|
THE CREATION OF A DYNASTY SIRED BY A LEGEND by Brian Newson To race successfully at any time is an art in itself. To merge that with an ability to create a family of birds that have the rare and unique genetic trait to reproduce winners, generation after generation, is indeed a talent given only to a select few. Linda & Keith Turner of Fingringhoe, Colchester, Essex, certainly fall within this category. Yet, no matter what the description used it seems inadequate to describe their standing in the sport. They are known throughout the sport as the architects of the 'Red Danial' family and therefore to get a clear picture let us go back to the beginning. Keith's father was a member of a personal protection unit in the Army and consequently Army life took them around the world, more so in Keith's younger days. Come release and the family settled down in the Colchester area in the 1950s and it was here that the pigeon bug took its first bite. Keith's uncle and grandfather were both pigeon men and even from the tender age of six Keith can well remember being transfixed by his grandfather's loft of feathered friends. Certainly the way he spoke to the birds, one would have thought they were members of the family. In fact one of Keith's most treasured memories is that of sitting on a dustbin, legs dangling, as his grandfather waited for an arrival from a Thurso race. Despite the failing light the old man was quietly confident that his bird would not let him down and sure enough, with night approaching the bird appeared silhouetted against the pale evening sky. As usual the bird obediently entered the loft and was clocked. The excitement and anticipation created by this arrival still lives with Keith today and Keith adds that when the same excitement and anticipation are lost from racing, he knows it will be time to call it a day. Going back to his grandfather's race and all the excitement and tension was prolonged for a further couple of days. News on the grapevine was that this pigeon was the best one in their locality, and even better was the eventual confirmation that the bird had won 1st Open and was consequently awarded the King's Cup. As a youngster in those days, Keith could not fully understand the significance of such a fine performance. He knew it was something special and it was this that hooked him into the sport of pigeons. In the sport of pigeon racing, he could have no finer tutor.!
Linda holding Ruby, a direct daughter of Red Danial Keith's uncle also raced a good pigeon, often winning out of turn and producing a champion that was eventually sold to a young Louis Massarella. As one would expect, Keith's grandfather and his uncle played a major role in his pigeon life, teaching him the finer points of the sport. These were expressed to this young fancier as if they were just common sense, and yet impressing on him that this was only the first rung of a very long ladder he had to climb to become a successful fancier. Keith's mentors certainly taught him well and from that base of knowledge came an insatiable quest for more, the end product being the fancier we know today. In 1966 Keith married Linda and what an inspired choice this proved to be. Indeed it was not long before the pigeons also arrived, albeit not how one would have envisaged. Linda, knowing of Keith's life-long love of pigeons, went out one morning and bought a pair as a present, not realising at the time that pigeons were not all the same. She actually visited the local pet shop and bought a pair of doves. Although Keith was pleased at the well meaning of the gift, he was not too impressed with the selection. However, the main thing was that the birds were back and Keith started building a new loft as a consequence of this present.
Keith& Linda holding two 1st Combine winners It took a year or two before Keith decided that the various strains housed were just not good enough and therefore, after a period of study and research, he and Linda opted for the Cattrysse family which were racing well at the time with some 20 x 1st Nationals being attributed to this strain. Even today their legacy to the sport is incalculable. In due course one of the finest families of Cattrysse were resident in the loft and this was continually updated following the formation of a close friendship with Les Newman, with whom birds were exchanged on a regular basis. The birds attained a high degree of success winning many races from all distances, 90 to 500 miles. In fact one local scribe gave them the name of The Untouchables, adding that Keith was 'The Complete Fancier'. In the 1980s the sport moved towards sprint and middle-distance racing and Keith, along with many more fanciers throughout the country, made moves to advance with the times. Again, after a lot of research and thought the name of Staf van Reet of Mol came to the top of the list, particularly so after the outstanding success achieved by Dave Alien and Bert Hession, both at racing and breeding with early imports of the Van Reet pigeons. Keith contact Staf personally to see if he had any birds for sale.
However, he had no success for Staf was in the process of selling his entire team to Dean Pallatt, Staf further suggesting that Keith should contact Dean. This was in 1989 and as events turned out this proved to be a good year for Keith, although it did not start too well. On contacting Dean he was informed that all the youngsters were already fully booked. However, Keith did ask and received an assurance that if there were any cancellations Dean would contact him. Dean also added that a few further birds direct from Staf were due shortly, asking whether or not Keith would be interested. True to his word Dean informed Keith when the birds arrived and he and Linda went to have a look, the result being that they bought two pairs. While at Dean's they also looked at the principal birds now at stock and so impressed was Keith with what he saw that he placed an order for one youngster from each of the 20 pairs. These, together with the two direct pairs, were destined for the stock loft. However, with no Van Reets to race, Keith placed a further order for 12 birds to race in 1990. So far so good, but fate still had one more card to play regarding Keith's racing future. One morning two birds arrived from Dean and these were the result of a cancellation by a would-be purchaser, Dean again keeping to his word regarding cancellations. Dean, however, did not inform Keith that he had sent the birds and it was a surprised Linda who accepted them. She phoned Keith at work and told him of the arrivals adding that she had some good news and some bad news. "What's the bad news?" asked Keith, "The bill?" "No," replied Linda, "One of the youngsters is a reddish colour, the good news is that you have two youngsters to race." "Never mind," said Keith for the strawberry mealy would certainly stand out against all the Cattrysse birds. On arriving home from work Keith looked at the youngsters, phoning Dean to thank him for his consideration. At the same time he did express his reservations at having a red chequer pied in his loft. Dean responded by saying that the birds were nestmates and suggested that Keith give the strawberry mealy a chance. Keith replied okay, nevertheless adding that it would stick out like a sore thumb and hoping that it raced better than it looked. Young bird racing soon arrived and the red chequer pied was still in the loft and so the basket was about to become the judge of this youngster.
Champion Red Danial, winner of 19 x 1sts racing and the foundation sire of the Red Danial Dynasty The bird's racing record is set out below, the bird being Champion Red Danial, winner of 1st Open Peterborough; 1st Open Sleaford; Ist Open Sleaford; 1st Open Berwick; 1st Open Retford; 1st Open Essex & Suffolk Federation 4,132 birds. He was entered in six Open races winning 6 x 1st prizes. He also had wins from Beverley, Retford, Sleaford, Retford, Beverley, Beverley and Sleaford. 1st Section B Essex & Suffolk Federation 2,633 birds; 1st Section B Essex & Suffolk Federation 1,853 birds: 1st Section B Essex & Suffolk Federation 3,312 birds; 1st Beverley Essex & Suffolk Federation 3,148 birds; 1st Stour Valley Federation 7,204 birds; 1st Peterborough in the Colchester Championship Club; 4th Essex & Suffolk Federation Beverley 4,221 birds; 4th Essex & Suffolk Federation Beverley 2,191 birds; 6th Essex & Suffolk Federation Beverley 3,318 birds; 5th Essex & Suffolk Federation Beverley 4,428 birds. Red Danial was only raced until he was two years of age and in that time was entered in 23 races winning 19 x 1st prizes. He was then put into the stock loft where he has been sire, grandsire and great grandsire of winner after winner, generation after generation. A true world class racer and equally so as a producer. Space alone decrees that it is impossible to list all the winners attributable to Red Danial and therefore a few have been selected to show that winning genes prevail throughout this bird's remarkable record. We start with 'Danial’s Son', a direct son of champion Red Danial and the sire and grandsire of winners at Club, Open, Federation, Amal and Combine level. A Champion racer in his own right, winning 6 x 1st Federations with entries up to 2,121 birds, a winner of 6 x 1st Open races, 9 x 1sts at club level, 12 x 1sts in the 5-Bird Nomination Club and the winner of a further 17 other place cards. In total a winner of 33 x 1st prizes. Next we have '65 Special', a grandson of Red Danial and also a sire and grandsire of winners. A winner of 2 x 1st Federations and 5 x 1st Clubs, many times 2nd, 3rd & 4th to loftmates. 'Heritage', a son of Danial Son and again sire and grandsire of winners. When racing he won 4 x 1sts at club level plus twice 1st Federation, again many place cards when beaten by loftmates. 'Clare', this time a direct daughter of Red Danial and she follows the pattern, the dam and granddam of winners, i.e 5 x 1st Federations and 1st Open Liverpool Amalgamation with 4,000+ birds. 'Quilty', a grandson of Red Danial and the sire and grandsire of Federation winners. Also a winner of 9 x 1st prizes including 2 x 1st Federations from Boston, 1st Federation Sleaford, 1st Federation Wetherby, 2nd Federation Stonehaven, 5th Federation Wetherby and again 5th Federation Wetherby. There is no doubt that Red Danial is a remarkable pigeon and within the horse racing world, he would be the equivalent of Northern Dancer, his value astronomical. It is also worth noting that all Red Danial's performances were achieved on Natural, a true Champion in every sense of the word!
From the above there is no doubt that this remarkable partnership have an outstanding team of pigeons but as with all pigeons the best has to be brought out of them and Keith and Linda have mastered that art. In this respect therefore, Linda has emerged as a most potent force in the management of the birds and Keith is the first to admit that her involvement has been a major factor in the success of the loft. He adds that on his own the number of wins would have been greatly curtailed. Linda certainly has a woman's touch and this is reflected in the rapport that exists between her and the birds, confidence abounds. For many years Linda has managed the stock birds to good effect and she is not averse to cleaning out all the lofts on a regular basis, "She does a far better job than I do," says Keith. Moving on, and when asked which performances gave them the greatest satisfaction, the reply was not a surprise. Every bird raced and directly from Red Danial - 24 in total - had won the Federation at least once and some four, five or even six times.
They had all contributed to giving them immense satisfaction and as a family it was a remarkable record and one with few equals. Keith also added that they derive a great deal of pleasure from the many fanciers who have won with their birds, and in particular any newcomers. Looking to the future they both said more recently when one wins out of turn the response from some is not what it used to be and regrettably sportsmanship today is not as prevelant as it was 20yrs ago - it now appears to be on the decline. A reversal would be nice. They were quick to add that this situation is not applicable to all and highlighted that in 2004 they applied for membership of the Thames North & Eastern Counties Club. Not only were they successful, they also received a very warm welcome from the officials and members. In return Keith and Linda appreciated this gesture very much indeed, they were also appreciative of the opportunity it has presented to race against such fanciers as Bruce McAllister, Dave Coward-Talbott & Mick Harvey, Dave Hayles, Kepling & Partners, Budgie Crathorne & Len Parrott. Certainly within the ranks of the club members, there are winners of 2 x 1sts National, 3 x 1sts BICC and of course winners of the Federation and the Amalgamation. The competition presented by such talent makes any success so much the better.
2004 was also a momentous year in other respects and with an eye on the future Keith and Linda decided to take a partner on board and so approached Richie Ryder of the Wirral, Merseyside, who had been a friend of long standing. Richie has an unequalled reputation as being a breeder of quality pigeons. It is envisaged that Linda and Richie will manage the stock birds leaving Keith more time to concentrate on racing. Already a number of top quality stock birds have been sent to Richie from Linda and Keith and those who know all three will endorse the view that this is a remarkable move and one that can only enhance the reputation of all three. The final comment is to the effect that this partnership is setting out to surpass the performances of the past for this is the home of 'The Red Danial Dynasty'.
All who race pigeons know only too well that the sport has its peaks and troughs, and while Linda and Keith have had many peaks, there have also been troughs and in 1997 they suffered a good fancier's worst nightmare, thieves. Twenty eight birds were stolen from the stock loft and of course the best are always the ones to go, Red Danial being one of those taken. Sadly only four of the birds ever came back and whilst Red Danial was one of them he was away for some four months, Abbie's Choice was another. They were obviously delighted to see Red Danial again but the whole episode destroyed a great deal of the trust they had in people and even today one has to gain their confidence before being invited into the loft. In addition, state-of-the-art burglar alarms have been fitted and a guard dog has its freedom to roam. Some good did however come out of this incident, for one of the first to offer help after hearing of the break in was Richie Ryder and from that was born a deep and trusting friendship, hence the partnership. Since racing the south road from 2004 this loft has won 30 x 1sts; 16 x 2nds; 19 x 3rds; 19 x 4ths;19 x 3rds; 19 x 4ths. Previous 5 years north Road: 82 x1sts; 69 x 2nds; 66 x 3rds; 69 x 4ths. Plus 26 x 1st Federations.
Richie Ryder holding the Big Blue
Possible future Champions?
|
