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Pat O Sullivan

 

 

VISITS TO SOME OF THE LONG DISTANCE ACES OF LONDON & ESSEX

PART 1

PAT O'SULLIVAN

by Gareth Watkins

On the weekend of 24th January I travelled up to "the smoke" in the company of my long time friend Ieuan Williams to visit some of the top exponents of long distance racing in the London and Essex areas.

After an uneventful three hour drive we arrived at the Enfield home of expat Irishman and multiple LNRC Lerwick winner, Pat O'Sullivan. It was a warm Gaelic welcome from Pat and we were soon sitting in the lounge enjoying a warm cup of tea and eating barmbrack - Irish cake which was identical to the Welsh cake bara brith! During our chat it transpired that Pat hails from a little village in Limerick close to Charleville the birthplace of my daughter in law Sinead. It really is a small world.

It wasn't long before we were amongst the pigeons and what a family of long distance stalwarts they proved to be! Based on the old Went Brothers Champion Steptoe bloodlines of Bruton x Westcott they had been augmented by the addition of the Keeble - Westcotts of the late Frank Blackmore, himself a winner of the London North Road Combine from Lerwick.

Pat's lofts are set at the bottom of a fairly long garden facing west. There are three lofts. One for the small eight pair team of stock birds another 22ft x 6ft loft  for the 30 or so young birds reared each season and finally the old bird racing loft measuring 18ft x 9ft, which faces north and houses the old bird race team. The photographs that accompany this short article show the lofts clearly. I should point out that all lofts had a 6" gap along the top of the back walls so that any stale air within the lofts could escape, ensuring good airflow.

Loft set up

THE BIRDS

During my recent visit I handled some outstanding specimens including a number of sons and daughters of the foundation sire of the loft "Braveheart". They proved to be above medium sized with magnificent bold heads and wattles and this characteristic was also exhibited by the hens. Two daughters of "Braveheart" when mated to a Frank Blackmore hen were absolute crackers as was the lovely blue hen "Celtic Spirit" who came into the hand like a silken glove.

Perhaps this would be a good time to give some details of some of the individual pigeons in the O’Sullivan loft and which I featured in an earlier article on the O'Sullivan loft.

So we’ll start with the latest Lerwick Combine winner, "Celtic Spirit” mentioned above. As a young bird she was trained starting off at 12 miles, then in stages to 20 and 30 miles. After the 30 mile stage Pat would go up to the race points such as Huntingdon, Peterborough, Grantham and then on to Newark which was roughly about 102 miles. On most of these tosses the birds would come together but from Newark, it was like a proper race for them and they would all split up. At the end of the season she was entered in the North Road Championship Club race from Dunbar, at 317 miles for the first competitive race of her life. Spirit homed after 10 hours on the wing to be first bird to the loft. As a yearling she had 4 races and as a 2 year old she went to Fraserburgh, and again, she had 13 hours on the wing. At Thurso she homed on the 2nd day. Before going to Lerwick in 2010 she had 3 races including Perth which was a fast race and she then had 4 weeks rest before Lerwick. The birds were convoyed by the North Road Championship Club and there were no birds home on the day in the NRCC. Pat timed Celtic Spirit a little after 1 pm on the second day to win 1st Federation, 1st London NR Combine, 1st section 14th Open NRCC against 1,672 birds. Her bloodlines can be traced right back to the mighty “Steptoe”. Celtic Spirit has now earned her place in the O’Sullivan stock loft and at 3 years of age Pat hopes he has plenty of time to get another Lerwick winner out of her.

Celtic Spirit

Champion Steptoe

She is bred directly out of Limerick Lady who won the Combine from Lerwick and which Pat believes was his best ever pigeon. She was five times Lerwick winning 1st, 2nd, 5th and 19th Open London North Road Combine 588 miles. She only went to Thurso once and she was 2nd club and 79th open LNRC. Limerick Lady won 2 x 1st sections in the NRCC plus 1st and 2nd Federation, all from Lerwick a truly marvelous racer. She was prepared in a similar way to most of Pat’s Lerwick pigeons. This entails 3 preparatory races - 2 short ones, then on to Berwick or Perth then straight into Lerwick. All Lerwick pigeons are sent in their favoured nest condition, whether that be on eggs or youngsters but always in the individual pigeon’s most favoured nest condition. Of the 3 Berwick races Limerick Lady was entered in prior to going to Lerwick she won 1st, 2nd and 4th club so proving she was coming to the boil nicely at the precise time.
Yet another pigeon that deserves mention is “Dream Maker”. She won 1st LNR Combine Lerwick and also 1st section NRCC, 1st North London Federation and also won an RPRA award for her effort. Dream Maker is another pigeon bred from a son of Braveheart known as “Number 2 Son”, who is responsible for some outstanding pigeons for Pat. Dream Maker’s dam was bought by Ivor Ringe from Brian Siggars and Ivor loaned her to Pat who promptly paired her to Braveheart. This pairing produced some really good pigeons - one being Rocky who scored twice out of Lerwick for Pat winning 5th and 8th LNR Combine. She was then returned to Ivor Ringe for a while before returning to the O’Sullivan stock loft for a second time. She was then paired to “Number 2 Son” of Braveheart to produce “Dream Maker”.

Pat O'Sullivan with Limerick Lady


Pat has set his stall out to win Lerwick and since 1995 except 2012, when the birds were brought back home as the weather was too bad for a liberation, he has been fortunate to get a timer that’s 16 years of consistent success from one of the most difficult race points in the world of pigeon racing. No mean feat I can tell you! Through those years Pat has won the Combine from this race point on four occasions.

The 2013 race proved to be particularly successful as Pat clocked SEVEN birds to take 2nd, 7th, 8th, 11th, 13th, 14th & 15th Open LNRC.

His birds have also topped the section in the North Road Championship Club section  four times and have won 1st Federation seven times. The only blemish to this run of success was in the 2006 Lerwick race, when there were no birds into London for the first two days. On the third day, there were 3 pigeons home, Pat’s being the 3rd timed in, in the early afternoon. Unfortunately this timer was deemed to be out of race time according to the rules of the NRCC.

Angela and Pat O'Sullivan

MANAGEMENT OF THE BIRDS AND HOW THEY ARE PREPARED FOR THE LONG RACES
The old bird team, on the North Road, amounts to 24 pairs which is supplemented by a small team that is now raced on the South Road - usually 5 or 6 pairs. Thus far Pat has only dabbled on the South Road as his main aim is success from Lerwick, but having spoken to Pat on a number of occasions, I get the feeling that the allure of south road racing in the Internationals with the BICC is beginning to prove too strong a challenge.
The birds are normally paired up on St Patrick’s Day - March 17th. It is a little bit late for the first few races as in London the old bird racing season starts at the beginning of April.  Some of the early short races are missed and the O’Sullivan team is entered in the third or fourth race. Once the birds have been paired and settled in their boxes they are shut in the boxes for a few days to calm them down. After that they enjoy a completely open loft. Sputnik traps are situated on the loft front and Pat has also incorporated anti-cat flaps on each loft that are rigged up, to enable the pigeons to go in and out at any time. They are able to fly free throughout the day. Once the babies are weaned away, the old birds’ training begins. The yearlings have quite a few training tosses, maybe six or seven, generally anything up to 20 - 25 miles. The old birds will get 1 or 2 tosses, sometimes none at all before being entered in their first race at 150 - 160 miles. If they are a couple of hours behind in these early races it doesn’t really bother Pat, as they are working harder, and that brings them into form. Once the racing starts the old birds get very little training as the O’Sullivan team fly well around home. If he wants them to fly Pat puts the flag up - usually a brightly coloured plastic bag on a very long pole! This is around the time that the birds are at the 300 mile stage. Using these methods Pat can keep them flying for about 45 minutes to an hour.
Pat’s birds do very little racing as young birds. In fact he has not completed a full young bird programme for the last 10 years. The young birds are however trained thoroughly in the year of their birth. Once training commences at 8 - 12 miles the babies are kept going as far as Pat can get them - sometimes out to about 100 miles. Occasionally Pat will put them in several baskets and liberate them separately.  He also likes to split them up into 4s and 5s; this can be time consuming but the youngsters learn well from the experience. When they are yearlings they usually have about 6 training tosses prior to their first race of the season.

Anti cat flap through which birds enter and exit when on open loft

FEEDING

The birds are fed an old fashioned “traditional” mix of beans, peas, maize and tares. Most of the food is obtained direct from the farm, which is a bit cheaper than the commercial mixes on offer.  The mixture consists of 40% beans, 40% peas and then the maize and tares (very little tares) make up the remaining 20%. Pat makes up his own condition seed by purchasing lots of small seeds and mixing them all together. The birds are hopper fed during the day, and in the evening they get the condition seed as a special treat. They also get the seed mix when they come back from the races. The heavy food is given after the birds have been home some time. The race team fly well on the traditional mix, and as the longer races approach the maize content of the mixture is increased slightly.

Old birds

Peanuts are also incorporated in the pigeons’ diet and these are broken up and mixed with the seed mix that Pat mixes himself. When the babies are weaned they are fed maples for a while and are then gradually introduced to the standard mixture. When the old birds are feeding youngsters, and the birds are on the hopper, they also have little pots filled with maples in their nest boxes. Pat firmly believes that the young birds need plenty of protein to build them up while they are growing. Grit and minerals are always there for them and nothing is added to the drinking water except chopped up garlic, natural lime once a week and occasionally cider vinegar which Pat feels is beneficial for the birds. As far as medication is concerned the O’Sullivan birds are vaccinated annually and that is it nothing else is given they have to build up their own immunity. The water is changed once a day, but Pat is not too worried about that as he sometimes just tops the water up from watering cans in which the water has been left standing for a few days- the birds rarely get water straight from the tap. In the wintertime the food is changed slightly. Once the birds have got over the moult, barley is added to their feed, plus some fresh wheat. The beans and peas are also given but only a little maize. This feeding regime is continued right through the winter months until it is time to pair up. It seems to keep the pigeons on form, with not too much weight on and they are ready for pairing up. The same “winter” mix is fed even when they are on the eggs with the food being beefed up just before the eggs chip out.

2nd Open LNRC Lerwick 2013 for Pat O'Sullivan

Pat insists on strict control over the birds when he is in the loft and as such when the old birds are paired up and in their boxes, he always encourages them by repeatedly saying to them “In your box”. By tapping a cane on the loft floor the pairs soon learn to go to their boxes. This control greatly assists Pat when he is basketing the birds as he does not have to chase around the loft catching birds so everything is quiet and calm and stress free on basketing night.

With the young birds, after they are weaned away and on their perches, they are placed in the sputniks which can be closed off from the inside of the loft. They sit out in the traps for most of the day and get some sun. Once they start to fly out a platform is placed on the outside of the traps and the young birds are allowed to walk out onto this from inside the traps. During the day when they are in the loft once they are flying out, a basket is placed on this platform and Pat encourages the babies into the basket with the help of a little seed thrown in. They are soon in and out all the time and get used to the basket thus removing the “fear factor” when their training begins later in the season.

Although the O’Sullivan young bird loft has four sections which can easily accommodate 80 - 90 birds, usually only about 40 or so babies are kept so there is certainly no overcrowding here. One section is called the nursery and this houses the late breds - once weaned they can be allowed out at different times to the older young birds so that they don’t get carried away when the other birds fly out. These late breds are favoured by Pat as future stock birds as they are usually bred from the top racers each season once old bird racing is over.

When it comes time to train the young birds, the basket is placed on the platform on the outside of the sputniks and the youngsters encouraged to enter by the act of tapping a stick on the loft floor. After 3 or 4 times it is natural for them and they go straight into the basket with no problems. Less than 10 minutes and the whole of the young bird team is basketed with minimum stress.

Braveheart

Limerick Lady

Dream Maker

 

SOUTH ROAD RACING

At the present time Pat has a 8ft x 6ft section that houses the birds he has selected to race on the South Road. Not many are kept but what Pat does is select six or seven youngsters for South Road racing. He has been doing this now for 3 years and as a result has built up a small team of pigeons which hopefully in the future will lead to success on this route. Results so far are encouraging with a 58th Open BICC Tarbes, 583 miles in 2009. If Pat sets his mind on a particular South Road race point with the same single minded determination he has shown in his approach to conquering Lerwick, I feel sure that, with the pigeons he has at his disposal, allied to his undoubted skill as a fancier, it won’t be long before we see his name at the top of a result sheet from Pau, Tarbes, Perpignan or Barcelona.

Bridget's Boy, one of the Tommy Long Trophy winning team

To close this report on Pat O’Sullivan and his marvellous big hearted family of pigeons I will leave it to Pat to relate in his own words how he came by the name of his family… “When I won my first Lerwick Combine there were no birds on the day into London. I clocked the blue cock on the second day at 4.20 am after a night of heavy rain. I thought it would take a BRAVE pigeon with a big HEART to keep going under those conditions, hence his name Braveheart.”

This family trait of never giving up but relentlessly forging onwards no matter what conditions they are confronted by is so strongly bred into the birds that generation after generation have continued to demonstrate the same characteristics starting with the great Steptoe of Went Brothers. Pat O’Sullivan’s Braveheart family has won amongst other prizes 5 x 1st London North Road Combine, 6 x 1st Section NRCC Lerwick, 6 RPRA Awards and more than 20 x 1st prizes from Thurso. A terrific run of success which I’m sure will continue, given Pat’s ability as a fancier and single minded determination to succeed at the distance when applied to his courageous family of pigeons.

Pat has not enjoyed the best of health in recent years as he has been hospitalised on a number of occasions and has undergone surgery on both hands. However the success story has continued and long may it do so.

A long awaited visit thoroughly enjoyed by two Welshmen. Many thanks to Pat and Angela on the lovely meal that you treated us to on our visit. I hope we can return the favour in the near future.

In subsequent articles in this series I hope to highlight the lofts of King's Cup winner Mark Bulled as well as Essex long distance legends Dickie and Steve Pearmain of Wickford and David Hales of Hockley.

Stay tuned.

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Elimar - January 2014