Keith Mott

Article up-date!

We are four of five weeks in to the 2008 season and some good news has filtered in to me about some of lofts we have covered in this column in recent weeks.

Although Ronald Heesen of Laren is very much a back garden fancier, with an average size team of pigeons, he has climbed the success ladder with outstanding result over the years and is now one the top pigeon racers in Holland. When we walked in to his garden for the first time last winter I was very impressed with his very smart pigeon set up and I must say from the outset, Ronald himself impressed me as a person, being a nice modest man, who would do any thing to help you if he could. A quality man with quality pigeons! Ronald emailed me last week to tell me he had started the new season by winning several firsts and in the first race from France recorded 1st, 2nd club, 1st, 2nd Federation (2,965 birds), 1st, 6th open Combine (26,215 birds) Pommerroul (200 miles). A fantastic performance!

I first met Keith Arnold of Whitnash, near Leamington Spa at the BHW Blackpool Show in January 2007 and he had just enjoyed a brilliant racing season, winning eleven times 1st Federation with his wonderful Staf Van Reet pigeons. The 2006 season had seen him win the RPRA West Midlands Region Sprint Award and 1st RPRA U.K. Sprint Champion Award with his brilliant Staf Van Reet widowhood pencil blue cock, Champion ‘34239’. Keith and I met up at the Blackpool Show again last January and we both had meetings to go too, so didn’t have much time to talk, but on parting company we decided we would talk on the phone the following week. Keith is a hard man to pin down on the phone, but we did talk in the following week and I was highly delighted when he told me he had won the Federation eleven times again in the 2007 season, and won his second 1st RPRA U.K. Sprint Champion Award with his blue Staf Van Reet widowhood cock, Champion ‘01005’. I had a phone conversation with Keith this weekend and he too has got off to a great winning start to the 2008 season. In his first three races he has won 1st, 2nd club Bath, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th club, 1st, 4th, 10th, 16th Federation (1,683 birds) Taunton, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th club, (all at the top of the Federation result) Exeter! Will Keith win the RPRA U.K. Sprint Champion Award again this year? I wouldn’t bet against it! Well done, Keith.

 Crook & Iddenden of Esher

The partnership of Crook & Iddenden enjoyed a wonderful 2006 racing season, with highlights being 1st. Federation West Bay, 1st, 2nd, 9th. Federation Lulworth. Colin and Andy are racing eight hens on the widowhood system and they tell me these hens are whacking the widowhood cocks every week. Colin says they have the system tuned just right and all their premier positions, including the two Federation winners, were won with widowhood hens. The West Bay Federation winner was the Staf Van Reet mealy pied hen, ‘Lady’, and she was home to win the Federation from Lulworth, but wouldn’t trap and finished up 9th, being beaten by two loft mates. Her sister, ‘Busy Lizzy’, recorded 2nd. Federation from Lulworth. The hen I really liked was, ‘Dark Lady’, another Staf Van Reet and she recorded 1st. Federation Lulworth. These three great hens were all from the Paul Arnold bloodlines.  

I have been a member of the Esher & Dist. R.P.C. many years and in recent seasons two of the premier racing fanciers in the club have been, Colin Crook and Andy Iddenden, both who flew in partnership with their late fathers. The Crook’s, Colin and his dad Harold, were part the highly successful Crook, Waldron & Martin partnership, which won many premier prizes North Road racing, including 1st. open Combine Thurso and 1st. Federation Berwick. Colin has raced on his own in recent seasons and has won 2nd. open Federation three times. Andy Iddenden has raced in the Esher club for several years, gaining major success, racing in partnership with his late father “Bunny” Iddenden, who was a well liked and respected fancier. When ever you competed against the Iddenden’s in racing or the show pen, they were always hard to beat and their best performance was 1st, 2nd, 3rd. open Federation. Because, Colin and Andy are very good friends and both having young families, so lack time for the pigeons, they formed the Crook & Iddenden partnership this season, and raced in the Esher and Epsom clubs. Colin and Andy have started with some outstanding success, by recording 1st. & 6th. open London Federation (806 birds) Blandford, their first young bird event of the 2005 season. Their Federation winner was a natural Staf Van Reet blue pied hen, now named “Doreen” after Colin’s mother, and she was bred by the top Surrey fancier, Paul Arnold. “Doreen” was a second round youngster, so didn’t go on the Darkness system. She, with two other young hens were paired to a 19 year old cock, each having two hours with him every day and on the marking day for the Blandford race, all three were let in the section with the cock and left to fight over the nest bowl.

The Crook & Iddenden partnership had 60 young birds this season, putting the 40 first rounders on the Darkness system and left the 20 second rounders natural. The youngsters are put on the Darkness on weaning, being closed down from 5p.m. until 8a.m. every day, and are taken off the system on the longest day in mid-June. The young bird team get lots of training tosses up to 35 miles before the first Federation race, then get two tosses a week once the season starts and all race the full racing programme. Colin told me, the partners started with 60 babies and never lost one training before the first race. They are raced to the perch, but if they want to pair up they are allowed too and nest bowls are put into the section.

Andy and Colin have 63ft. of loft, with the 12 pairs of stock birds housed in a 10ft. section with a fight and the rest of the loft being for the racers. Trapping is open doors for the old birds, “Super” traps for the youngsters and the whole structure is cleaned out every day. The old birds are raced on the widowhood cocks and celibate hens systems and the whole loft is paired up on Boxing Day, so the first round of eggs from the stock birds can be floated under the racers. The widowhood cocks start the year by rearing a pair of youngsters and their mates are taken away while sitting the second round of eggs. They are repaired five weeks before the first Federation race, then are given about six 20 mile training tosses and are put on the widowhood system two weeks before racing begins. The racers are fed on a first class widowhood mixture and are not broken down, not even for the short sprint races. The lads like to show the hens for a long time on marking night, could be as long as an hour, with the cock bird on the bowl and his mate outside the box. They are never allowed to tread. On their return from the race the cocks get their hens for two or three hours, depending how hard the race has been. Colin and Andy enjoy all Federation racing from 80 miles through to 450 miles, but have a go at the odd Classic race from time to time. Andy told me the cocks stay on the widowhood system all the time and are never repaired for the longer races. The main families kept are Staf Van Reet and a new one called Hongerloot, which have been very successful.

Both the partners enjoy the pigeon shows in the winter months and a few years ago, Colin, had a small team of Show Racers, bred from pigeons obtained from Doug McClary and Jimmy Fitzpatrick. He was successful, winning firsts at several major shows, but packed them up after a couple of years, because he couldn’t stand the travelling, which it entailed to compete in the big shows. Colin says he is very anti-PMV vaccination and maintains the pigeons should only be jabbed once in their life and that is when they are young birds. Well done to the lads, on their brilliant 2006 season.

Well that’s it for this week. If you have any comment please give me a ring on 01372 463480. See yer!

TEXT AND PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT