Allan was giving up the sport due to health reasons and his friend Robert Armstrong happened to mention this to William and he obtained some. As the season progressed and we have all heard about the amount of young bird losses experienced each week well William was the same. After the Ripon race he only had the blue chequer pied cock left in his young bird section and he started trying to get into the old bird section. William let him pair up to an old hen and she laid and he was feeding 2 youngsters when Robert encouraged William to join the SNFC for the young bird race. He duly sent off his application form and the rest is now history as he has now won the section F and will receive a trophy at the SNFC dinner and dance. What a story and I thank Robert Armstrong for sending in the details on William and also for the photograph. I hope others will take encouragement from stories like this as to me this is what joining the SNFC is all about if you are not in the club you cannot win a trophy. The best and most prestige trophies in the whole of Scotland are flown for in the SNFC and the sight of them displayed out on tables at the presentation is breathtaking. When you see the names of fanciers from the past like Dr Anderson, J Kirkpatrick, J MacGillivray & Son, Shilliglaw & Wylie, Newcombe Brothers, E Hodgson & sons, J Sanderson, G Grant & son, L Smith & Son to name a few and I could go on and on. The point I’m trying to make is we might not win one of the ‘BIG ONE’S’ but the next best thing is to win a section trophy and William Wallace has done this in his very first attempt. It is a bit like Brian Cunningham from Prestonpans who won the national from Newbury last year in is first attempt well done to William on winning the section and hopefully I will meet him at the dance.
Conclusion
Mel Jarvis, Arthur Evans and I visited Tim Hall to film his winner of the race 2 days after timing him in and while there we met the officials of the club verifying the winner. So we filmed this and now we will just have to do the final part the presentation to be filmed and then the video and DVD’s will be on offer. This will be a fantastic film and you can mark my words it will be one of the BEST. We have done this in a very professional manner and the great thing about it is the contrast in the 5 national winners. Each one of them is an individual and their lofts and management is as different as chalk and cheese. There are no secrets and these fanciers have been open and showed us their feeding methods and anything I asked them about their birds. However there was one thing we discovered when filming each winner and it was is in the EYE of every SNFC winner. It is hard to explain in words without seeing the pigeon’s eye but I will try and do a commentary on it when we do the finishing touches to the film. Our only problem is that we have too much material and we will have to cut it down to 4 hours of filming. Which when you think of the time of other DVD’s on offer this will be a bargain of a life time and I can guarantee fanciers will keep this film on the 2005 SNFC winners for a life time. This will be the film to watch in the winter months and believe me anyone who is not winning at the distance at the moment will learn quite a few ideas from this film. Once it is completed I will be placing an advert in the fancy press so watch this space!
Request to Members
Would members who may be in the running for any of the average trophies within the club, as well as fanciers who have a pigeon that may have won a Gold Award, send in their details to the secretary Allan McGonigal as quickly as possible please. The annual dinner and dance and presentation of prizes will be held on Saturday 8th October in the Glynhill Hotel Renfrew tickets are £20 each and again can be obtained from Allan. The SNFC presentation is something special and I am looking forward to attending this year.
Special Praise
Again we are in dept to our conveyers Colin Gray and Matthew Boyle also our race control team of Bobby Graham Richard Combe and Jim Hannah and not forgetting our weather man Steve Appleby. Extended thanks to our secretary Allan McGonigal and his team of helpers, who work so hard to have the results out so quickly Tom Davidson our president has now gained our respect as he has worked tirelessly for the club this year as have his vice presidents Malcolm Lawson and Dale Newcombe who can also hold their heads high. The members of the management committee are workers for the sport and this was shown at the late bred sale yesterday where they rallied round to make sure this was a success and believe me it was as the 50 lots on offer raised over £9130 which is an average of £182.60 per bird. At this point I must thank Bobby Carruthers the auctioneer and the membership of the club for their support in backing the new management team. I stated at the very beginning when I attended my first meeting that these men were first and foremost PIGEON MEN and were not interested in the politics. Their number one priority was the Scottish National Flying Club and I think they have proved to the membership that they have the club interest at heart hence the great support from the members. I will not go down the road of naming how much individual members birds made at the sale as far as I’m concerned everyone is equal and it is an honour to donate a pigeon to the SNFC sale. The officials and management committee THANK each and every fancier who donated birds and we also recognise the purchasers of these wonderfully bred pigeons. We wish you well with your purchases and I hope that within a few years their offspring will be winning prizes in the greatest club in Scotland the SNFC. Last but not least may I say how much a tribute it has been to be the press officer of this great club, yes it is hard work and I couldn’t comprehend the amount of hours I have spend at this computer and phone. However I was brought up in the traditions of the SNFC and these have been the base on which I have continued to put all this effort into the club that I love so much. It is now time for the birds to take a rest and have a good moult and it is the same for you fanciers so enjoy the social side of the sport and let’s hope the politicians don’t raise their heads again this winter. Again my thanks to all the members for their support during the season and if the young bird national section winners will contact me as soon as possible I will finish off the season analysis.
Compiled by Joe Murphy SNFC Press Officer
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