Keith Mott

Writes about winning fanciers past and present

KHAN BROTHERS

of Kingston

I was raised in Kingston-upon-Thames and my parents house was a about a mile from the London & South East Classic Club winning loft Amin and Shabir Khan. The brothers have won premier positions all the all the National and Classic clubs including the British International Championship Club and the National Flying Club. I convoyed the London & South East Classic Club pigeons to Bordeaux in 1999 and after the morning mist had lifted I liberated the 959 birds at 07.35hrs, with sunshine on the baskets. Eleven game pigeons were recorded on the day of liberation, with Amin and Shabir Khan clocking their first arrival just before 20.00hrs. Khan Brothers won 1st. open L.& S.E.C.C. from Bordeaux in 1999 and their winner, a two year old Janssen Meuleman blue hen, was a real class act, having won major positions previously, including 1st. Section, 3rd. Open L.& S.E.C.C. Guernsey as a young bird. The hen just called, ‘22’, is a granddaughter of Herman Beverdam’s, ‘Real Deal’, and her dam is from Mike Fitzhugh of Redcar. Amin told me she was chipping off on the day of marking for the Bordeaux Classic and the lads waited for the egg to hatch before taking her off to the Sutton marking station.

Thirty years ago, when the Khan Brothers were schoolboys and I kept pigeons with my brother, Phil, at my parent’s address, they used to come around the back gate to see our birds. Amin has kept pigeons for about fifteen years and Shabir joined the partnership ten years ago when Amin could not cope with the pigeons because of his shift work. The partners have a very smart 20ft. loft, with two sections for natural racers and one for the young birds and all trapping is through open doors in to a corridor. The natural pairs are fed on beans and maize, and the training build up for the long distance events is about seven tosses from 45 miles, off the south coast, one club race from Nantes, then in to the main events. Amin and Shabir have enjoyed some quality success in recent seasons, including 2nd. and 5th. Open N.F.C. Young Bird National (7,000 birds), 1st. Section, 3rd. Open L.& S.E.C.C. Guernsey, 1st. and 2nd. Open S.M.T. Combine Alencon and now 1st. Open L.& S.E.C.C. Bordeaux.

While I was visiting their Kingston loft, the Khan Brothers, showed me their 1998  S.M.T. Combine Alencon winner, a Janssen blue chequer cock sent on a chipping egg. His dam was a seven times winner for the lads. The main family kept is Janssen and when they bring in a stock bird, it must be from a champion racer, or off the parents of a champion racer. They keep eight pairs of stock birds and breed about 40 youngsters each season, which are raced on the natural system. The young birds are allowed to pair up for racing and their 2nd. Open N.F.C. Young Bird National winner was sent feeding a five day old youngster. The Khan Brothers like to send their candidates for the premier National and Classic races feeding a small youngster or chipping eggs and have achieved some brilliant success with this method of motivation.