Keith Mott

Writes about winning fanciers past and present

TWO PREMIER LOFTS IN LINCOLNSHIRE

MOONEY & KIRKHAM

1st Open NRCC Saxa Vord

The first loft on our tour of Lincolnshire was the home of 'Unique Lady' the champion blue hen that was the only bird on the day to win 1st Open NRCC Saxa Vord in 1998. The proud owners of this pigeon are Mickey Mooney and Keith Kirkman who have been in partnership for four seasons with outstanding success. The partners named their great Van Winkel x Van Den Bosche hen 'Unique Lady' because she is the first to be the only bird on the day from this race point. This hen certainly displays class being medium apple-bodied in the hand with wonderful eyes and feathering. She was sent to Saxa Vord, 540 miles, sitting 14 days and was clocked at 9.11pm after 14 hours 11 minutes on the wing to win 1st Open NRCC plus an RPRA Award. She was also 76th Open Saxa Vord in 1997 sent sitting 15 days. A fantastic hen. She is now in the stock loft and will never see the race basket again.

Widowhood system up to Lerwick, they re-pair to race the long distance events with hens and cocks on Natural to an open loft. They pair up on January 20 and after the first round of youngsters, the racers are parted for a few weeks and re-paired to be put on the Widowhood system sitting ten days on the second round of eggs. The Widowhood cocks are trained hard up to the second Federation race, after which are only flown out around the loft twice a day. On re-pairing for the long distance the birds are trained every day up to the Lerwick race and are fed on beans, peas and maize. The partners race a basic Widowhood system up to Lerwick with the hens being shown on the marking night and are not broken down, being fed a good quality Widowhood mixture. On my loft visit the partners showed me one of their top racing cocks, a Krauth blue chequer bred by Trevor Frost of Boston. He won 14th Open NRCC Perth winning The Racing Pigeon Trophy in 1998. The main 24ft racing loft is in Mick's back garden and has a young bird section and two for the Widowhood racers. All trapping is through open doors. Only three pairs of stock birds are kept in Keith's old racing loft in his garden and this wonderful old loft has seen many good winners through the years. Keith has been an outstanding pigeon fancier for 30 years and has won from every North Road race point including Thurso and Lerwick, twice. Keith says it was a wonderful season for Boston fanciers in 1998 with Brian & Angela Garnham winning 1st Open NRCC Lerwick, Alex Leggatt winning 3rd Open NRCC Lerwick and themselves winning Saxa Vord. Mick & Keith race their 24 young birds the old fashioned way, Natural to the perch and feeds them on beans, peas and maize. The young cocks only race up to Northallerton, then are saved for the Widowhood system, with the hens going through the programme to Berwick, 200 miles.

 CARL UPSALL

OF BOSTON

Next loft on our tour was the winning loft of Carl Upsall of Boston. Carl's father retired from the sport in 1995 and he was 'Mr. NRCC' in the 1970s and 1980s winning many positions in the first six Open results, including 1st Open NRCC Thurso in 1977. Bill won the NRCC average many times and Carl says his dad was his tutor in the art of National North Road racing. Carl started on his own in 1978 and has won countless premier prizes in the Federation and NRCC, including ten times 1st Open in the Peterborough Federation with up to 6,700 birds competing and 1st Open NRCC Perth winning by ten minutes clear in 1991. Carl likes to race his pigeons every week, short and long distance, but is mostly interested in NRCC races. He has won the NRCC Perth race with his handsome blue cock 'The 21' who has won many other prizes including being his top performer from Lerwick. 'The 21' has bred Federation winners and is a grandson of his father's NRCC Thurso winner.

Carl races 20 cocks on the Widowhood system with the whole team racing up to Scotland. They are then split into two teams and selected for the long distance events. They are paired up in late January and are given ten training tosses before the first Federation race. The Widowhood cocks are broken down from Saturday to Tuesday on the sprint races, but get extra corn in the nest boxes for the long distance events, and are exercised around the loft twice a day, never being trained in the racing season. Carl says he started the Widowhood to make things easier for himself and the birds are always locked up on Monday to give the racers and himself a rest day. The cocks are always shown the hen on marking night and every three weeks the cocks get their mates a lot longer on their return from the race for a bit of a change.

Carl showed us many top racers on our visit to his loft including his good grizzle cock 'Wayne', raced on Widowhood he is one of his best sprinters. He was bred for the long distance being a son of 'The 21', the NRCC Perth winner, and turned out a sprint specialist winning many 1sts including 1st Open Federation. Carl's 16ft racing loft has 24 nest boxes which he says are never filled up, and the loft has a radio playing in it all day, with the birds being trapped through open doors. He races his father's old National winning family and crosses the odd good bird in from time to time. His young birds are raced on the Natural system to the perch and are trained every day for three weeks before the first Federation race. No young cocks are saved for Widowhood with the whole team going to Berwick, 210 miles, with the NRCC.

TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT