Keith Mott writes about winning fanciers past and present

IAN BENSTEAD OF CAPEL

The Dorking loft of Ian Benstead won 1st. open B.I.C.C. from Lourdes in 1986 and although he has been out of the sport many years, his name lives on, with many premier long distance fancier winning with his pigeon today. I first visited Ian in 1977 when my late good mate, Dick Brooker, took me to his Capel home to report on his Niort Combine win. When you visited his loft, which was set in the wonderful Surrey countryside, you were lucky to see the pigeons, as they had an open loft and roamed the fields all day. If the pigeons would stay in the trees, Ian said, he wouldn't bother with a loft. Ian Benstead was a natural flyer in the truest sense of the word, with his brilliant long distance team of pigeons spending most of their time in the trees and fields. I revisited Ian again in 1986 when he had a wonderful season racing in the British International Championship Club, recording 1st, 5th, 6th, 23rd, 25th. and 26th. open Lourdes (555 miles), 2nd. and 13th. open Perpignan (603 miles), 3rd. and 19th. open Pau (537 miles) and 4th. and 11th. open Marseilles (603 miles).

Ian started in the sport in 1949 with a stray blue chequer hen from a fancier in Carshalton and that game pigeon broke his novice status from Seaton the following year. Ian had trapped the hen, so he took it back to the man on his bike, who thanked him very much and gave him half a crown. On his return home, Ian found the hen had already returned there, waiting for him. Next day, he returned the pigeon once again to Carshalton but the man presented it to him and thus started him up in the sport. When Ian went into the army he gave the hen away and she bred many winners before she died at a ripe old age. He obtained 30 July bred, latebreds from Ron Sheppard in 1964 and these were the base of his champion long distance family.

Ian's best performances in the S.M.T. Combine were 1st. and 2nd. open Niort in 1972 and 2nd. open Nantes in 1975, although many other positions were won. He hadn't competed in very many Pau N.F.C. races, but recorded 2nd. section,15th. open, 9th. section, 34th. open, 4th. section, 142nd. open and 6th. section, 259th. open. Ian's Niort combine winner, “The Combine Cock”, was still in the loft at that time and looked fantastic for his 18 years of age. This handsome old white flight cock won the S.M.T. Combine in only the second race of his life. Ian rated Eric and Pat Cannon of Godalming the best long distance fanciers in the Surrey area and had a lot of admiration for John Goodwin, the N.F.C. convoyer at that time. He said John was second to none and when he liberated you knew the birds would home well. He thought a good loft ventilation was most important and said a horse is likely to catch a cold when you bring it in and not when you put it out in a cold field. When the birds are exposed to the elements they come to hand naturally, with the seasons. He said he thought the old bird races started too early and finished too early. Ian had never introduced another bird into his loft since he started with the Sheppards in 1964. The loft was creosoted inside and out, and Ian thought there was nothing finer. He said it doesn't hurt pigeons, as a hen drunk some one day and she didn't bat an eyelid. Ian always said he would bet odds on a short flier in regard of over fly as the further the bird fly there is always another wire and another gun, and the further fliers have a hard job. His loft was 20ft.x 12ft. and the birds were trapped through open doors. Ian built the loft himself with wire floor and the droppings are cleaned out from under the loft. Wire windows were on all four sides so the wind blew right through the structure and the nest boxes had no fronts, so the intruders could be rejected without much fuss or damage. He liked the birds to be subjected to the weather and maintained they were better for it. He told me, one day he put a handful of grit on the nest boxes and the wind blew it straight out the window at the back of the loft. The birds had an open loft all day, in any weather, and nested in anything, including cardboard cartons.

The 1986 B.I.C.C. Lourdes winner was a very nice blue chequer hen called, “The Lourdes Hen”, and was a classic long distance type, being medium sized, with good length in the body. This game hen won the Lourdes event in only the second race of her life. Ian's 5th. open B.I.C.C. Lourdes winner was the blue cock, “Double One”, and he also won 3rd East of England Continental Club from Orleans (246 miles). Ian told me the cock was for the future. Another of Ian's stars was his blue chequer cock, “The Marseilles Cock”, which had flown Marseilles four times with the B.I.C.C., recording 4th, 7th and 9th. open and Ian flew 603 miles from this race point in the south of France. He liked a medium apple-bodied pigeon and said it took three year for his to mature. Ian liked to see the eye placed in the centre of the head. He used to be a race horse trainer at Epsom and a lot of his pigeon management was based on his horse training days. He didn't race inland and the youngsters were not raced or trained in the year of their birth. One hen in the Benstead loft was sent over 600 miles for her first race of her life and returned safely. The birds were not parted in the winter months and were put down to breed in March. Training started the first week in May and was mostly from the south coast, including Bognor, Worthing or Brighton . Sixty old birds were housed and 30 youngsters were bred each season and if anything looked wrong with a squeaker or egg it was disposed of without delay. He said pigeons are easy enough to breed so why waste time on sub-standard goods?

The birds were hopper fed on beans in the winter and a good mixture when racing, but didn't like rearing on beans. A pigeon that caught my eye was the blue chequer cock, “The Bergerac Cock”, which had won in 500 mile show classes. This handsome cock was getting on in years, but had a wonderful racing record, winning 1st. club Bergerac and 6th. open B.I.C.C. Barcelona. One of Ian's favourites was the light blue chequer cock, “The Two Way Cock”, which won 1st. club, 11th. Federation Thurso (530 miles) north road, as a yearling. Ten days later he was sent to Lourdes (555 miles) south road and was recorded on the winning day. A wonderful family of long distance racing pigeons!

After my visit to Ian Benstead's loft in 1986, the loft went from strength to strength and Ian is one of the most respected long distance fancier in the sport. One of his best performances in recent years was in 1992 when he won 1st. open London & South East Classic Club Dax. A brilliant fancier!

Well hope my readers have enjoyed our look back at the wonderful loft of Ian Benstead. Most of the photos with this article were taken by my self in 1977.  I can be contacted on Telephone: 01372 463480. See yer!

TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT.