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Three Borders Fed News251010

 

Keith Mott writes about winning fanciers past and present

Three Borders Federation News

One the biggest success stories of the 2010 Three Borders Federation season is that of Terry Goodsell of Mitcham. Terry and his partner, Pauline, have finish up third for the Federation Individual Point Trophy and won a ‘hat full’ premier prizes including: (OB) 4th, 8th, 15th, 19th, 20th Federation (1,584 birds) Wincanton, 5th, 11th, 12th, 14th, 15th Federation (1,916 birds) Wincanton, 14th Federation West Bay (2,163 birds), 9th, 10th, 23rd Federation Kingsdown (1,623 birds), 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 15th, 17th, 18th, 25th Federation Wincanton (1,736 birds), 7th, 8th, 14th, 16th, 19th, 24th, 25th Federation West Bay (2,016 birds), 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 15th, 19th, 23rd, 24th Federation Kingsdown (1,233 birds), 6th, 7th, 10th, 11th, 15th, 20th Federation Kingsdown (1,089 birds), 4th, 5th Federation Wincanton (1,040 birds), (YB) 2nd, 11th Federation Wincanton (1,651 birds), 5th Federation Blandford (1,424 birds), 3rd, 8th Federation West Bay (1,292 birds), 25th Federation Wincanton (1,422 birds), 4th, 8th, 9th,16th Federation Yelverton (925 birds). Brilliant pigeon flying!

Terry Goodsell’s pigeons are raced on the widowhood system, which consists of a team of 20 cocks and he says he liked to keep the widowhood cocks warm in the loft. The birds are paired up after the BHW Blackpool Show in January and the families raced are mainly Soontjens and Janssen of Arendonk, with the Janssens being obtained from the Ponderosa Stud in Holland and Fountainhead Stud. He maintains the Janssen are good right through the programme to 455 miles, although the Soontjens are very good up to 250 miles. As far as his pigeon loft is concerned he is very keen to have warmth, a good dry floor, together with good ventilation, with no draughts in his lofts. He told me over feeding was the biggest mistake a fancier can make and was totally against fat pigeons at any time of the year. He says, many fanciers make the mistake of over exciting their birds and feed them too much hemp. Terry feeds the birds according to the temperature in the loft, using a good racing mixture, but with more carbohydrate when it was colder. I’ve known Terry Goodsell of Mitcham since the mid 1970’s when he was put up brilliant performances in the Surrey Federation and SMT Combine with his widowhood cocks, and I featured him in the fancy press. He was a brilliant fancier then and he is still a brilliant fancier today, winning many 1st Federations through the years! He now races his pigeons, with his partner, Pauline, to their loft in Sutton and they also enjoyed a wonderful 2009 old bird racing season in the Three Borders Federation, winning many premier positions including 1st Federation Kingsdown (1,205 birds). The partners good blue pied widowhood cock, ‘Bibby’, won the Federation by 27 ypm clear and he is the nest mate to the ‘ace’ blue chequer pied cock, ‘The Workman’, winner of 2nd South Downs Premier FC twice, plus several hundred pounds in the 2009 season. Another premier performer in the 2009 old bird season was the blue cock, ‘The South Downs Cock’, and he won one the club’s races, also lifting several hundred pounds for Terry and Pauline.

Betty and I really enjoyed Terry and Pauline’s recent visit, when they came to Claygate to have their current premier pigeons photographed. They are two very nice people! After all these years of outstanding success, Terry must rate as one of the all time great in the London area! I really enjoyed doing this one, Terry has been a great worker for the sport and deserves all the praise he is given!

John & Danny Barrett of Ewell

When it comes to doing well in the Federation races, a partnership that is very consistent and does well every season is John Barrett, and his son Danny. Johnny has not enjoyed the best of heath in recent months, but Danny has been down at the Esher club every week and is one of the main workers on marking nights. The partners have been premier prize winners in the very strong Esher club in recent seasons and were Three Borders Federation Individual Champions in 2009.

The 2010 season has seen the Barretts enjoy another good year in the Three Borders Federation winning: (OB) 9th, 10th, 25th Federation Wincanton (1,584 birds), 7th Federation Wincanton (1,916 birds), 6th, 15th, 23rd Federation West Bay (2,163 birds), 10th Federation Wincanton (1,736 birds), 3rd, 10th Federation Fougeres (934 birds), 9th, 20th Federation West Bay (2,016 birds), 12th, 13th, 14th, 20th Federation Messac ( 931 birds), 13th Federation Exeter (1,135 birds), 6th, 22nd, 23rd Federation Wincanton, (YB) 4th, 9th, 24th Federation Wincanton (1,651 birds), 11th Federation Blandford (1,424 birds), 2nd, 10th Federation West Bay (1,292 birds). The Three Borders Federation got the 2010 racing season off to a great start when members sent 1,584 birds to Wincanton and liberated in to a light North East wind, on what turned out to be a perfect flying day. The 2009 Federation Points Champions, Esher & District RPC, really started the new 2010 campaign in great style with two of their members taking six positions in the Federation result. The Esher club had problems with their ETS marking system on the first night and all the member had to clock their birds on traditional timing clocks, with Bob & Danny Carter recorded 1st, 2nd, 5th Federation on my borrowed T3 clock. Following close behind were the 2009 Federation Individual Point champions, John & Danny Barrett, recording 9th, 10th, 25th Federation.

I have only known Johnny Barrett a few years, with the first time I met him being when he joined my club the Esher & Dist RPC, with his good friend, Bob Carter, and since then they have both set the club on fire with their outstanding performances. The mighty Esher club certainly dominated the Three Borders Federation results in the first few young bird races of 2009, the highlight being when the Federation sent 1,958 birds to the Wincanton (2) and the Esher club took the first eleven positions, plus 13th with Mark and Les Duffell of Hersham breaking the run by taking 12th Federation. John and Danny Barrett took the first five places, flying 95 miles and clocking the five youngsters in 18 seconds on their ETS system. In my many years association with the Three Borders Federation I’ve can’t remember a club taking the first eleven prizes before! The following weekend the Federation sent 1,928 birds to Yeovil (107 miles) and the Esher supreme’s, John and Danny Barrett clocked two birds in 2 seconds to win 1st and 2nd Federation, with the Esher club taking six positions in the result. Brilliant pigeon racing! At the end of the 2009 season the Federation Points champions were Esher (244 points) with South Downs being runner up (234 points) and the Individual Points Trophy winners were M/M John Barrett & son of Esher (69 points) with runner up M/M R. Maybey & son (40 points). The Esher club have enjoyed another brilliant season in 2009 racing in the Three Borders Federation and winning the Federation Points Shield for the forth time in five seasons.

Esher premier prize winners in 2009 were John & Danny Barrett, who race their pigeon to their loft in Ewell and they recorded several top positions in the Federation, finishing the 2009 season winners of the Individual Point Trophy. Brilliant pigeon racing! The partners race their 16 pairs of old birds on the roundabout system and the racers exercise around the loft twice a day during the racing season to maintain their fitness. They are broke down the racers from Saturday through to Tuesday morning, being fed on Super Widowhood and Depurative mixtures, the same method as with widowhood cocks. The old birds do not fly out around home in the winter months and are locked up after the last race in September until the first round of youngsters are weaned the following season. The birds are paired up on Boxing Day each year and when the first round of youngsters are 18 days old the hens are taken away and then they are on the Roundabout, being trained well before the first Federation race. John and Danny like racing at all distances through to 450 miles and send their birds every week in the Esher club. The Roundabout hens and cocks are both sent to the same race and Danny tells me the hens raced best in the 2008 season. In the 2009 season the Barrett’s are now using three section of their loft for the Roundabout system, with the middle one being the nest box section and so minimize the time the racers see their nest sites and keep them keener. The 40ft loft is ‘L’ shaped, with grilled floors, which are cleaned out once a week and the partners are on to the ETS System for the first time in the 2009 season, maintaining it now helps out with trapping the birds. John and Danny don’t keep any stock pigeons and the main families raced are Staf Van Reet and Vandenabeele. The 40 young birds are raced on the ‘dark’ system, with them being put on about a month after weaning as it is still winter, with long dark nights and are taken off in June to start their training. Danny tells me the babies start their training at 20 miles because they tend to loose more on any tosses shorter than that and finish training with about three Winchesters (50 miles) just before the first Federation race. If the young birds are fit and well they are sent to every race, with two training tosses mid-week.

When Johnny Barrett was a young man he was a champion Boxer and started up in pigeon racing in 1968, and after a twenty year partnership with Ronnie Keeley went in partnership with his son Danny in 2000. The Barrett alliance has been very successful through the years winning the Federation numerous time and 1st open Combine a couple times. Danny says the Esher club is brilliant, being a good friendly set up with ‘red hot’ competition. Well done to John and Danny, on their fantastic success in Three Borders Federation in recent seasons!

Well that it for this week! I hate this time of year, with pigeon racing finished and most days it’s too cold and wet to go fishing! I clean my loft out twice a day and all the feathers, with the birds being in a full blown moult, are driving me mad. I’m getting my annual requests to judge the forth coming pigeon shows and Peter Taylor, and I are looking forward to our trip down to Cornwall to judge the Dutchy Show in November. Don’t forget the RPRA Southern Region Show on 27th November; we have some very special judges coming down from the Midlands for that event. I can be contacted with any pigeon banter on telephone number: 01372 463480. See yer!  

 

TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT.