THREE BORDERS FEDERATION 'FOCUS' WITH KEITH MOTT

DAVE WHITE

OF EPSOM

When Dave White was a lad, he and his friends, caught strays on the roof of the local shops and from under the railway arches for fun. These birds were broken to several back gardens in the Epsom area and then sent them to Penzance on the train, to see who could get them home fastest. It was really Derek Duffell of Ewell who got the lads going on proper racing pigeons and Dave started up with young birds in 1976, recording his first winner in 1977, when he won 1st. club, 5th. Federation, 11th. open Combine Laval in France.

Dave starts the season racing on the roundabout system and repairs the team later on, for the longer races. His 16 pairs of racers are paired up in February and tells me he prefers racing from France. When I asked him what he fed, his answer was, ‘I constantly change the corn, but the birds have food in their pot all the time, which is a good quality heavy mixture, with the longer channel races in mind’. Dave has three lofts, with ‘sputnik’ trapping and if he finds the time cleans out twice a day. The old birds racing campaign starts each season with two weeks training down the A3 to Milford (25 miles) and very little training is given once racing starts, but they get an open loft most days during the season. Dave never keeps stock pigeon, with every thing in the loft having to race and he told me his family is ‘Heinze 57’, with good pigeons coming from many premier lofts.

When every you are racing against Dave, he is always a fancier to look out for, but is particularly good in the channel races. He has won many premier races through the years, including 1st. Godalming open race in 2004 from Fourgeres and says his Combine win in 1998 was his best performance to date. He won the London & South Coast Combine from Argantan (200 miles) with his good Lefebre Dhaenen blue chequer cock, ‘The Combine cock’, and he was bred from stock obtained from Mick Duffell of Leatherhead. This handsome cock won many other prizes, including 4th. Bedfont open race from Weymouth.

Dave has a racing team of 20 young birds each season and these birds race natural to the perch, but if they want to pair up for racing they are allowed too. He has never tried the darkness system. The White young birds are given intense training for three weeks before the first race, up to Milford and some times will go down the A3 twice a day to get them coming on the right line. The babies race the whole programme and go across the channel to Guernsey with the classic, but once the racing starts they are rarely trained during the season. Dave says his problem is he over feeds his young birds, with the same heavy mixture he gives the old birds, but maintain they make better old birds, by not being kept short of corn. Dave likes to buy in six young birds from time to time, to try out and the only youngsters are ever brought in.

Any Three Borders Federation news, please contact me on: 01372 463480.

TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT (FEDERATION PRESS OFFICER).