HARRY DELESLIE

OF MORDEN

by Keith Mott

Harry Deleslie is a 14 year old lad who has been very successful in his very short time in pigeon racing and is also a very keen amateur boxer for his local Rose Hill Boxing Club. With the pigeons this lad has already made his mark, winning the Three Borders Federation in his very first race and in the boxing ring he is looking forward to his first amateur bout which is coming up very shortly. Harry lives and races his small team of pigeons at his home in Morden, which is near Croydon in Surrey. He has had a great deal of encouragement and help with his pigeon racing from his dad, Alan, and in 2011 his small team of Staf Van Reet youngsters have been ‘on fire’, winning four times 1st club and 1st Three Borders Federation Blandford (1,380 birds). A fantastic performance for a young lad racing on his own!

Harry races in the Hackbridge club and won several premier positions in the club and Federation, the highlights being 1st club, 1st Federation Blandford,  1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th club Wincanton, 1st, 2nd, 3rd club Yeovil and 1st club from the longest young birds race point at Yelverton. He also had an outstanding race in the Bromley / ‘Lion Brewery’ Guernsey open race in September when he recorded 1st section, 12th open when 380 birds competed. He races his young birds to the perch, but trains them well on the line of flight with the Federation races in mind and tells me he clocks on the ETS. Harry’s star young birds in 2011 were: ‘The Stitch Up Kid’ blue chequer cock (Hartog / Staf Van Reet) winner of 1st club (twice), 1st section, 12th open Bromley / ‘Lion Brewery’ Guernsey; ‘Play Boy’, blue cock (Staf Van Reet) 1st club, 1st Three Borders Federation Blandford, plus other positions: ‘Young Harry’ blue chequer cock winner of 1st club Wincanton.

As Harry was growing he used to watch his dad race his birds and told me, ‘pigeons and boxing are the way of life in our house, and as time went on he became more and more interested in both sports, pigeon racing and boxing’. Alan taught the lad how to pick out pigeons to breed from and different methods and systems to win races. His first stock birds were Staf Van Reet, which Alan purchased from Mr & Mrs Johns of Croydon a few years ago and more recently from Mr & Mrs Rossie of Welling. The Deleslie family moved into their present address in recent years and Alan purchased a new loft, which is now used by young Harry. The 30ft loft has six sections, two for stock birds, the middle two for the widowhood racers and the end two, which are well ventilated for the youngsters. A good quality litter floor dressing is used in the stock section, as this keeps the floor areas dry and clean right throughout the breeding period. When I asked Harry what he thought was the main factor behind good loft design, his answer was, ‘good birds’! Good loft management and the correct feeding is paramount and once this is mastered and if the pigeons are sound, they will start to win. He races in the Hackbridge & Morfax club (Three Borders Federation) which is based in Carshalton. His biggest thrill so far with his birds was seeing his first batch of eggs hatch and grow into winning pigeons, including 1st Federation! He maintains he prefers sprint racing, because his birds have proved they have good speed in races up to 450 miles and as times goes on he would like to race a few longer events.

Harry is racing his old birds on the widowhood system and this coming season will see him pair up his eleven pairs of racers, and the stock birds in mid-December. He says he is not showing the hens to the widowhood cocks on marking nights, because in his experience with the young birds this season, this method over excites the cocks birds going in to the race. Harry is letting the racers have their mates on their return from the race. He told me, ‘my dad told me, that to race pigeons well and win races you need patients and some times I’ve being a bit inpatient, and could have made some mistakes if I hadn’t listened to him’.

Alan was telling me, ‘the first Staf Van Reet birds came through Arthur Beardsmore, who I personally rate as a really outstanding pigeon racer. Arthur Johns of Croydon originally purchased these birds from him and had outstanding success with them, and in some races won the first six positions. I became good friends with Arthur Johns and purchased a team of latebreds from him, and these became Harry’s stock birds. Several premier winners are bred off these birds and one good stock cock, ‘Jack Pot’, is the sire of ‘Play Boy’, young Harry’s 2011 Blandford Federation winner. We also purchased some stock birds off Mr. & Mrs. Rossi, which originate from the Bert Hessian / Staf Van Reets and these have also won for Harry in the 2011 season’.

Harry races his 40 young birds on the ‘light’ system and maintains this is a ‘must’ so as the birds are in good feather right through to the longer races at the back end of the season. They are fed a set amount of light young bird mixture at a regular time every day. Harry and his dad train the babies every day up to 50 miles and this practice is carried out also at the same time every day, to keep to a regular daily routine, which they say is very important when seeking success with young birds. They race the Federation young bird program to educate them and win a few firsts in the process. The Deleslie racers are clocked on the ETS, which the two lads say is a brilliant system! Harry really likes racing his youngster and has proved this season that he has the ‘know how’ to make them win.

When selecting stock pairs Alan and Harry mate the best to the best, but the handling and feather some times comes into the equation. They are very keen on the eyesign theory and when buying in new stock the eye sign is the first thing they look for and good pedigree of work next. Harry says his dad taught him every thing he knows about pigeons and he has based this knowledge for his way forward in the sport. The Deleslie family motto is ‘Patience and Dedication’! During the birds' moulting time in the autumn, Harry says, he looks after the birds with extra care and attention, as he thinks this is the most important time for the year for the pigeons. If the birds don’t get a good moult this could be detrimental to their race performances the following season and the Deleslie pigeons get special feeding for the moult period, including plenty of oil seeds, and good rest. Congratulations to Harry on his wonderful performances with his bird and very best of luck with the boxing. There you have it, the start of the Harry Deleslie story, a young man we are going to hear a lot of in the future!

TEXT & PHOTO BY KEITH MOTT.