Fougeres Sees A Big Win For Shaun McDonough

 

On the morning of the scheduled liberation day of the Midlands National Flying Club’s second race of the season from Fougeres the weather at the home end was perfect with a light North Easterly wind blowing. The problem though was the Cherbourg Peninsula where a procession of localised thunder storms made any liberation a very precarious option and the Club with its massive entry of 8,443 birds had no intentions of gambling with the members birds. All three of our independent weather advisers told us that in their opinion that until late morning the risks were just too great. So the decision was made that we must consider our further flyers who were competing from distances of 400 miles plus and a late liberation was out of the question. At the time the club was criticised by a few quite vocally because some liberations had taken place on and around the Peninsula. It is funny but when the vast majority of the liberations that took place on the Saturday turned out to be poor races these same critics didn’t step forward so readily to acknowledge that the MNFC was right to hold onto the birds.

 

Sunday was a far more favourable day but it was clear that it was still going to be a stern test for the birds as the North Easterly wind was still blowing in fact it was a little stronger than the previous day but there was no rain forecast on route so at 6.30am on a bright sunny Sunday morning the birds were away and soon on the right flight path home but there was a stern test ahead of them on the channel where a fresh North Easterly breeze was awaiting the convoy. This fact and the lack of tougher preparation races earlier in the season certainly affected the percentage of birds who made home before nightfall. Thankfully many more got back the next day after a night ‘on the tiles’.

 

Tough races always result in some exception performances and this race once again confirmed this fact. The winner of the race as the heading reads was to the Pelsall loft of Shaun McDonough who welcomed home his 2 year old Dark hen which recorded a velocity of 1192 for the 298 mile distance race. Her sire I’m told is a superb pigeon who after winning some 25 prizes himself which included 4 x 1st prizes when he won 1st,2nd, 3rd and 4th federation placings. Since he retired from racing he has gone on to be a veritable ‘Goldmine Breeder’. This Frans Van Wildemeersch based cock has produced birds like Champion Toby who has won 11 x 1st prizes and topped the federation with large birdages which includes three wins against 7,985 4,276 and 3,581 and also umpteen other superb placings. Another super daughter ‘Flo-Jo’ has no less than 55 prize cards during her career including 4 x 1st prizes.

On my visit down to Shaun’s he was quick to share his win with his dad Tony who has cultivated the Wildemeersch family since the late 1970’s. ‘’I’ve tried others to beat them but have had to come back to my dad’s Wildies and they have helped us win out of our turn in the local clubs and we have been top prize winners in the Wolverhampton Federation on several occasions.’’

The National winner herself has previous prizes on her C V including being a 1st prize winner. Her mother is a hen purchased in Belgium a few years ago and she has bred Shaun winners with several different cocks. Further proof as to the quality of this pair is surely supplied by the fact that a full sister to the winner is also 15th Open from the same race and two other sibling sisters were the loft’s next arrivals finishing 31st and 92nd Open respectively. I would also like to point out that this is Shaun’s first season racing with the MNFC. Truly impressive stuff.

Shaun & Tony McDonough

The MNFC National Fougeres winner

 

2nd Open and South West section goes to Richard Lutner and Co who live in Lilleshall which is situated on the out skirts of Telford and is surely a pigeon fanciers paradise being without any neighbours and overlooking open Shropshire countryside. The partnership as the Co for Cooperative stands is a real family affair with mum dad and their two grown up children all involved. This is fantastic to hear. Their timer which is yet another Dark pigeon but this time a 2 year old cock bird records a velocity of 1170 for his 7 hours and 45 minutes long journey home. His breeding is described as a crossing of their own Lutner Busschaert x Dave Ellams long distance Busschaerts. Richard told me that they bought four hens at the Ellams clearance sale and all of them have bred winners! Another interesting fact is the birds are raced on the natural system the 2nd Open winner was sitting 7 days  and was carrying nesting material constantly from the paddock over the fence in front of the loft where the partners had craftily thrown a big handful of tobacco stalks.Perhaps living so close to nature the natural system comes naturally if you will pardon the pun!. Proof of how close they are to nature is highlighted by the swallows nest that they have under overhang on the loft front. Thanks for a nice couple of hours with a lovely family.

The Lutner family take a good look at their 2nd Open Fougeres winner

The swallows nest under the Lutner loft over hang

 

3rd Section and Open goes to Steve Palin on 1156.9 and he is a gentleman who enjoyed a superb race because his yearling cock also wins the R P/De Weerd sponsored Yearling Classic while another timer wins the MNFC’s ‘2 Bird Nominated race’. The winning pigeon is a small to medium that has been prepared with the Heart of England Federation and also flew in the first MNFC race from Carentan. The bird is bred down on his sire’s side from direct Luc Geerinckx  pigeons purchased some ten years ago. He is directly bred from ‘Django’ a fine winning cock whick in 2013 won 2nd section and 7th Open from Ancenis and 14th section 59th Open from Bordeaux in 2013 and finished 2nd South West section and 4th Open Ace Bird in the MNFC for his performances once again proof that ‘the apple falls closely to the tree’. The bird’s mother is a Marcel Sangers bred bird off his good friend John Fretwell who has flown magnificently with these birds. Steve tells me that this hen sadly went missing in 2013 while out exercising which was a big disappointment obviously. I shall talk more on Steve’s ‘2 bird Nominated’ win in another report.

Steve Palin

 

In 4th Open just .12 of a yard behind the 3rd placed pigeon is the West section winner Oswestry’s Mr & Mrs Tobijanski. Tony tells me that he had 10 of his 15 bird entry on the day which was a good result on a very testing day. The Tobijanski’s bird is a yearling Blue Pied bred from stock purchased off Phil Boyd of Northern Ireland which are based around the Soontjens from Glen and the late Sam Buckley which are the basis of the Tobijanski loft. The partners have high hopes of this young cock which as a youngster won 2 x 1st prizes and won 2nd club just two weeks before the National race. So we may well see this cock’s ring number on a few more MNFC results in the future. In 5th Open are Price Brothers and Son of Stourport their timer is yet another Yearling on 1150. Unfortunately I have no further details on this bird. 6th and 7th Open are filled by Willenhall’s Mr & Mrs Taylor on 1136 with a yearling dark cock and N J Westwood 1135 who welcomed home a 3 year old dark cock.

Tony Tobijanski with his daughters

 

The North West section winner and 8th Open placed bird belongs to Les Fulcher of Longton. The bird is bred from a pair which Les loaned off his mate Craig Kemp of Meir. The breeding is Walter Docx x Vandenabeele ‘Shadow’ lines I am told. The bird yet another yearling Chequer cock was sent sitting 10 days after he was repaired three weeks previously. Les tells me the bird homed bang on line and looked very fresh on his arrival. Well done Mr Fulcher.

Les Fulcher

The ‘Woodfield Wizard’ Derrick Jones fills 9th Open and 2nd west section with one of his tried and tested Chequer cocks known as the ‘54’. This one is a 4 year old and his velocity is 1134. The bird’s sire is the ‘04’ an RPRA Award winner and father to 5 x 1st fed winning birds plus 2 1st MNFC section winners and 1st section and 4th Open Carentan and 1st MNFC Gold Ring race. The dam of ‘54’ has won 1st Fed and 1st Amal from Fougeres. These birds are Wildemeersch going back to Derrick’s  stock from Jim & Carol Dutton.Derrick told me that on the eve of race marking that he had his car stolen from outside the back door of his farmhouse. I hope that the police got it back for you mate.

Derrick Jones 

 

The 1st South East section winner R Holdom of Newton Longville takes the 10th Open position on 1132 with a 2 year old Blue W/f cock of Van den Bosche breeding which has several useful results behind him and he also featured on the MNFC Carentan result. Mr Holdom also tells us that he nearly gave up the sport last season when a fox got into his loft and killed 34 of his hens. Other fanciers though rallied round and replaced his lost birds and he was able to carry on and breed a team of youngsters which won 3rd place in the Fed Averages. Close behind we see Alf Jones who competes under the Jones & Coleman name take 2nd SE section and 11th Open place. Alf tells me that his bird a hen which lost her mate earlier in the season has now paired to Alf and when she hears his voice she calls to him incessantly for his attention. Obviously she needs to go to ‘specsavers Alf! After a sluggish start to her career started to blossom in 2013 and in fact she won 1st club from Salisbury recently. It just goes to prove the power of love. Her sire is a bird from Mr & Mrs Clarke of Kirby which has won good prizes up to National level which include 1st and 6th prizes from Bordeaux. Alf’s hen’s mother is a bird of the late Brian Garfoot a previous National winner who was a fine fancier and a good friend. If it was then I’m sorry that the bird wasn’t reported on.

Alf Jones with his 2nd SE section winner

The 3rd bird in the SE section belongs to Baron & Crick. The pigeon which clocks up a velocity of 1085 is a yearling blue hen bred from a Soontjen cock  bred by Jeff Taylor of Hitchen and a Staf Van Reet hen from Andy Baron’s cousins S & B Crick from Redbourn. The hen was prepared with two inland races and two races from over the Channel. 4th section in the SE goes to Frank McBride who timed his 4 year old Soontjen cock on 1073. Frank tells me that the parents came from Grimsby’s late John Russell who I’m told was both a good fancier and a true gentleman. The bird which recently won 1st place from Poole earlier in the season and on this occasion he was also duplicated back to his club and federation and he topped them both!

  

Frank & George Bristow clocked a ‘cracker’ up in the East section on 1119 to finish in 16th Open. The bird is a 2 year old cock flown on the widowerhood system and Frank  tells me that it was bred for the Bristows by Tick Jobey of Askern via a mutual friend Doncaster’s Keith Thompson. The lads wish to thank Tick for the pigeon. The partners did in fact also take the 2nd and 3rd section prizes with another 2 year old cock. This time a Pencil on 1026 and in 3rd a 4 year old widow hen on 1020.4. The time margin between the first two birds shows just how good their first section winner was. Broughton fancier Robert Taylor clocked a yearling Red hen to clinch the 4th placing on 1020.0.

Frank & George Bristow

 

The winning bird in the South Centre section was a yearling chequer cock belonging to John Gilbert of High Cross with a velocity of 1125. The bird was also good for 12th Open placing. This cock is raced natural and was sent sitting five day eggs. He is of John's successful Vandenabeele strain. He has flown the full programme and always been in the mix. John says: 'In a pretty tough race sending thirty five I had twenty eight back on the day. I would like to thank Ian French and his team for the excellent condition that they returned in. Not forgetting a even bigger thank you to my wife Diane for all her hard work looking after the birds while I'm at work.'

 

John holding Romeo his SC section winner

2nd SC pigeon goes to a 4 year old Dark cock belonging to E. Keyte of Atherstone clocked in on 1115. Happily Albert Babbington has sent me a mail with the details of his good 5 year old widower cock which Albert tells me has won a good deal of prize and pool money in his career but is that any great surprise when he is a bird bred down from the fabulous Mueleman-Wouters ‘Golden Pair’ the birds which earned Albert great fame. In fact the cock which is to be retired after the Ancenis race is bred from two grandmothers that are both great granddaughters of the base pair. Yes Albert he has certainly earned his place in the breeding loft. The 4th section prize in the SC was claimed by Coventry fancier R Rouse who clocked his 2 year old Red Hen for a velocity of 1079.

Moving back up to the North West section now and 2nd section is taken by a man who has dug deep to get hold of what he considers to be the best lines. Dave Everill clocked a two year old widower cock on 1124 which also wins 13th Open position. This bird is a past winner of 4 x1st and 2x 2nds  as a yearling and was retired immediately. He is bred in the ‘purple’ being a grandson of the famous Koopman ‘Kliene Dirk’ and his mother is a direct daughter of Kees Boshua’s ‘Showtime’. I did say that he was bred in the ‘purple’.

The 2nd NW section winner Dave Everill

3rd place in the NW section is taken by the Gatley partnership of Garnett, Moore & Withers  on 1115 with a yearling Blue Cock which is steeped in long distance breeding. His sire being ‘Hermes Lionheart’ a past winner of many prizes including the Eccles 2 bird race from Saintes when he was the only bird on the day and beat all the birds in total the liberation. The mother is also of winning lines as she is a daughter of ‘De Smalle Jules’ the Jules Mannaert bird when coupled to ‘Inga’ a super stock hen for Alan & Dirk Van Den Driessche. This young cock will come again of that I am sure.

The Middlewich partnership of O’Hare & Woodward clocked a 3 year old Blue Hen on 1102 for 4th NW section. Her sire is a bred down from ‘Jester 74’ x ‘ Wittenbuike Pincessje’ and ‘Logan’ and ‘Ebony’ on his mother’s side. The Blue hen’s dam is the partners good ’40 Hen’ which won 2nd section in the NFC from Messac, 1st NW Classic club Niort and 2nd Cheshire 2bird  and 2nd 3 Counties Combine from Messac 3,716 birds. The ’40 Hen’ is dam of 1st West section 3rd Open MNFC Treble Chance from Carentan along with other good performers.

O'Hare & Woodward's 4th West section winner

 

Up now to the longer flyers in the North North West section who were very prominent in this race with Barnes & Walmsley of Lytham 1102 flying nearly 400 miles. The partners timed a Smokey Blue hen known as ‘Miss Silverdale’ to finish 1st section and 36th Open and her efforts were rewarded with winnings of £820. This is their second 1st section win after joining the club in 2013. The bird is also the winner of the NNW section 2 Bird Nominated race and the section Yearling Classic winner. Previously she won 4th Merseyside Fed from Falaise. Frank Fleming who sent me the info tells me that the partners have only been racing their hens for the last two years but this won’t be the last time that they do so either! The partnership has now won 7 x 1st prizes in their club this season.

The North North West winners Barnes & Walmsley

In 2nd and 4th section is Alan Raby of  Preesall who clocked 1100 to finish in a very creditable 40th Open. The pigeon that he clocked first was bred by Preston’s W Pearson and is a Janssen based pigeon with several minor positions behind him and this was his second trip over the channel. I didn’t get any info on the 4th placed bird other than it is a 4 year old Chequer cock.

Alan Raby

3rd NNW section is taken by Mr & Mrs Brian Fisher a partnership that is flying exceptionally well once again this year. Their timer is a yearling hen named ‘Trouble’ because she is so strong willed and likes her own way. She dropped after her 10 ½ hours fly looking ’fresh as a daisy’ to record 1096. Brian sends his congratulations to the birds that beat him and is delighted the way the new section is growing in strength. If I may I would like to give a mention to Maurice McCartney of Carnforth who sent just one single entry and timed it on the day patience rewarded surely. The bird flew over 406 miles on a real tough day well done sir.

Mr & Mrs Brian Fisher with their son Steven who is known in the village as the man with the flag and their great grand daughter Emily Grace

 

Over the Pennines now to the North East section where Lucan Clay 1096 wins the 1st prize with another ‘blueblood’ being bred from a cock which is a son of ‘Max’ the double MNFC winner and ‘Phate’ the hen that won 1st MNFC Bordeaux a couple of years ago. The bird’s mother is another Darren Peters pigeon being a daughter of the ‘Dazzler’s’ Derby Orona One Loft Car winner. Lucan has known Darren for a long time and he is grateful to him for the three pairs of quality stock which he got from him.

The North East section winner for Lucan Clay

2nd NE section goes to Brian & Sue Stone who clocked a much fancied 4 year old hen which will ‘lift’ 870 smackers on 1050 for her owners. 3rd Ne section goes to the Dinnington loft of Hall & Hibbert  who clocked a yearling Chequer hen on 1037. She is in fact bred from the same pair that bred their 2013 section K Young Bird winner. The breeding is Maevaert x van Coppenolle with a touch of their mate ‘Bricky’ Taylor in her. She was prepared with 2 club races from both Newbury and Bedhampton which is 175 miles. 4th section is won by the partnership of G & S Daykin & Son on 1035 who clocked one of their Soontjen crossed birds a 2 year old Dark cock. If the cross is of the lines that I think it is then this pigeon could well feature as the distance increases.  

Gary Daykin

The winners of the North Section are Gill & Son of Castleford who saw home a 2 year Old Blue Pied hen which clocked a speed of 1089. Andy Gill tells me that the bird is a roundabout hen bred from stock which the late Mick Stones brought back from Belgium off Michael van Dornick and he put these two birds on the Gill’s loft when he joined forces with them a few years ago. I knew Mick known as ‘Ticker’ to his pals as he accompanied me on a couple of my trips over to Belgium with his mate Les Stuckey. After several fine results with the club she won the 5th MNFC Ace Pigeon Award in 2013. As Andy says Ticker would be very proud that she won 1st section because it was him that coaxed the lads to join the MNFC. A wise man was our ‘Ticker’. In not only 2nd but 3rd North section we see Nigel Laycock the winner of the previous race from Carentan. The bird that takes the 2nd slot on 1041 just 5 seconds in front of Nigel’s second timer is a bird which I am well acquainted with his fabulous racer ‘Northern Bound’ which has now chalked up no less than 3 x 2nd section placings and believe me if the day suits this cock I think he could win the 1st Open prize. That is of course is if his boss doesn’t put him in the breeding loft. One thing is for sure this Eric Limbourg ‘Black Opium’ cock is as his name suggests very addictive! The Laycock 3rd section winner is a 2 year old Blue Soontjen cock being line bred down from a bird which his owner became very famous with his superb breeding Soontjen ‘Gold Spot’ which has bred grand pigeons for Nigel and a few others besides. In 4th North Section is Rossington’s Janssen specialist Roy Blower. On this occasion Roy clocked a yearling Blue cock on 1037.

Nigel Laycock's 3 times 2nd North section winner 'Northern Bound'

  

The last section to cover is the East South East section which sees a fine winner in the form of Dave Wyles' 2 year old chequer cock which clocks up a velocity of 1048 to lay claim to the £150 section prize. 2nd section is Steve Surrey who also timed a 2 year old but this time a Red Hen some 42 YPM behind the section topper. The 3rd placed bird is a 3 year old Blue cock which belongs to Terry Roughton who clocked a velocity of 1000. Just 4ypm behind we see the Henham loft belonging to John Pether who welcomed a 3 year old Blue Hen home.

Steve Surrey

   

So that is now the second race done and dusted which was a really tough one. I can’t help but think that it is the lack of longer inland races which many federations now seem to choose obviously due to the fuel costs. Perhaps it is a case of ‘penny wise but pound foolish’. All I do know that a series of 100 miles ‘blow homes’ don’t condition pigeons for tough channel races.

 

Once again quite a few fanciers failed to furnish me with any details of their winning bids. Come on lads I aren’t ‘Mystic Mike’ you know. Send me an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

Finally a little moan from our Race Secretary Ann can Clock Station officials please get their print outs sent in promptly and counter signed as per the rulebook. Also make sure that members get a copy of either the print out or the clock  envelope carbon copy. This is their insurance if an envelope fails to arrive.

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