EAST DOWN COMBINE
Reports by Clifford Browne
Mullingar & Tullamore YBs - August 2013
First of all this week apologies for the lateness of the Mullingar column but I was away on holiday so this week I am playing catch up and I am delighted to say that my mailbox on my return was full of photos, information on various outstanding performances from across the Combine which is very, very encouraging so this week we have a bumper column for you and as the title suggest, the East Down Combine have enjoyed two fantastic races, in both cases with the birds doing well over a mile a minute thanks to a combination of good weather conditions and excellent decision making by both the weather Committee and the Race Controllers.
So let’s start and first a look at Mullingar where the entry was over 6,500 birds. The wind was from the South West and again the birds were away early at 7.45am which ensured them clear skies and all day if needed to get home. Now I know that these early liberations are not to everyone’s taste but it does appear to be a great benefit to the birds and allows fanciers to attend to other things on Saturday afternoons.
Again the leading birds were out on the East coast with Portavogie and Cloughey taking the top places in the Open with Brian Young of the Portavogie club having two together for first and second Open followed closely by a third bird for 4th open with B & J Donnan also Portavogie in at 3rd open.
It is then over to the Cloughey & Killyleagh members Gordon Bros & Sons who have no less than 19 birds in the open result and the top placings in open and section were:
East Down Combine Open Mullingar YB 03/08/2013
207 Members 6657 Birds Wind South West
1 B Young Portavogie 1955.288
2 B Young Portavogie 1954.574
3 B & J Donnan Portavogie 1951.895
4 B Young Portavogie 1950.301
5 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1948.309
6 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1947.938
7 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1947.568
8 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1947.568
9 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1947.197
10 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1947.197
11 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1947.197
12 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1946.826
13 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1946.456
14 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1946.086
15 B & J Donnan Portavogie 1946.077
16 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1945.716
17 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1944.976
18 Harper & Young Cloughey HPS 1944.541
19 Harper & Young Cloughey HPS 1944.188
20 J & R Young Portavogie 1942.775
West Section 67 Members 2192 Birds
1 J. Young & Ptnrs Dundonald HPS 1921.783
2 J. Young & Ptnrs Dundonald HPS 1921.783
3 J. Young & Ptnrs Dundonald HPS 1921.424
4 McCartan & Woodsides Crossgar HPS 1918.253
5 McCartan & Woodsides Crossgar HPS 1907.618
6 S. Brown & Sons Dundonald HPS 1897.927
7 S. Brown & Sons Dundonald HPS 1896.878
8 J. Young & Ptnrs Dundonald HPS 1889.653
9 J. Young & Ptnrs Dundonald HPS 1887.919
10 J. Young & Ptnrs Dundonald HPS 1887.226
11 J. Young & Ptnrs Dundonald HPS 1887.226
12 J. Young & Ptnrs Dundonald HPS 1886.879
East Section 140 Members 4465 Birds Wind South West
1 B Young Portavogie 1955.288
2 B Young Portavogie 1954.574
3 B & J Donnan Portavogie 1951.895
4 B Young Portavogie 1950.301
5 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1948.309
6 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1947.938
7 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1947.568
8 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1947.568
9 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1947.197
10 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1947.197
11 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1947.197
12 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1946.826
The Best From the Clubs - MULLINGAR
Annalong J Newell 1777, J Trimble & son 1713, K Rooney & son & dtr 1712 Annsborough D Croskery & son 1888, M Croskery 1884, 1880 Ballylesson 12 Members Sent 305 Birds 1st M&A Johnston 1878 2nd &3rd John Patterson 1874, 1874. Ballynahinch J Abernethy 1860.4 , 1850, 1847 Ballywalter 1st Walter and Norman Carlile timing a Blue Cock on 1877 bought in Lier Market earlier this year, last week's winning loft settled for 2nd & 3rd for Sam Regan with two birds on 1858. into his Shoreline lofts Bangor Burgess & Brennan 1876, 1875, 1874 Cloughey Gordon Bros & sons 1948, 1947, 1947 Comber F Gilmore wins on 1872 with a gift bird from Geoff Dickey of Randalstown, it is a mealy cock, Stonker Donker breed and it was also 6th club 2nd Navan, Francis had two together and was 2nd also on 1872, Eugene Murray was 3rd 1856 Crossgar McCartan & Woodsides 1918, 1917, S & K Duke 1872 Donaghadee Angus & Son & McConkey win on 1906 with a bird bred by R Moore & son, Angus & McConkey & son were also 2nd & 3rd on 1905, 1903 with two Massarella bred Flor Engels Downpatrick R Connolly 1919, J Crossan 1890, P McCullough& dtr 1889 Drumaness E McLoughlin 1821, C Laverty & dtr 1793, J Kirk & son 1792 Dundonald J Young & ptnrs 1921, 1921, 1921 Dundrum A McNamara & ptnrs 1812, 1796 & 1727 Hillfoot D Brennan 1862, 1859, 1857 Killyleagh Central Gordon Bros & sons 1930, 1929 1927 Millisle McCormick & Muckle 1893, 1893, J Rankin 1877 Newcastle R McVeigh & son 1671, 1629, 1609 Newtownbreda M McClure 1878, W White & son 1872, B & H Marshall 1841 Portavogie B Young 1955, 1954 B & J Donnan 1951 Tyrella C Mc Manus & Dtr 1880.0, 1878.8, 1839.1.
Moving on now to Tullamore and again another great race with another entry of 6,500 birds, a light South West wind and again a 7.45 liberation. Once again the result was dominated by Cloughey members Gordon Bros & sons who had 17 of the top 20 in the open but the overall winners and also 6th open were the Crossgar partnership of McCartan & Woodsides with that other Cloughey consistent partnership Harper and Young in at 9th open.
East Down Combine Open - Tullamore 10/08/2013
210 Members 6456 Birds Wind Light South West
1 McCartan & Woodsides Crossgar HPS 1801.934
2 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1801.249
3 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1801.249
4 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1800.994
5 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1800.994
6 McCartan & Woodsides Crossgar HPS 1800.833
7 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1800.739
8 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1800.739
9 Harper & Young Cloughey HPS 1800.459
10 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1799.975
11 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1799.975
12 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1799.720
13 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1799.720
14 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1799.720
15 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1799.720
16 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1799.465
17 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1799.465
18 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1799.210
19 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1799.210
20 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1798.701
West Section 69 Members 2143 Birds
1 McCartan & Woodsides Crossgar HPS 1801.934
2 McCartan & Woodsides Crossgar HPS 1800.833
3 Bunting & Reid Crossgar HPS 1769.512
4 Bunting & Reid Crossgar HPS 1769.251
5 D Brennan Hillfoot HPS 1768.501
6 K & B McConaghie Ballylesson HPS 1754.274
7 C & D Smyth & Sons Ballylesson HPS 1747.508
8 T McConnell Dundonald HPS 1744.654
9 Bunting & Reid Crossgar HPS 1744.502
10 S Casement & Son Ballylesson HPS 1743.452
11 J. Young & Ptnrs Dundonald HPS 1742.632
12 J. Young & Ptnrs Dundonald HPS 1742.159
East Section 141 Members 4313 Birds
1 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1801.249
2 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1801.249
3 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1800.994
4 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1800.994
5 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1800.739
6 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1800.739
7 Harper & Young Cloughey HPS 1800.459
8 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1799.975
9 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1799.975
10 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1799.720
11 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1799.720
12 Gordon Bros & Sons Cloughey HPS 1799.720
The Best From the Clubs - Tullamore
Annalong K Rooney, son & dtr 1761, J Newell 1760,1758 Annsborough D Croskery & son 1754, 1752 J Cleland 1751 Ballylesson 11 Members Sent 329 Birds 1st K&B McConaghie & Son 1754 2nd C&D Smyth & Sons 1747 3rd S Casement & Son 1743 Ballynahinch D&R Topping wins from Tullamore with a homebred youngster from the family of Hartogs purchased at Blackpool velocity 1739 the partnership were also second on 1728 with Jim Gillespie 3rd 1721 Ballywalter 1st Walter and Norman Carlile winning with the same Belgian Blue Cock for the second week in a row on 1782, 2nd and 3rd was Junior Orr timing two Blue Hens doing 1763,1684 both home bred. Bangor Lambert & Stewart 1738, McQuaid & Briggs 1737, Lambert & Stewart 1732 Cloughey Gordon bros & sons 1801, 1801, 1800 Comber F Gilmore 1714, 1711, 1704 Crossgar McCartan & Woodsides 1801, 1800 Bunting & Reid 1769 Donaghadee M/M Gardiner 1728 J Johnston &son 1728 Downpatrick R Connolly 1772, this is Bob’s 3rd consecutive win, this weeks winner is a C&D Smyth Busschaert and the two previous winners were Bob Fenech Cooremans. 2nd J Crossan 1758, 3rd P McCullough & dtr 1742 Drumaness E McLaughlin 1721, 1720, 1718 Dundonald T McConnell 1744, J Young & ptnrs 1742, 1742 Dundrum J Maguire & ptnrs 1705, A Murray & son 1694, J Maguire & son 1678 Hillfoot D Brennan 1768, 1675, 1674 Killyleagh Central C Healy 1748, 1748 McComb Bros 1743 Millisle McCormick & Muckle 1742, 1741, J Rankin 1734 Newcastle R McVeigh & son 1682, W McNeilly & son 1678, R McVeigh & son 1601 Newtownbreda J McClure 1724, W White & son 1719, 1718 Portavogie R & G Thompson 1751, K Ambrose 1750, R & G Thompson 1750 Tyrella C. McManus & Dtr 1744.7, S Milligan & Dtr 1744.0, 1742.6.
EAST DOWN COMBINE 2B NEWS
Golden Ring attracts entry of 37
The 2 bird club Golden Ring race to be flown on September 7th from Mount Charles attracted an entry of 37 members which is encouraging for this new venture. It is proposed to have 3 prizes 1st £200, 2nd £100 and 3rd £70 so Secretary Stephen Logan advises me and this should generate quite a bit of interest towards the end of the season. Results from the races flown from 2nd Navan & Mullingar were:
2nd Navan
1st S. Regan 1589.7
2nd Gordon bros &sons 1576.3
3rd Gordon bros &sons 1567.5
4th M Croskery 1561.9
5th J Abernethy 1556.1
6th J Patterson 1537.4
Mullingar
1st J & R Young 1942.7
2nd Gordon bros & sons 1936.5
3rd W& N Cully 1926.5
4th B&J Donnon 1893.5
5th C Healy 1884.8
6th M Croskery 1880.1
Sam Regan reports From Around The Ards Peninsula
Shoreline Lofts Hat-trick from Navan
The second young bird race of the 2013 season saw the birds return to Navan for their 2nd race of the season. Like the previous week the high temperatures at mid day saw an early liberation to avoid the heat of the midday sun with the strings being cut at 07.45 for the flight home into the Ards Peninsula.
The wind at the liberation was Southerly and helping the pigeons to home back to their lofts. Winning birds into the Peninsula Amalgamation were timed into Ballywalter, a small seaside village enjoyed by day trippers and sited just north of the most Easterly point of all Ireland.
The Shoreline lofts of Sam Regan had three birds arrive together to not only win the Fed's first three positions but also task the East Section's top three and be 4th, 5th and 6th Open from 5696 birds in the East Down Combine. All three pigeons were flown on the darkness system and the winner a Black Hen was a Cattrysse / Lambrecht as were the second and third birds, a Blue Cheq Hen and a Blue w/f Cock. These Lambrecht pigeons came to the Regan Family from their very good friends Dave and Eirlys Jones the top husband and wife team from Llandudno in North Wales who have supplied many excellent birds over the many years of their friendship not only winning themselves but making an excellent cross with Sam's strains.
Gordon Bros and sons continued from last week's great result by having no less than eleven birds arrive close together into their lofts for yet another very impressive piece of racing, these pigeons are all placed in the top twenty five in the Open result to give the family the following positions 14th to 20th, and 23rd to 25th to finish off a fine day's flying by their team.
Full result - 51 sent 1466 birds
1st, 2nd 3rd Sam Regan 1595, 1590, 1589.
4th to 14th Gordon Bros & sons 1577x6, 1576x2, 1574x3.
In the three Bird Club the Gordon Family took first and second from 57 birds while the club winner of Portavogie flown by Ken Ambrose was third. Velocities 1576, 1567, 1548.
Next race is from Mullingar.
Harmony Lofts Hot Spot results Weekend 03/08/13
John Abernethy of Harmony lofts and who is enjoying great success in his own right sends the following -A super weekend for Kincaid & McCann on winning 1st Club Dunedin, 3rd Section D & 7th Open with 21,000 birds competing. Billy & Ivan collect £50 with bird ring No 23197 vel 2026. Well done boys.
Another good bird in Dunedin Club & raced by Cowan & McCartney takes 2nd Club, 4th Section D & 13th Open & claims 2nd Hot Spot with bird 23273 vel 2019 winning £30. Tommy Peel of Carrick Social takes the 3rd Hot Spot & 4th Club, 30th Section C & 44th Open with bird ring No. 23368 vel 2003 winning £20.
Well done to the many fanciers who phoned in top club results.
Remember if you're not in, you can't win!
Harmony Lofts Midweek Result 7/8/13
Thank you to all fanciers who supported our venture. A total of 1500 trainers & racers were liberated at 12.15 at Navan with a light north wind.
An excellent result for the loft of Jonny Porter & Son better known as the Whiterock Rockets, timing 2 birds to take 1st & 2nd with a velocity of 1266 & 1266 & winning a total of £80. Jonny was very keen to point out that the birds were nest mates which had been bred for him by his good friends G & P Brown of Annsborough from their excellent family of Dirk Van-Dyck/ Marijke-Vink pigeons.
In 3rd position was the Lisburn loft of L Magee & Son with a velocity of 1256 to collect £20. Alan was delighted with the result as he took 4th on 1252 & 5th on 1251. Well done to all who took part.
Top results & photos are as follows.
Result.
1st. J Porter & Son 1266
2nd. J Porter & Son 1266
3rd. L Magee & Son 1256
4th. L Magee & Son 1252
5th. L Magee & Son 1251
6th J Ward & Son 1244
7th. J Porter & Son 1244
8th. J Ward & Son 1244
Harmony Lofts Hot Spot Results Weekend 10/8/13
Taking the top spot is C McManus & Daughter of Tyrella, 1st Club, with bird 23241 vel 1744 to win £50 prize. This bird was 3rd Club last week. Tommy Horner of Crossgar is back with 2nd spot with bird 23282 vel 1724 & 8th Club to win £30. Another good week for Cowan & McCartney to win 4th Club, with bird 23273 vel 1687 & collect £20. This bird was 2nd Club last week.
Diary Note
I know it is still in the middle of the season but just a note to remind all Combine members of the Annual Dinner & Prize Distribution which will again be in the Millbrook Lodge Hotel in Ballynahinch and the date is 15th November and at £22 per ticket looks great value for a Turkey and ham dinner, prize distribution and dance, so now is the time to put that date in the diary.
This weekend sees the birds move on further down Ireland to Mount Charles but this Saturday is not looking good for a race weather wise although I suppose this could change anyway. Combine news as usual to tel. no 028 9146 5273 or e-mail me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Or write to 29 West burn Crescent, Bangor. BT20 3RN.
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