| Author: Les.J.Parkinson | Title: BICC - Barcelona International 2004 |
| Date: 2004-08-28 20:03:38 | Uploaded by: webmaster |
|
Barcelona International, the race with a certain ring to it, the one that all the best continental fanciers want to win, the race that is held in the highest regard’s with fanciers who are looking for the ultimate win. Our race saw Syd & Bill Knox secure the top two positions and whose winning pigeon is a blue chequer hen sent sitting 4-day youngsters. This was not her first time across this year by far because prior to Barcelona she had three races with the EECC from Beauvais, Le Ferte Bernard, Gellienville and when I studied the pedigree I could see that she had previously scored from Barcelona 2003 being 7th BICC. The pedigree is full of distance winners starting with her sire who flew the channel 15 times up to Barcelona and is a g-g-son of “Virgo” 1st NFC Rennes 6240 birds. The dam has been across even more having completed 20-channel crossings gaining several good positions and has also got the “Virgo” bloodlines plus “Pride of Midlothian” 1st open SNFC. The second pigeon is also a blue chequer hen sent sitting 14 days on eggs; prior to this Barcelona race she had two races with the EECC Gellianville and Saran. She was lost in a flyaway as baby and reported from Wiltshire but still went on to fly well last year that once again proves that there are good pigeons lost at some time in their lives. This again has the best distance breeding and has flown the channel of 12 occasions. Like the winner she has excellent breeding consisting of her sire that made 17 trips across the water including Pau, Dax and San Sebastian. On the sires side we have “Solway King” “Virgo” as well as “Man Friday” 1st Open SNFC Nantes 572mls and an Up North Combine winner. The dam was bred by J. Murray and is inbred to “Stranrare Simon” and also has good club, fed & combine winners in the breeding. Syd & Bill are a father & Son partnership and although younger member being Bill of this team has been involved since 1958 it is only really since he returned to the team in 1999 that he has had time to give to pigeons because Syd is now 88 and unable to attend to them as in years gone by. Since the regained influence the systems have not really changed and they still fly the old natural system because the hens usually out perform the cocks. In this loft the pigeons are purely a hobby and sport and they won’t want it any other way. The preparation for these pigeons is like many more who compete in the BICC a couple of races with the East of England before going on to the International scene. The winner is a 99 bred blue chequer hen from the Kirkpatrick lines that have proven very successful at these lofts and been the backbone for many years. This winning hen has now been across the channel eleven including three times to Barcelona gaining 7th last year. The dam of this winner has also proved to be more than just an entry into the races winning prizes such as 150th open Pau, 4th BICC Marseille and is a real good hen bred from a father daughter mating. The sire is also bred right but has not really done a great deal even so while racing he was always consistent when it came to competing from across the channel that he did on many occasions. The 2nd open winner is also a blue chequer hen and as expected from such a winning loft is bred for the job with her dam flying the channel five times in 2003 and three in 2002 and like all these pigeons is bred from a good long distance family. What we can also add on the Syd & Bill Knox partnership is that they clocked five pigeons covering a distance of 685mls, well done.
From my original report on preliminary times the loft of Mick Parish moves up from 4th position to 3rd on the final result with a blue cock from the Eric cannon lines. These pigeons have a great reputation behind them and their new owners wherever they may be have a tough task to follow and achieve the excellent results of the legendary Eric Cannon. Mick is another of the band of fanciers who does not have a clock set when it comes to the club races because his main aim with the pigeons is to achieve success in the specialist clubs against selective opposition, by this I am referring to birds selected with one aim and not a loft sending a team in club racing. This pigeon is of the right breeding for this type of racing and Mick is pleased with the way this 2y has flown to date. This is not the first and won’t be the last time that he has been in amongst the top pigeons in such races. He does come from a good line with his sire being a son of “Culmer Gold” that is a certificate of merit winner from Pau. The dam is also on the right lines being a daughter of “Culmer Bess” another top merit winner. In preparation he had a few tosses from the coast about 100mls and then into Messac 280mls before going to Barcelona. Mick is another fancier who had a good weekend with the distance races having 4 out of Palomos a race that he won last year so distance is the blood and that is what they are doing. Mick does prefer to race natural but this years has raced them separately to try and stop them going to the field. Mick also clocked a further two pigeons to appear on the result.
When it comes to these races another fancier who is generally not far away is a fancier who I have enjoyed talking to this year. The man is concerned was 4th “True Grit” whose life started in 1999, a year that saw her have an easy introduction to life as a racing pigeon as she was not raced but trained. She then flew Pau with the NFC and also on the result at San Sebastian, then onto Pau/Saintes and this year one race from Fourgeres and straight into Barcelona. Bred from a son of top racer and breeder “Rio” winner over £3,000, results that included 228th open Nantes Nat 10,308birds. 243rd open 10,508 birds. 61st open Pau NFC 5,333 birds and 42nd open Pau 5,465 birds. The winning lines go even further back with the g-dam who is also a good winner achieving 14th open Pau NFC 5465 birds. The dam of “True Grit” is a winner of 6th open 1st section A in the Saintes/Pau. When we talked about the breeding it was no surprise to hear that these lofts were not one for changing just for the sake of change as the birds are all the old Southwell that Jimmy has had for the last 30yrs. Jimmy also had another on the result in 22nd position.
Most of the top fanciers were covered in the original article but I will give a mention to Till Bros in this report after they came home as 1st West section 19th open flying 806mls, well done. B.C.Williams had three on the finished result as did F.Knowles & Son, well done to everyone in one of the hardest races of any season.
Another of the well known names when it comes to the distance races finishes 5th with Bill Aherne who clocked a pencil blue cock raced on the natural, this is a g-son of “Barcelona Bernie” who won this race in 1995. The family is based on the Ian Benstead birds crossed with those of Jim Biss’s “Joker” and “Legacy” that are top class birds. The sire flew Barcelona three times and in fact competed in more or less all of the distance race points gaining positions from Pau, Perpignan, Marseille etc. Dam is a daughter of “Barcelona Bernie” when she was paired to a half brother that was the sire of the “Lame Cock” who was 2nd Pau National 97. This was a good day for Bill because he also clocked one from Palomos about 30mins apart.
Brian Williams finished 6th open with the last bird clocked on the winning day when he took the rubber off a blue chequer cock raced on the natural system. He is a half brother to “Champion Conquerer” who was 6th hens and also appeared in the top 45 out of the Perpignan International. His brother is “Lucky” and has been clocked at Barcelona twice; there are four brothers that have all done well in the distance races. Sire is from the York distance specialist Brian Denny who has put up many top class performances at this sort of distance. The dam is direct from Jack Ven Der Wegan and purchased with distance in mind. This cock was sent to this race because he had been so consistent and once again showed that breeding does really count when it comes to time on the wing and distance put together.
Next day the very talented fanciers Sonny & Norman Jordan clocked two pigeons to finish 7th & 8th open. Their first arrival was a chequer cock raced as always on the natural system, which is preferred, by most of the distance fanciers. This cock had only been to three races this season but was roaring about so much that they decided he had to go. What a pigeon “Taffy” is having previously won the following in this prestige’s race, 2001 5th open, 2002 4th open, 2003 4th open and 2004 7th open a pigeon that deserves an award on his own. Sonny was telling me that they have now decided to retire him to the stock loft, I wonder what will happen if he is roaring about next season. The sire of “Taffy” was clocked at Barcelona twice and known as “the 32 Cock” while the dam being the “51 hen” flew Barcelona three times finishing 7th 5th 9th and was also 4th out of Dax plus racing from Perpignan and other distance race points. The boys then clocked a 4y blue w/f cock from the van Bruane lines on his first trip to this race point and a pigeon for the future. The preparation for these pigeons was three races with the East of England plus quite a few single up tosses from Rye about 30mls.
The partnership of Delores Schofield and Martin Greetham also clocked a 3y dark cock from the old Barker Gits lines of Tom Rigg. This is their fancied pigeon from an entry of three and is pooled all the way in both section and open and is also their candidate for the Greater Distance Single Bird club. Martin said that he now has a groove in the garden where he ahs been walking up and down while waiting, doesn’t sound like the normal patient man that we see racing the distance. Martin was saying that the pigeon has done an awful lot of flying and lost a lot of weight after being on the ball when basketed.
Les.J.Parkinson. Elimar, 11 Rushton Drive, Middlewich, Cheshire, CW10 ONJ. Tel/Fax; 01606 836036. elimar.pigeons@btinternet.com
|
| Coo time for a brew!...Where next? |
| Lets hear what you've got to say on this issue.... or any other infact! Post your comments in the Message Forum. |
| You've seen the light... bang a new idea!!... Tell the world, Write an article for Pigeonbasics.com, email into the webmaster at webmaster@pigeonbasics.com. |
|
|
