“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT.
Three Borders Federation (Honiton Race 4).
It was another good morning liberation for the Three Borders Federation young birds at Honiton for the sixth young bird race, with Dom McCoy releasing the birds at 08.30hrs in a South West wind, with sunshine on the baskets. The 2026 racing season is banging on and the Federation Saturday team have produced some great racing so far this year, with the Honiton race being no exception and the members enjoying a good race with excellent returns. With the weather forecast predicting rain for the Saturday race day, the team decided to mark the birds on the Saturday evening for a Sunday race, which worked out brilliantly. The Federation result this week was testament to some brilliant pigeon racing with Stuart Emans of the Mitcham & Merton club taking the first seven positions and Imran Malik & Atif Khan of the Easher club winning all the other positions down to 25th! Stuart Emans is our hard-working Federation secretary, and this is his third Federation win of the season, previously winning twice from Blandford. Brilliant pigeon racing by Stuart Emans and Imran Malik & Atif Khan, it was a very special performance this week!
I had a chat with Stuart Emans after the Honiton race and he said, ‘I would like to start with a big thank you to my club mate and good friend, Nick Dudley. I recently went away on holiday with my family and was fortunate enough that Nick was willing to look after my birds while I was away. Not only did Nick feed the birds, but he also trained and raced them. I left him with a list of instructions and, no doubt, bombarded him with daily phone calls! Sorry, Nick! While I was away, Nick won the Mitcham Club from Honiton and then prepared the birds for the following race. I returned home the day before basketing for the second race from Honiton. Well, what can I say? What a job Nick had done. The birds went on to record an incredible 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th Federation. A fantastic achievement, and although I was fortunate enough to be there for the race, all the credit for getting the birds ready and in such fantastic condition must go to Nick Dudley. Thank you, Nick! I really appreciate it. The Mitcham Club is a very competitive club, and this young bird season we have been racing for around £300 per week in prize money, including Gold Rings and nominations.
Our club secretary, Dave Lebby, with the help of Errol Skeet, has the arduous task of not only producing the results but also sorting out all the side bets and Gold Ring winners. A big thank you to you both for all your hard work throughout the season. Next week will be our final race of the season, which will also be our ‘Club Breeder Buyer’ race from Okehampton. With everything included, the members will be competing for around £2,500 in prize money, so it promises to be a fantastic finale to the season. The race will also be the Three Borders Federation’s fourth Amalgamation race of the season, with the Surrey Federation and Berkshire Federation joining us. The Okehampton Amalgamation races have been a great success this season, with a lot of goodwill and cooperation between all three federations and our convoyer Dominic McCoy. Hopefully, this can continue to grow, and we can involve other organisations moving forward. Finally, my Honiton Federation winner this week was a blue hen, bred from a Gerald Delany cock and an Alan & Gary Young hen from my race loft. She has now affectionately been named ‘Fifi’! Once again, a huge thank you to Nick Dudley, Dave Lebby, Errol Skeet and Dominic McCoy, and to everyone involved in making our club and Federation racing such a success’.
The first ten in the Honiton Federation result were: 1) Stuart Emas 1683: 2) Stuart Emans 1683: 3) Stuart Emans 1683: 4) Stuart Emans 1679: 5) Stuart Emans 1678: 6) Stuart Emans 1678: 7) Stuart Emans 1677: 8) Malik & Khan 1674: 9) Malik & Khan 1674: 10) Malik & Khan 1674. This was race number nineteen of the season and at this point the Mitcham & Merton are leading for the ‘Federation Points Trophy’ with 84 points, with the Ashridge club being R/U on 66 points.
Stuart Emans is a fireman by profession and lives in Sutton. Stuart is our very hard-working Federation secretary and he is one of the best racers, being the ‘Federation Champion’ in the 2024 and 2025 racing seasons. Stuart Emans is enjoying a great 2026 season, now winning 1st Federation three times and has won 2nd Federation eight times! 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. He 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.
It was a very special congratulation that went out back in April 2025 to Nick Dudley of Carshalton who recorded 1st club, 6th Federation from Wincanton and for breaking his ‘novice status’. It was well done Nick from me and all his club mates at the Mitcham & Merton club! Nick’s first race winner ever was a blue cock, now nicknamed 'Erol’s Lad' and was bred for him by the Mitcham club partnership of Mr & Mrs Skeet & Keen. The dam of this cock is from double grandchildren of ‘Best Kittel’ and the sire is direct son of 2nd open MNFC Vire national from Frank and George Bristow. Later on in that season, Nick went on to win the Three Borders Federation two week on the trot, with the same pigeon! His champion young grizzle hen, ‘Arctic’ won the Federation, making it, her first two races of her racing career and winning two 1st Federations! Nick’s 2025 double Federation winner, ‘Arctic’ was bred by George Gucci of Bexley Heath from his ‘Pit Bull’ bloodlines. I spoke to Nick after the second Federation race win and he told me, ‘having got the young birds flying around the loft well and I decided to start training. Training started slow with just a few miles at a time and I got them up to the 39 miles mark, with only dropping one bird throughout. I feed on a standard racing mixture and treat the young birds to keep them healthy’. Brilliant pigeon racing!
Peter Hookins of Mitcham.
Peter Hookins was brought up with pigeons as his father was loft manager for the National winning loft of Alf Pays of Mitcham. His father had his own team of birds which were looked after by Peter's mother, until his clearance sale in 1974. Peter was out of the sport for several seasons until he went as loft manager for Tom King of Tooting in 1977, winning 1st Federation Exmouth and 90th open Young Bird National. In 1978 Peter put 18 old birds on widowhood for Mr King and they flew really well winning five firsts. Peter started racing on his own with young birds in 1978, flying to his parents address in Mitcham with Burger pigeons from G Humphreys of New Addington. Peter raced in the Long Thornton Wednesday FC and won his first race from Dorchester in 1978. Racing old birds in 1979 the Hookins' Burgers won 1st club, 1st Federation Exmouth, 1st club, 6th Federation Seaton, 1st and 2nd club Rennes sending two birds. By this time Peter and his wife, Geraldine, had bought their own house in Wimbledon and a new loft was set up racing young birds to the new address in 1979. The partners purchased Busschaerts from Goodall & Swainston of Cleveland and gift Busschaerts came from Eddie Hurley of Sutton. Peter said Eddie Goodall and Eddie Hurley gave him all the help possible with their methods of widowhood racing and feeding etc. He said the great Alf Pays, winner of the National Flying Club from Nantes gave him a lot of advice on Channel flying, but Peter was always impressed by the performances of Terry Goodsell of Mitcham flying widowhood with his outstanding system. One of Peter's early mistakes was in 1978 with his young birds which he trained well in the evenings, and then he switched to an early morning toss and only got nine out of his twenty-seven youngsters home. He says he thinks the cause was the change of routine which is so important with the babies. One of Peter's best racing cocks was the handsome Busschaert chequer cock 'The 42 Cock' and he has won: 1st club, 1st Federation Dorchester, 1st club, 1st Federation Seaton, 1st club, 2nd Federation Seaton, 1st Feltham Open Weymouth (462 birds), 1st club Weymouth, 1st club Dorchester, 1st club Weymouth and many other top positions in the club, Federation and Combine. Peter thought a lot of his little Denys x Krauth dark chequer cock ' The 63 Dark Cock' and said this cock was always on his toes, had an excellent racing record winning: 1st club, 5th Federation Seaton, 1st club, 7th Federation Exmouth, 1st London Federation Open Exmouth, 1st club Guernsey, 1st club Dorchester, 1st club Exmouth, 3rd London Federation Open Exmouth, 4th Phoenix Open Exeter, 6th Kingston Open Blandford, 2nd club Dorchester, 9th club Dax (534 miles).
Peter and Geraldine’s loft was 'L' shaped, 36ft long and made up of six sections. There were two widowhood sections each with 12 nest boxes and half glass front, with controlled ventilation and heating. The young birds had two sections, his twelve pairs of stock birds had their own section and the widowhood hens had a small section. Peter told me at the time that the loft must be draft and damp free, but well ventilated. The partners had twenty cocks on widowhood and bred about 70 youngsters each year. The widowhood cocks were paired the first week in January and the stock birds the last week in February. The cocks were fed on break-down mixture on return from the race and a racing mixture the rest of the week. The cocks raced Wednesday and Saturday and garlic was used in the drinking water, Columbine tea was used the day after a race. The cocks were let out for a fly twice a day for an hour and were not forced to fly, as they came in and out of the loft as they please. The loft was cleaned twice daily during the season and the water was changed twice a day. Sometimes the cock was shown the hen before the race or the nest bowl was turned and all cocks were fed in their boxes during racing. Peter reckoned there were pigeon keepers and pigeon fanciers, the fancier only gets out of his birds what he puts in, and the keepers sit back and wait for success. Another of the star widowhood cocks housed at the Hookins' loft was yet another Busschaert called 'The 28' and he had many major prizes to his credit including: 1st club Weymouth, 1st club Exeter, 1st club Weymouth, 2nd club, 4th Federation, 4th Combine Plymouth, 2nd club Weymouth, 4th club Weymouth.
Peter was an upholsterer and said this job, being self-employed, gave him plenty of time with the birds. He looked for a change of temperament and this helped him pick out his pool birds. He said his young birds were trained and raced hard, but fed well and in 1983 they stopped all their young cocks after two races. The main racing family was the Busschaerts, with some Burgers from John Furness of Woking and a team of late breds were introduced at the end of 1983 from P Bates of Wales. The Goodall & Swainston Busschaerts were from their famous 'Klunk Klick' family and the Eddie Hurley Busschaerts were from ‘The Thief'’ bloodlines. The Goodall & Swainston family had won from the shortest to the longest, hard and easy races. Eddie Hurley's family were very good inland, although Peter's chequer cock '83' won 2nd club, 13th Combine from the Melle smash race, over 13 hours on the wing and Peter's brother Terry won 1st club, 1st Federation, 4th Combine Dax with a grand-daughter of '83'. Peter said his best performance was winning 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 6th London Federation Open Exmouth in 1981. His most thrilling experience was in 1979 when the partners won 1st Open Greater London Specialist Wadebridge Open race with over 1,000 birds taking part. Geraldine and son, Ryan, then aged 7, took a lot of interest in the pigeons. Geraldine looked after the young birds for four seasons, but in 1983 a new addition to the Hookins' family, a baby daughter took up most of Geraldine's time. She fed, watered, timed in and cleaned the birds out. The partners liked their birds to have lots of short tosses on the line of flight and young birds were raced Wednesday and Saturday right through the season. The old birds were raced through to the longest race point and yearlings were stopped at 300 miles. Peter said eyesign had never interested him, although he always paired opposite colours together. The old birds and yearlings were trained while on their second round of eggs and young birds were trained hard to Winchester then got single ups five miles from home. The partners rated Ernie Ford of Carshalton the best local fancier at that time and said at the young age of 76, he had been winning year in and year out, long, short, easy, hard and was at that time still one of the hardest to beat.
That’s it for this week! Well done to Stuart Emansl for his third Federation winner of the season! Great pigeon racing mate! If you win and want a write up in this space, contact me on telephone number: 01372 463480 or email me on:
TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT (www.keithmott.com)
