Keith Mott writes about winning fanciers past and present

London & South East Classic Club – Bergerac Classic 

The London & South East Classic Club held it’s last old bird race of the 2009 season from Bergerac, in south west France and member enjoyed a good testing race. The Central Southern Classic Flying Club convoyed the L&SECC birds for this Bergerac race and all the birds had to be taken to the Salisbury Livestock Market to be loaded on the their transporter. When they arrived at the Salisbury marking station the place was buzzing and the atmosphere was brilliant! The CSCFC were convoying several organizations to Bergerac and the place was very busy with fanciers ether marking or transferring pigeons to the Classic’s aluminium race crates. I must say a ‘well done’ to Martin Norman and his band of workers, for their good work in transferring the pigeons. The L&SECC 1,136 birds entry were liberated by Tony Kane at 05.45hrs in a no wind situation. The leading pigeons coped well with the eleven hour fly home and it was incredible that the first four birds on the open result were recorded in the Worcester Park area, with 5th open being won by Mark Bulled of Harlow, who of course won the 2009 Tarbes classic.

Winners of 1st open from the Bergerac classic were Khan Brothers and the 2009 season has produced some good results for these New Malden lads, including 1st Three Borders Federation (1,703 birds) from Kingsdown. The partner’s Federation winner was their good two year old Janssen blue widowhood hen, ‘35’, and she flew the NFC Saintes race as a yearling in 2008. This wonderful hen was their first pigeon on the clock from the Bergerac classic to record Khan Brother’s second L&SECC win! With a brisk south wind in the Three Borders Federation Kingsdown (135 miles) race the brothers race enjoyed a ‘banger’ of a race, with ‘35’ making nearly a mile a minute and then from the Bergerac classic (455 miles) she made 1229ypm on a really testing day. A wonderful versatile hen! Khan Brothers won the Federation and no one was more surprised that the brothers them selves, as the team was only sent for a training fly in preparation for forth coming National and Classic races. Amin and Shabir got five birds on the day from the Bergerac classic, from a team of ten pigeons sent and clocked three to record 1st, 4th and 45th open, lifting over £1,300. Well done lads, a great performance!

Khan Brothers recorded 2nd open London & South East Classic Club from the Alencon Classic race in 2008 and although they have won the Classic twice, they are a bit unlucky being 2nd open on several occasions. The brothers moved to New Malden from Kingston in 2003 and only taking a kit of young birds with them, this great performance marked the start of a new era for the Khans at their new loft. The new racing loft is 45ft long, with four sections, open door trapping and a tiled roof. There have flown on the natural system, but these days they mostly race 35 cocks and a few hens on the widowhood system, with the National and Classic races in mind. Amin told me the brother are only interested in the National and Classic races and train off the south coast three times a week, and also use the short Federation events to get the birds into shape. The racers are mated up on the old traditional date of 14th February and very few youngsters are taken off the race team to keep them fresh. The main feed for the racers is a good widowhood mixture and they are broken down for three days every week. The Khans have a team of 80 youngsters every year, with 50 of them being put on the ‘darkness’ system and are raced every weekend through to the Nationals. The other 30 are kept natural, being well trained up to 50 miles and have their first races as yearlings. The 18 pairs of stock birds are kept at the old loft in Kingston and the base family is Janssen.

I convoyed the London & South East Classic Club pigeons to Bordeaux in 1999 and after the morning mist had lifted I liberated the 959 birds at 07.35hrs, with sunshine on the baskets. Eleven game pigeons were recorded on the day of liberation, with Amin and Shabir Khan clocking their first arrival just before 20.00hrs. Khan Brothers won 1st open L&SECC from Bordeaux in 1999 and their winner, a two year old Janssen Meuleman blue hen, was a real class act, having won major positions previously, including 1st Section, 3rd Open L&SECC Guernsey as a young bird. The hen just called, ‘22’, was a grand daughter of Herman Beverdam’s, ‘Real Deal’, and her dam was from Mike Fitzhugh of Redcar. Amin told me she was chipping off on the day of marking for the Bordeaux Classic and the lads waited for the egg to hatch before taking her off to the Sutton marking station. Amin and Shabir have enjoyed some quality success in recent seasons, including 2nd and 5th Open NFC Young Bird National (7,000 birds), 1st Section, 3rd Open L&SECC Guernsey, 2nd open L&SECC La Ferte Bernard, 1st and 2nd Open SMT Combine Alencon and 1st Open L.& S.E.C.C. Bordeaux.

The Bergerac classic had an unfortunate twist to it, with Gabi Romascan of Worcester Park clocking his bird on ETS at about 16.30hrs and made a working velocity of 1233 ypm, but was disqualified because he verified the pigeon out of time. Although Gabi’s pigeon didn’t win the classic it was the best bird on the day and deserves a few lines. His yearling Vandenabeele blue cock was sent to Bergerac feeding a week old youngster and was not raced as a young bird in 2008, just well trained. On his build up to the Bergerac classic he three inland races, being recorded first bird home twice, and then three channel races with the NFC and Combine.

Gabi has had pigeons since he was twelve years old in his native Romania and only started racing them since moving over to England to live, three years ago. In his first season racing in the London Federation, he recorded an incredible seven firsts in his local club, the Mitcham R.P.C., against premier opposition including Terry Goodsell, Johnny Barrett and Alfie Jones. Gabi won 1st and 2nd club La Ferte Bernard and in the next race sent one pigeon and won 1st club Messac by nine minutes. He won, only sent small teams of about four old birds to the races and then went on to win four races on the trot with young birds. The loft recorded several premier positions in the Federation that season, including 2nd open and also 5th and 8th open Combine. The next year his mother was taken ill and Gabi had to return to Romania for a while, but still managed to race half the season and record four wins in the club. In 2006 he moved house to Worcester Park and only flew in five young bird events recording three first. A brilliant racing record for a fancier who had only been in the sport three years! When Gabi resided in Romania he lived in the mountains and there was only one local fancier and he raced long distance. There are very few pigeon fanciers in Romania and they race a few inland events, then they go into Hungary, Germany and Poland for the long distance races.

Gabi races 14 cocks on the widowhood system and maintain that in future seasons is going to concentrate on National and Classic racing. He has three lofts, with the main racing shed being 14ft x 8ft and pairs up on 10th December, as he likes his young birds to go on a natural darkness system with the short days at that time of the year. When the racers have reared their first round of youngsters, the hens are taken away with the youngsters at about 14 days old and then are repaired about a month before the first Federation race. The cocks are given several training tosses while sitting their eggs and Gabi told me he preferred long distance races. Gabi is not a driver and his birds very little training. The racing cocks are fed on a first class widowhood mixture and are never broken down, as Gabi sets them up with channel racing in mind.

The Worcester Park loft houses several pairs of stock birds which Gabi mates up the same time as the racers so the eggs can be floated in the racing loft. He has several pairs direct from M. & D. Evans and purchased pigeons at the late, great Jim Biss’ dispersal sales including a son of ‘Basher’. When bringing in new stock birds he goes winning bloodlines and not type, and told me his stock loft houses four direct children of 1st open National winners. He keeps his 30 young birds in an 8ft x 6ft loft and being a none driver they get very little training, but flies them out a lot around the loft. They are fed on widowhood mixtures, the same as the old birds and race the whole programme.

2008 London &South East Classic Club Young Bird Race Review.

(Guernsey 1) Young Bird Classic

For several days before the first L&SECC young bird event from Guernsey in 2008, according to the early weather reports, it looked like it was going to be a holdover with rain over the Channel Islands on that Saturday, but on the day I worked out all the possibilities and had an early release, too produce an excellent race against all the odds. I liberated the 2,151 birds at my earliest time ever at Guernsey and the members enjoyed a very good race, with excellent returns. On our arrival at the Guernsey car park liberation site the sky had broken cloud cover and was bright and starry. I got no sleep as I knew it would be an early liberation or a hold over until Sunday and was keen to keep an eye on the weather and prepare the transporter for release. I watched the weather with antisapation and with the sun braking through the 60 per cent broken cloud cover, my son Mark and I liberated the convoy at 06.30hrs in a brisk south / south west wind. It started to spit with rain at 08.00hrs and then the Guernsey weather took a nose dive, and at that time our birds were just hitting the south coast of England and were hot-foot on their way home. It was a work of art getting a liberation and good race that day from a rain soaked Guernsey, but we beat the weather and enjoyed a good young bird classic!

The race was won by Brian and Dick Chitty, with their young champion Soontjens blue chequer cock, ‘Davey’s Lad’, and after racing the young bird programme he was sent to the Guernsey Classic driving a hen to nest. Brian and Dick have been racing in their present Chitty Brothers partnership since 1986 and have been premier prize winners in the local club and Federation many times. The partners have won the London & South East Classic Club twice in recent seasons, the first time from the young bird Exeter race in 2006 and then again in 2008 from the young bird Guernsey race. The two classic winners were full brothers bred from Chitty Brothers champion Soontjens stock pair, which were bred by Davey Allport of Darlington. They tell me their best NFC position is 12th open; they have won the L&SECC twice and have won 1st open Combine six times. The best pigeon in the loft today is the dark widowhood cock, ‘Geraldine’s Lad’, and he has won over £2,000 in Nation races.

Chitty Brothers’ old birds are raced on the widowhood system, being paired up on New Years Day, and the youngsters are weaned at 28 days old. The pairs are allowed to sit ten days on their second round of eggs, when the hens are taken away and the racing cocks don’t see them again until the first race. The main families housed at the Hertfordshire loft is Staf Van Reet, Koopman, Soontjens and a few Marriotts for the long distance events. The Chitty’s race most distances but prefer sprint and middle distance racing. The stock birds are paired up the same time as the race team and are fed a good breeding mixture, with extra maple peas added. The stock loft houses a good pair of Koopman pigeons that breed excellent scoring youngster every year, but his champion breeders are a pair of Soontjens which breed winners in most nests and originate from Davey Allport of Darlington. This wonderful pair of Soontjen stock birds bred 1st open L&SECC Exeter in 2006 and 1st open L&SECC Guernsey in 2008. A once in a lifetime pair of breeders! The brothers enjoy young bird racing and breed 80 babies every year to race, which are put on the ‘darkness’ system on weaning. Once they can fly, the young birds are let out the loft twice a day and are darken down between 17.00hrs and 09.00hrs, with them coming off the system on 6th June. This method has been very successful for Chitty Brothers in recent seasons and they feed the young and old birds racers the same, with Beyers Young Bird Mixture with extra maize added. They do not encourage the babies to pair up, but will put bowls in the young bird section if they do and start training three weeks before the first Federation race. The young birds get every race including the L&SECC and NFC races, and are given some mid-week training during the racing season.

(Guernsey 1) Old Hens Classic.

Mike Armitage of Ash sent six widowhood hens to the old hen’s classic and had a brilliant race, timing in five of his entries to record 1st, 7th, 26th, 75th and 91st open. Wonderful pigeon racing by any ones standards! Mike’s classic winner was his good yearling blue hen, ‘LuLu’, and she was raced on Mike’s widowhood method, which he says is really a jealousy system. This game hen won the old hen’s classic by over 50 ypm and also beat the young birds classic winner! She had every ‘Lion Brewery’ Mid-Week Hamworthy race and three Federation channel races on her built up to her Classic win, and is not stranger to success having won several premier prizes for the Armitage loft. Her sire is Mike’s good racing cock, ‘Centenary Boy’, winner of 1st club, 365th open Nantes Centenary Race (65,000 birds) in 1999 and he was bred Roger Lowe’s Hartogs and Mike’s old family of Marriotts. Mike has had a lot of good pigeons from Colin Taylor of Whitstable in Kent over the years and he bred the dam of ‘LuLu’.

Mike is the publican of the ‘Lion Brewery’ PH in Ash and has recently erected a new loft in the pub garden, and I must say it looks very smart. The main 50ft Belgium style racing loft was purchased from Johnny May of Worcester Park after his recent retirement from pigeon racing and is kitted out with slatted floors, Perspex roof lights, German up and over nest boxes and the ETS. Mike races 30 cocks and hens on his widowhood system and to conform with the ‘bird flu’ seven day rule, he raced hens one weekend and the cock the next in the 2008 season. The stock birds are housed in nice big aviaries and with a recent introduction of some Janssen pigeons from ‘Fountain Head’, Mike has his biggest stock team ever, 20 pairs. He feeds all ‘Gem’ corn and never breaks his racers down. He pairs his stock birds up on 10th December and the races in February, when they rear a single youngster before going on the widowhood system. At the end of the season Mike breeds a select few late breds off his best racers which are retained for stock. Mike breeds about 60 young birds for himself to race and these are put on a semi-darkness, which Mike says, they are taken off earlier than the conventional darkness pigeons, as he like them to moult as normally as possible. Mike uses the ‘Lion Brewery’ Mid-Week for training his youngsters and says, ‘a 100 mile race every Wednesday is brilliant education for them and then they race the Classic and National races’.

Mike Armitage won 1st open British International Championship Club from Le Ferte Bernard in the 2000 season and has won the L&SECC three times, and although I've visited his home many times, the last time as a pigeon writer was when he won the Classic from Alencon , with 3,252 birds competing. I was chief convoyer and press officer for the Classic at that time, and drove down to the ‘Lion Brewery' to see his winning pigeon. Mike's winner, a Fountainhead Janssen blue chequer cock was raced on Mike's own semi-widowhood system. This handsome pigeon, named “Wonder Boy” by Mike's young son, Tom, had won five races previously and raced in the Weymouth mid-week race on the Wednesday, before winning the Classic on the Saturday. The Armitage loft had a brilliant weekend winning 1st and 10th open L&SECC Alencon, 8th open BICC Le Ferte Bernard and 1st club Sennen Cove. A fantastic loft performance for one weekend!

(Guernsey 2) Young Bird Classic.

Doesn’t time fly; this was my fifteenth and last visit to Guernsey with the L&SECC pigeons! I don’t know how many ferries I’ve been on to cross the English Channel in my eight years as convoyer for the classic, but I would say this Guernsey race saw me have one of my roughest crossings, with the winds being gale force through the night. On our arrival at St. Peter Port in Guernsey we were detained by the customs because Condor Ferries had messed up with our paper work and we were put in their compound in spite of my protests that I had 1,800 pigeons on the lorry and they needed to go to the liberation site to be watered. They wanted to lock me in the compound, but I insisted that the gate was kept open so there was no problem with my exit from the docks when they released me. I was very unhappy with the ignorant man that was there waiting for me on the dock when I drove off the boat, the pigeons are my responsibility and paper work was Condor’s, so why should my race be put in jeopardy because of their silly mistake. I drove out of the dock and we watered the birds on arrival on site at 06.45hrs and it was nice to see lots of heads come out to the troughs for a drink. It was a nice morning, with sunshine, blue sky with broken clouds and a strong south west wind at the car park liberation site. Just like our first Guernsey classic this season, the early weather reports suggested a hold over, but I found a good window in the weather to produce an excellent race. We cut the strings and liberated at 07.50 hrs and the 1,800 plus birds in the convoy cleared Guernsey instantly.

Peter and Cathy Foreman of Horsham won the last young bird classic (1,590 birds) of 2008 with their little natural hen, ‘One For Ralph’. At the 2009 CHASE Charity Show there was a new trophy donated called, ‘The Ralph Foreman Memorial Cup’, which was donated by the Foreman family after Ralph’s passing at the age of 90 in 2008. Ralph was the Horsham pigeon club’s oldest member, being born and bred in the Sussex area, and had a life time in pigeon racing. Ralph was a great worker, attending the club regularly on marking nights and was respected and loved by all the club members. He would have been very proud that his son Peter, with his wife Cath won 1st open L&SECC Guernsey (2) in the 2008 season.

A big ‘thank you’ to every one at home and abroad, for their help in the 2008 season. I really enjoyed it! The 2009 young bird classics will be flown from Guernsey on 15th August and 5th September. Good luck! Well, that’s it for this week! Special congratulations must go to Martin and Clare Norman, the classic secretary, who won 1st open CSCFC and I believe recorded the fastest pigeon out of Bergerac that day! A well deserved win by two great workers in our sport. I can be contacted with any pigeon comments on: 01372 463480. See yer!

TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT.