“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT.
Three Borders Federation (Blandford Race 4).
The Three Borders Federation held its fourth young bird race from Blandford race in mid-August and it was the first head wind of the season for the babies, resulting in a steady race, with slow returns. Some clashing with other Federations was suspected, but the member got good returns over that weekend. Dom McCoy, the Federation convoyer, liberated the 586 birds at 07.00hrs into a North wind situation. It is getting harder and harder to win the mighty Three Borders Federation, with the first five on the Federation result the previous weekend being on the same yard and now the first four from this Blandford race are on the same yard! Brilliant pigeon racing! Flying 90 miles into Sutton, Stuart Emans, our hard-working Federation secretary took 1st and 4th Federation and chalked up his second Federation win of this campaign! Suart’s Federation winner was his outstanding young blue cock, ‘Johnny Boy’, who in his four races this season has won an amazing: 1st Federation Blandford, 2nd Federation Blandford and 12th Federation Wincanton. What great youngster! The Emans loft recorded 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th Federation from the first old bird race of the 2026 season also from Blandford with Stuart’s good blue chequer pied cock, ‘Pipped At The Post’ winning the race. This game round about cock was given his name because as a yearling in the 2025 he was beaten on the ETS to win 2nd Federation Honiton by his loft mate, Stuart’s champion blue cock, ‘Harry 048’. ‘Harry 048’ has won the Federation three times from Okehampton (twice) and Honiton, plus 9th Federation Wincanton and was bred by his good friend Gary Young. He is named, ‘Harry 048’ after Stuart’s son Harry and is raced on the Widowhood system. He is a bit special! ‘Pipped At The Post’ was bred by Gerald Delany and wasn’t beaten his time, with the next four pigeons on the Federation result being four of Stuarts yearlings! Brilliant pigeon racing! Well done on your latest Federation win and thank for all your good work for the Federation, Stuart!
John and Sue Carson of the Ashridge club had a brilliant race from Blandford, recording 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 10th, 12th, 15th, 16th, 17th Federation. The mother and son partnership have had a wonderful 2026 racing season, winning many premier positions including: 1st Federation Wincanton and 1st Federation / 1st Amalgamation Okehampton. Their 2nd Federation winner from the Blandford race was their young blue hen, ‘Chezza’ and she is a direct daughter of their good blue cock, ‘Spit Spot’, who won 1st Federation Wincanton earlier in the season. ‘Spit spot’, what a great pigeon, to win the Federation and breed a 2nd Federation winner in the same season! Just brilliant! I had a telephone conversation with John after the race and he said, ‘the pigeons were well in the run up to their first race. Having overcome the dreaded young bird sickness last month, which caused a delay to us racing until this weekend. The race wasn’t straight forward, but the birds worked in well and will have learned a lot from this race. We like to ensure that the birds are well nourished in the event they are taken off course in their races, as they are only young racers for a few months, but old birds for the rest of their careers. Young bird racing is all about learning from the basket, from the transporter to finding the shortest line home and this team have given us a lot to look forward to going forward if we can hold them for the rest of the season. Our second bird on the ETS from Blandford who was timed at the exact same time as’Chezza’ and was purchased at the Thames Breeder Sale from our good friend, Jammie Williams’.
The first ten in the Blandford Federation result were: 1) Stuart Emans 1377: 2) Frank & Sue Carson & Son 1377: 3) Frank & Sue Carson & Son 1377: 4) Stuart Emans 1377: 5) Frank & Sue Carson & Son 1376: 6) Frank & Sue Carson & Son 1376: 7) Terry & Sue Leonard 1376: 8) Terry & Sue Leonard 1376: 9) Terry & Sue Leonard 1375: 10) Frank & Sue Carson & Son 1375. This was race number seventeen of the season and at this point the Mitcham & Merton are leaders for the ‘Federation Points Trophy’ with 76 points and the Ashridge club are R/U on 62 points.
Stuart Emans’ young bird loft is 12ft x 3ft, with an aviary on the front and all trapping is for the ETS System. When he weans his youngsters at three weeks old, they go straight on the ‘darkness’ system. They are exercised around the loft once a day and called back in with a whistle, which has been used every time they are fed. Feeding consists of a breeding mixture with a little Barley added and are fed in small amounts until they start to leave the Barley. The young bird team are kept on the breeding mixture until they come off the ‘Darkness’ on the 21st June. When they come off the ‘darkness’ they are fed on high Carbohydrate mixture, with Barley added and are fed as much as like until they leave the Barley. Stuart starts training the babies as soon as they start to rang from the loft. This is while they are on the ‘Darkness’ system. His first training toss is from five miles and the youngsters are kept at this point until they come straight out of the training basket, race home and go into the loft trap. They then move up to 14 miles and then finally 27 miles. Before the first race the young birds have been in the training basket on average around 30 times. All young birds are flown to the perch and not separated as Stuart doesn’t have the time with work commitments.
Stuart pairs up in in February and races his fourteen cocks and seven hens on the roundabout system. His smart 24ft loft is set up for ETS trapping and is made up of a section for the old cocks, another for the young birds and the roundabout hens are housed in an aviary. He is not interested in fancy pedigrees or eye sign when selecting breeding pigeons and maintains the basket is the only way to find out if a pigeon is any good or not. Stuart gives his birds about ten training tosses up to 27 miles before the first race and then they get two exercise sessions every day around the loft once racing starts. All the races are fed on Stuart’s own widowhood mixture, which he makes up himself and the racers are never broke down. Stuart lives in Sutton and for his profession he is a fireman. He started up in the pigeon racing sport in 2008 and has won the Federation many time through the years, the highlight was winning 1st Three Borders Federation, 2nd Combine Bergerac and winning the Federation ‘Channel Averages’. Because of family and work commitments he had to pack up his pigeons for five year and restarted up in 2023 with young birds from his good friends Gary Young and Gerald Delaney. The 2024 season had seen Stuart race those yearlings with outstanding success.
The 2025 racing season had finish and I must say, I couldn’t believe how quick that time had gone! The time had flown past! It had been a brilliant season, with Saturday team producing some great sport for the Three Borders Federation membership. And of course, as per normal it’s a big ‘thank you’ to our wonderful secretary, Stuart Emans for all his good work. The last race was flown from Okehampton in late August and turned out to be probably one of the easiest races of the season, certainly the easiest young bird race of the season. Because of a very bad weather forecast for the proposed day of this the longest young bird race, the birds were marked on Saturday for a Sunday race. The young birds had a 170 mile fly from Okehampton and Dom McCoy liberated at 07.30hrs in to a South / South West wind situation. The birds had a quick fly home in the tail wind and at the end of the race member reported excellent returns. I don’t know, but I think it might be a new record achieved in the Three Borders Federation! Our secretary, Stuart Emans who races in the Mitcham & Merton club recorded his sixth Federation winner of the 2025 season from this Okehampton and took the first 24 positions on the result sheet. Absolutely brilliant pigeon racing by our Stuart that season! Another first for me, that I can remember, is Stuart’s first two pigeon were his two natural youngsters, ‘Belgium Jess’ and ‘Henry 658’ and both were on the very same velocity, 1759.061, to be joint Federation winners. His first two pigeons clocked on the same velocity where a blue chequer cock, now named ‘Henry 658’ after Stuart’s nephew and the red chequer hen, now named ‘Belgium Jess’ after his niece. The sire of ‘Henry 658’ is a Gerald Delaney cock purchased as a young bird in 2023 and he was paired to a gifted pigeon from Kevin Pratt of Mitcham. The nest pair from this pairing have both won the Federation that season. The red chequer hen, ‘Belgium Jess’ was a purchase from Lier Market. It is a double congratulation to Stuart, who also won the ‘Individual Points Trophy’ for the second season on the trot. At the end of the 2025 racing season we must mention Stuart’s pride and joy again, ‘Harry 048’ who has won several top positions in the Federation, including: 2025: 1st Federation Okehampton. 1st Federation Honiton, 2024: 1st Federation Okehampton, 9th Federation Wincanton. What a great pigeon! Well done mate and thanks for all your good work!
I spoke to the race winner and Federation secretary, Stuart Emans, after the race and this is what he said, ‘keeping young birds fit and well during the racing season is a constant battle, with the added heatwaves the country has been enduring, this has made day to day management of the birds a challenge. As the Federation Secretary, race day always starts with an early morning phone call with our Convoyer, Dominic McCoy. This always consists of conversations regarding weather and other Organisations possibly in our flight path. The Three Borders Federation are very lucky to have a very conscientious and hardworking Convoyer in Dominic, he is constantly on the phone discussing the upcoming weeks race and the transporter is his pride and joy which he keeps well maintained throughout the season and the welfare of the birds is his main concern. When Dominic has decided the best time to liberate the birds, the information is forwarded to all club secretaries by WhatsApp. Home at the lofts it’s time to prepare for the arrival of the birds. All the sections are cleaned and the ETS is set up and tested. The birds were liberated at 07:00 into a north wind. I had a few discussions with people over the phone, regarding how long we thought the birds would take, and with my pair of Fantails at the ready, I looked up to the skies in anticipation. 08:55 I released the fantails and with a few blasts on the whistle my first bird was clocked, recording a velocity of 1377 ypm, closely followed by my second pigeon. I have to say, my good friend Dave Taylor is never far off with his time predictions and today he was spot on. Looking to the skies, waiting for my next pigeons, it soon became clear this was going to be a very challenging race day. I waited 25 minutes for my third pigeon and my fourth pigeon arrived over an hour after my first. The birds dropped into the loft throughout the day and by the time it was time to go to the club in the evening I had 21 Birds home from 28. On arrival at the club, it was clear the day had been a very tough day with most fanciers having some empty perches. I know every effort is made to give our birds the best chance on liberation, however it doesn’t always go to plan. Thankfully, at time of writing this report, I’ve heard of more birds making their way back home. Fingers crossed the rest make it home safe and well. David Lebby, the club secretary, with the help of Errol Skeet, produced the race result. This can take some time as they have to sort out all the winners of the side bets and our gold ring scheme. I was pleased to score 1st & 2nd Club and winning £110 1st Gold Ring. I later received the news I had finally topped the Federation for the second time this season having been the bridesmaid in the previous two young bird races. My first bird over the pad was a blue cock GB 26 B 08785, who I have named ‘Johnny Boy’ after my father, who unfortunately received some unexpected news regarding his health this week. This pigeon has previously scored 2nd Federation Blandford, 12th Federation Wincanton and now 1st Fed Blandford this season winning a total of £315.00 having raced in all four Federation races. His G/Sire is ‘River’ a winner of sixteen races, including six Federation wins, His G/Dam is a half-sister of ‘River’ from the partnership of Alan & Gary Young. His sire is a cock in my race team paired to a daughter of my good racing cock, ‘Harry 48’ Thanks to all competing members for their support’.
That’s it for this week! Well done to Stuart Emans for his second Federation winner of the season! If you win and want a write up in this space, contact me on telephone number: 07535 484584 or email me on:
TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT (www.keithmott.com)
