THREE BORDERS FEDERATION “FOCUS” WITH KEITH MOTT

Robert Winton

of Aldershot

Robert Winton has enjoyed a good 2006 season racing in the very strong Guildford club and at the time of writing this article, he has won one first and three seconds. I don’t known if he was lucky or unlucky, when he recorded 2nd. club, 2nd. Three Borders Federation, 2nd. open S.M.T. Combine Messac (241 miles), beaten by less than a yard by the Guildford ‘ace’ partnership of  Mr. & Mrs. David May. If  I won 2nd. open Combine, I would at least expect to win the club, but this demonstrates how strong the Guildford club is! Robert’s ‘star’ pigeon was his two year old white Billy Parks Busschaert cock, ‘White Lightning”, bred by Dave Robinson of Normandy and he is raced on the widowhood system. Robert told me ‘Lightning’ isn’t the greatest trapper in the world, but was also the first birds clocked from the N.F.C. Sennen Cove race and recorded 270th. open.

Rob races 28 cocks and 28 hens on the widowhood system and these are paired up on 1st. December. The racers rear a single youngster each and then are parted, to be repaired two weeks before the first Federation race. The Winton widowers get plenty of training to sharpen them up, including twenty chucks at 25 miles before racing and four tosses every week during racing. He likes sprint / middle distance racing best, as he hates long waits, but repairs the birds two weeks before Bergerac, to have a go at the longest old bird race. The racers are broke down for the first half of the week on the short races and are fed on a first class widowhood mixture. Rob shows the hens for ten minutes on marking night and on their return from the race they stay together all afternoon. He has two 12ft.x 6ft. ‘Blakes’ racing lofts, with ‘sputnik’ trapping and uses wooden floor grilles.

Robert has 25 pairs of stock birds, which are mainly Busschaerts from Dave Robinson and these are housed in 8ft.x 6ft. aviaries. The breeders are also paired on the 1st. December, with their eggs being floated under the race team and are fed a good ‘breeders’ mixture until they are split up in June, when they go on break down mixture. He breeds 100 young birds to race every year and there is no darkness system, he races them natural to the perch. Rob likes to give his youngsters a good education and starts training them at the end of May, with them flying the whole Federation programme and the National event.

The name Winton is very well known in the pigeon fraternity around the Guildford area, as Robert flew very successfully in partnership with his father, Richard Winton, since 1988. Rob started up on his own in 2004, with young birds at his own address and tells me, the competition with his dad is very hot. The partners raced the Bricoux pigeons on the natural system and one of their best seasons was in 2002, when they won 1st. Three Borders Federation Bergerac and 2nd. open S.M.T. Combine Messac.

Well done to Robert on his great performance in the Combine from Messac! Any Three Borders Federation news, please contact me on: 01372 463480.

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