“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT.
Three Borders Federation (Blandford Race 2).
The Three Borders Federation were at the Blandford liberation site on the first weekend in June and because of a bad weather forecast, the birds were marked on Saturday for a Sunday race. I live about five miles from Epsom Down and they ran the ‘Derby’ horse race there on that Saturday and the weather was dreadful! King Charles was in attendance and at one point his umbrella blew inside out! The Sunday was a first class racing day and the birds were liberated at 08.30 hrs in a South West wind. The Mitcham & Merton had a wonderful race, taking the first eleven positions on the on the result sheet, with the Holden & Pratt partnership winning 1st and 2nd Federation. The partners have been ‘knocking at the door’ for weeks, including being beaten into 2nd Federation on a decimal point from the first Weymouth race! Kevin Pratt told after the race that his winning pigeon was his good yearling blue chequer white flight widowhood cock, ‘Cambridge Boy’ and he is bred off Vanden Bolck blood lines. This game cock is having a wonderful season and must be a contender for’ ‘Pigeon of the Year’, winning 1st Federation Blandford, 2nd Federation Weymouth (beaten on a decimal) and 11th Federation, 26th Amalgamation Okehampton. What a great yearling and we are not half way through the season yet! Kevin’s good friend, Alan Russell, is a great help with the pigeon management and does a lot of the work around the loft all the year round. Alan said the mealy cock, ‘Cambridge Lad’, did well to come up 2nd Federation, as recently he was badly attacked by Sparrow Hawk and was so frightened he wouldn’t come out of the loft for a week. Well done to the Holden & Pratt partnership!
The first ten in the Blandford Federation result were: 1) Holden & Pratt 1823: 2) Holden & Pratt 1822: 3) Stuart Emans 1820: 4) Stuart Emans 1820: 5) Stuart Emans 1819: 6) Jim Andrews & Son 1818: 7) Stuart Emans 1817: 8) Stuart Emans 1817: 9) Stuart Emans 1815 10) R. & W. Morris 1814. This was race number nine of the season and at this point the Mitcham & Merton club are leading for the ‘Federation Points Trophy’ with 41 points, with the Ashridge club being R/U on 34 points.
Kevin Pratt started up in the pigeon racing sport when he joined the Mitcham Common FC at the age of nine and his firs birds were obtained from Terry Goodsell, Johnny Lay and the late Major Honey. With a new interest in the pretty long haired type of birds in left the sport for a while and restarted at the age of 23 when he got married, with some super stock birds from Terry Goodsell. Kevin now lived in Croydon and held his own racing in the mighty West Croydon club winning several good races from France, including Niort (400 miles). Later on he joined the Selhurst club where he won eleven races on the trot, inland and on the channel. At that time he owned two widowhood cocks that won 13 first each, one of which was a Staf Van Reet bred by Johnny May. Kevin had a busy work business repairing black taxi cabs and found it hard to find time for his pigeons for a while and in 2013 he invested in the M. & D. Evans / Gaby Vandenabeele pigeons, which won many premier races for Kevin and other fancier he gifted pigeon too. He gifted some to the late Bobby Carter, with one winning seven firsts and a sister to that cock breeding nine individual first prize winner in the stock loft. Another was named ‘The Guernsey Hen’, recorded 25th open in the BICC and in the following season, Bobby’s sole entry recorded 61st open BICC Guernsey. The seven times winning cock was named ‘Red Ring’ and he won ‘Pigeon of the Year’ in the South Coast Federation when the birdage was averaging 4,000 birds. Kevin also bought in Gaby Vandenabeele pigeons from Clive Lister which were also very successful.
Kevin then brought in some Lambrecht pigeons from Peter Clarke of Norfolk who he met at the Epsom Show in 2012. Kevin won five young bird races with these birds and they have been gifted to other fanciers, winning many firsts for them. The Ashridge club secretary, Terry Goodsell, had a mealy cock that won five times 1st club and three times 1st Federation and he bred many winners for other fanciers. Kevin main stock pair that he calls ‘The Old Red Pair’ are the parents of Terry’s champion mealy cock and winning trait seems to be ‘mealy’ out of this champion breeding pair. Kevin’s mealy pied cock, the ‘Forgotten Cock’, the winner of 1st club, 1st Three Borders Federation Wadebridge, 1st club, 9th Three Borders Federation Honiton in the 2022 season was also a son of the ‘Old Red Pair’. Kevin called him the ‘Forgotten Cock’ because on marking night at the Ashridge club for the Wadebridge race, he was putting his basket back in the boot of his car after getting his birds marked and saw there was still a pigeon in the basket. It was the mealy pied cock and he took back in the club house and got him marked. A great story!
Esher club members enjoy National success!.
The British International Championship Club were at St. Philbert in France the same weekend as the Three Borders Federation were at Blandford in June and two Esher club members also raced in the BICC, and had a brilliant race in the Old Bird National. Khan Brothers recorded 3rd open and Paul Arnold won 5th open, with 2,892 birds competing.
Amin and Shabir Khan have been premier pigeon racer in the Surrey pigeon racing fraternity for many years, at Federation and National level. They won the London & South Classic Club several times, with their 1st Open Tarbes being one of their best performances. I convoyed the London & South East Classic Club and Central Southern Classic Flying Club birds to Tarbes in 2010 and the ‘main event’ was a hard race that year, with mostly light head winds and very high temperatures in France all over that weekend in June. But hard race doesn’t mean bad race! I had several mobile phone calls with the two classic secretaries, Clare Norman and Terri Hoskin, while on the road home and while there were no day pigeons, they were very happy with second day verifications. In spite of it being a hard race, I think it is safe to say, it was a very good race! On my return from France it was good to receive the list of brilliant performance put up by the members on such a testing race! None as good as hearing that Amin and Shabir Khan of New Malden had won the L&SECC from Tarbes, recording their third Classic win! Their winner was a very special blue hen, that had won the L&SECC ‘Merit Award’ for winning three position in the first 50 open in the longest old bird classic and she has done it in great style by winning 1st open Tarbes (563 miles). This champion hen named ‘The L Ring Hen’ and had won a list of premier prizes in the National and Classic including: 1st open L&SECC Tarbes, 4th open L&SECC Alencon, 6th open L&SECC Tarbes, 7th open L&SECC Pau and 14th open NFC Bordeaux. A fantastic hen! She was sent to Tarbes sitting ten day old eggs and had one inland training race with the Federation and a Tours race on her build up to her classic win. She was bred from the very best being out of ‘Twenty Two’, the brother’s 1st open L&SECC Bordeaux winner, which also won the section in the Classic Guernsey race as a young bird and is the dam of Federation and Classic winners. Her sire is a direct cock from Marcel Sangers from his champion pair, ‘Saun Licht’ and ‘Xantia’.
Paul Arnold of the Esher club is enjoying a great season, winning the Three Borders Federation from Weymouth and now 5th open BICC St. Philbert. He had a crack at the British Barcelona Club Fougeres race and won 1st section G, 12th open from Fougeres with 2,807 competing earlier in the season. Paul told me after the Fougeres race, ‘this was my first outing with the BBC after joining last year and my first impressions of the BBC are that it is a very well run, efficient club, with a fantastic secretary. I have had several people tell me how efficient Clare Norman is and I can honestly say she is! Thank you Clare, I would also like to thank all those members who gave up their time on Thursday to mark all those birds’. Well done Paul! What great season for you, mate!
That’s it for this week! Well done to all the above winners, what a great season they are enjoying racing in the Three Borders Federation, If you win and want a write up in this space, please contact me on telephone number: 01372 463480 or email me on
TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT (www.keithmott.com)
