KEITH MOTT
Writes about winning fanciers past and present
“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT.
Three Borders Federation (Blandford (2) Race).
Malik & Khan of the Esher club have become one Surrey’s premier pigeon racers partnerships, winning top honours in Federation, Combine and National every season. The Three Borders Federation sent 938 birds to Blandford (80 miles) for the second old bird race of the 2019 season and Malik & Khan won the Federation for the second week on the trot; take the first five positions both weeks. The Federation convoyer, Dom McCoy, liberated the birds at 09.00hrs in an east / north easy wind and members of the Esher & District RPC took the first ten positions on the race result. It was interesting to see that Malik & Khan’s Federation winner, ‘50034’, from the first race, recorded 3rd Federation from the second Blandford race, beaten by only a yard and must be ‘knocking on the door’ for pigeon of the year already. Brilliant pigeon racing!
The first ten in the Blandford (2) Federation result were: 1) Malik & Khan 1379: 2) Malik & Khan 1379: 3) Malik & Khan 1378: 4) Malik & Khan 1377: 5) Malik & Khan 1376: 6) Paul Arnold 1351: 7) Malik & Khan 1346: 8) Malik & Khan 1345: 9) Malik & Khan 1344: 10) Malik & Khan 1344.
Three Borders Federation (Meet the 2019 officers).
It's always great to hear of any premier worker in the sport winning a good prize with his pigeons. It's hard to excel at racing with very limited time in the loft, so I was delighted to hear that Bryan Poulton, the hard-working Secretary of the Three Borders Federation of over 30 years in office had won his favourite race from Bergerac again several times in recent seasons. He also won 1st Three Borders Federation in recent years from Seaton with 1,249 birds competing! It has been well documented in my articles what a bad race the 2014 Bergerac race was, with only four birds in the Federation and eleven in the SMT Combine being recorded in race time. It was nice to see Bryan doing well at this the longest old bird race again, recording 1st club, 3rd Federation, 9th SMT Combine (512 birds). One of Brian’s best races from Bergerac (450 miles) was in the 2013 season, winning 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th Shepperton club, 10th, 15th, 23rd, 25th Three Borders Federation, 13th, 22nd, 31st, 33rd SMT Combine. Great pigeon racing Bryan! The 2013 Bergerac winner was Bryan’s five-year-old dark pied cock, ‘70532’ and after several training races was sent to Bergerac sitting 14 day old eggs. This game cock was bred from a cross of all Bryan’s old families and his sire recorded 1st club, 5th Federation Bergerac in 2012 and flew it again in 2013. He is bred from the very best, with his dam being a Cattrysse / Dordin cross and winner of 1st section E (by over an hour), 10th open NFC Tarbes Grand National. Bryan tells me his loft houses several Bergerac winners at the present time! In the 2012 season Bryan won 5th and 13th in the Bergerac Federation result and winning the Shepperton club. He finds it very hard to find the time to race his birds properly these days, with the demands on his time running the Three Borders Federation and it’s great to see him have some good success. The Poulton pigeons are now his own inbred family and he says they have always tended to be better from the longer races. From the Continent, he maintains that his best performance was a few years ago racing from Bergerac in two clubs on the same weekend, taking the first three positions in one club and the first two in the other, all with birds clocked on the day of liberation.
Bryan was born in Hersham, near Weybridge in Surrey, and first became interested in pigeons as a 14-year-old when visiting his friend, Dave Newman, who was a pigeon fancier. Bryan's father wasn't a fancier but was very keen on greyhounds, so with Dave's help Bryan obtained pigeons from Harry Wheatcroft of Reigate and Freddie Ranaboldo of Molesey, to start himself off in the sport. He started racing his pigeons in 1954 and says he admired the performances of Freddie Ranaboldo and Charlie Maycock, who were the premier local fanciers at that time. He had his first race with young birds in 1955, flying in the Walton RPC and recorded 3rd and 4th club.
The first Poulton loft was an orange box on stilts and after some help from local fanciers, including Mark Finestone, he progressed to a 20ft loft with a large bay.
Bryan says he likes the loft to have plenty of air circulation, but it must be dry and warm. The loft houses 30 natural pairs of racers, which are paired up on 14th February. Bryan says he likes to treat them as pets and tends to over feed them. He has no stock birds, only breeding from his best racers, and has a young bird team of about 50 birds each season. His pigeons are the original Heide family bred from the Wheatcroft cock birds and the Ranaboldo hens. He thinks the original Harry Wheatcroft stock came from Rey Brothers of Scotland. In recent years, he has introduced the Dordin and Cattrysse pigeons with outstanding success. The Poulton pigeons are now his own inbred family and he says they have always tended to be better from the longer races. From the Continent, he maintains that his best performance was racing from Bergerac in two clubs on the same weekend, taking the first three positions in one club and the first two in the other, all with birds clocked on the day of liberation.
All the Poulton pigeons, old and young, are raced through to the longest race and are fed a good mixture, with beans and maize. They are also given a few peanuts and condition seed and for training all the birds are treated the same. Once they beat Bryan home, he moves them on to the next point. He likes to see a good eye with a full circle but maintains that at the end of the day, the basket, not eyesign, will tell which are the quality pigeons. He likes his pigeons sitting l4-day-old eggs for the longer races and says that through the years he had admired many fanciers, including Alf Baker, Alex Fleming and Freddie Ranaboldo, but the most consistent over many years were Trussler Brothers of West Molesey, because pigeon racing was a way of life to them and they won out of turn. Bryan maintains that you must line breed to form a successful family of pigeons, and then pair the best to the best. He says he worries about the moult but has never changed the food, apart from adding a little barley and linseed. He doesn't breed latebreds these days as he believes that youngsters should have race experience. He is very keen on deep litter on the loft floors, but this must be kept completely dry. On many occasions, he says, the ugly and mad pigeons prove to be the best racers, but he likes his birds to be tame and quiet. He believes the sport has been going downhill over the years and he thinks it's because the social side of any club has taken second place to fanciers wanting to win at all costs, rather than having the pleasure of taking part. The sport depends on the losers as there is only one winner each week. In the sport of pigeon racing, like most things in life, you will only get out of it, what you put in and if you put the effort in, you will be rewarded. Bryan told me that for people like him, giving a great deal of their time in the administration of the sport for the benefit of others would be better spent with the pigeons, but for the most part, they have to depend for success on the basis of 'anything to come, be glad of it' and I agree with him!
It had been a busy winter for the officer of the Federation in 2014 and one of the main things to come from all their good efforts, was they had purchased a transporter for the 2015 season. The membership owed a debt of gratitude to several of our Federation officers who had put in a lot of time and effort over an eight-week period, to ensure that we had first class transport for our pigeons in the 2015 racing season. In some cases, it was at personal sacrifice, uses family time to get the vehicle ready for the first race! What can I say about the hard-working Federation secretary, Bryan Poulton, and the then transport manager, Dom McCoy, that hasn’t been said before, except they have put in double overtime on the new transporter? A vote of thanks are in order to the Federation chairman, David Lebby, who has given the Federation a £12,000 interest free loan to purchase the new vehicle and to Alan Tullett of the Guildford club, who took the lads up to Hull to pick up the transporter. David Lebby has done so much good work for the Three Borders Federation over the years and is very successful racing his pigeons in the Mitcham club. The new convoyer / driver at that time was our own, Dom McCoy, who had been a premier pigeon fancier for over fifty years, and he has previously convoyed very successfully for the North Road Federation. Dom McCoy told me he had sacrificing his own racing over the seasons, after taking on the convoyer’s job and can see where he is coming from, as I was a chief convoyer for the L&SECC for nine years and did the same.
It was really great to hear the news that Dom McCoy has taken on the job of Federation convoyer again this season, after doing such an outstanding job in previous seasons. The 2019 season will also see Dominic be convoyer for the National Flying Club, so he is going to be a busy boy! Dom & Claire McCoy’s ‘Gladiator Lofts’ at Ashford have great results every year with 2010 being one of their best! As the 2010 season progressed their performances got even better and better. Dom’s young birds finished the season in fantastic style by winning 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Three Borders Federation (1,422 birds) Wincanton, 1st Three Borders Federation (836 birds) Exeter. Brilliant pigeon racing in one of the strongest Federations in the South of England! Dom and Claire had yet another great year racing in 2011 and won eleven firsts in the very strong Shepperton club, including Falaise, Messac and Bergerac, and 4th Federation Messac (857 birds), 2nd Federation, 4th SMT Combine Bergerac (450 miles), 7th, 18th Federation Taunton (1525 birds), 9th Federation Newton Abbot (885 birds). There is a bit of a story behind Dom and Claire’s Bergerac win, in the fact that they had never sent to this 450-mile race point before and they only sent one pigeon to record this brilliant performance.
The McCoy’s have a wonderful loft set up at their home in Ashford and in recent years have dedicated most of their lives racing their Van Loon, Jan Huybregts and Karel Boeckx pigeons, with outstanding success. On my visit to ‘Gladiator Lofts’ I was particularly impressed with Dom’s five compartment 40ft stock loft, which had big roomy sections and 10ft aviary attached. The breeding sections and the nest boxes were very big and well ventilated, and the inmates looked in ‘mint’ condition. The section housing the Van Loon pigeons, which were nearly all blue pigeons, was a sight to behold! I handled several of Dom’s top breeders including his champion mealy cock, ‘Gladiator Del Pierro’, which is the sire and grand sire of countless winner, and winner of 17 firsts racing himself. A fantastic pigeon! He keeps a big team of stock birds, which are paired up the week after the BHW Blackpool show weather permitting and the main part of the stock birds are his fantastic Tom Roden and Bolton & Williamson / Van Loons. The race birds are not bred from, with all the young bird race team coming from the stock loft and he mixes his own corn for the stock birds. When bringing in a new stock bird, Dom looks for a pedigree of winning bloodlines, with a good line of outstanding winning pigeons. The stock loft is cleaned regularly, and a deep litter is used on the floor. All Dom’s birds are parted at the end of September to get on with their mould and are given regular baths in the aviaries.
The race birds are housed in very smart 44ft loft, which runs down the side of the garden and Dom told me he races the old birds on the Roundabout system because it suits his life style, and the Widowhood is a terrible waste of good hens. Hen trains the old birds together, releasing the hens first followed by their mates, and by the time the cocks arrive home the hens are already locked up in their section. The sexes are kept separated mostly from Sunday until Thursday and are allowed to run together in the nest box section on Friday before going in to marking. Dom says, ‘the name of the game is keep them motivated’. The old birds are trained every day from Monday to Thursday, depending on the weather and the whole loft management is geared to sprint racing. The racers are fed on a ‘Garvo’ corn mixture and are given as much as the can eat, except on Friday when they get one early morning feed. Dom told me on my visit to Ashford, that he is mostly interested in the sprint Federation racing, but has some older pigeons in the race team, and would like to have a bash at some 500-mile racing in the future.
Dominic says his late father, Tom McCoy, was an outstanding pigeon racer in the London area for many years and his motto was no medication, plenty of training, good feeding and the best will survive and win. He says pigeon racing is a different game today and thinks the modern-day sport is all about feeding, fitness, motivation and of course good pigeons. The young bird’s race to a 10ft loft, with ETS trapping. He never sends his young birds racing if they are on their last two flights, although these days he feels to be competitive in young bird racing they should be on the ‘darkness’ system. As soon as racing is finished, he keeps the birds in the loft and feeds plenty of small seeds and butter milk in the drinkers. He never pulls flights to complete the moult and as yearlings his birds are treated with great respect and are mostly kept under 300 miles. He likes to be easy on the yearlings, so they have a good moult and bring them out again as two-year olds.
Dominic’s late father, Tom McCoy, was a good friend of the previous Three Borders Federation convoyer, Garry Essex and they raced in the ‘City Arms’ club. When I asked Dom how he started up in the sport, he told me, ‘My life with pigeons began in 1965 when my father, Tommy, was racing at the time in partnership with my uncle flying as, G. Olive & T. McCoy and they were very successful flying both north and south road. I began by cleaning out the lofts and waiting for birds to come back from training. I won my first race at the grand age of 13 years old from Dorchester (110 miles), flying at our local club the ‘City Arms’ in Hammersmith, which was a member club of the West Middlesex Federation. Later on, when I was in my teenage year’s pigeons took second place too me going out and having holidays and I never raced or kept pigeons myself after 1970, until my restart in 2005. My family, including my brothers and uncles have all raced pigeons all through the years and the McCoy family are all very heavy in to pigeons. In 2005 my wife, Claire, decided that I needed a hobby and my brother, Billy, who flies in the Richmond Flying Club as T. McCoy & Son, suggested I should get restarted with the pigeons. So, there it was settled, pigeons from that day have become my resurrected love’.
Johnny Keywood of Hersham is a great worker for the sport and was the secretary of the old Hersham Club for about fifteen years and has been the President of the Three Borders Federation for over ten seasons. John likes sprint racing and one day continental racing and maintains anything past Tarbes (550 miles) is too far. He thinks the way forward, especially in Federation racing, is for the advisor to anticipate the weather conditions for the weekend on the Friday and if there is little chance of a race on the Saturday, then to mark on the Saturday evening and race on the Sunday. He is still using a pigeon clock for timing his birds, but says he is not against the ETS as long as fanciers use their common sense and don’t create night mares for the club secretary by recording 20 or 30 birds.
Johnny Keywood must be described as one of the all-round ‘legends’ of pigeon racing the Surrey fraternity! Since entering the sport in 1947 he has been a constant worker and winner at club, Federation and Combine level. He has raced cocks on the widowhood system for many years and in recent seasons has only had a very small team of 12 cocks, which are housed in two sections in his very smart 40ft loft. The loft has open door trapping and consists of a big section for the stock birds, two sections for the young birds, and two sections with six widowhood cocks in each. The racers are generally paired up the last week in January, with the racing cocks single rearing a baby and are normally on the widowhood system by the second Federation race. John tells me his cocks are sent to the first Federation race feeding a big youngster and on their return the hen and baby are taken away, and then they are on the system. The week before the first race the cocks get about five training tosses up to Bentley (25 miles), which is the furthest the old birds ever go and once racing commences, they are only exercised around the loft for an hour twice a day. In recent seasons John has been feeding Garvo ‘Super Sprint’ mixture and says he never break the birds down. The hens are shown to the widowhood cocks from dinner time on the day of marking for Channel races and on their return from the race stay with their mate overnight on all races.
What can you say about Johnny that hasn't been said many times before through the years? He's been a brilliant fancier and worker for the sport over many years and has won everything in the Federation and Combine. John was highest prize winner in the Three Borders Federation in seasons 2000 and 2001. The Three Borders Federation President, Johnny Keywood races in very strong Spelthorne Club and enjoyed a brilliant 2011 racing season and finished it great style by winning 1st open SMT Combine (1594 birds) from the last and longest young birds’ race, flown from Yelverton (172 miles) in September. John’s latest Combine winner was a natural blue pies hen raced to the perch and both her parents were bred by John’s good friend, Jack Cornes of Walsall. One of John’s best season was in 2005 winning the Three Borders Federation four times and was premier prize winner in the Hersham club, recording eight firsts. His Federation wins were from Messac (1,071 birds), Fougeres (1,034 birds), Kingsdown (1,985 birds) and Lulworth (1,553 birds) and recorded 1st S.M.T. Combine from Messac (3,287 birds) and 3rd S.M.T. Combine Fougeres (2,988 birds). A fantastic loft performance! John’s 2005 Combine winner was his good blue chequer widowhood cock, ‘Young Jupiter’, and he has won the Three Borders Federation twice. He was bred from stock obtained from ‘Oak Villa’ lofts and ‘Galaxy’ lofts, and down from the ‘Jupiter’ line. The Keywood loft won ‘the pigeon of the year’ in the Three Borders Federation in the 2005 season with the blue chequer cock, ‘Harry’s Choice’, and he has won four times 1st club and twice 1st Federation. He was a gift pigeon from ‘Oak Villa’ lofts and won 1st Federation Kingsdown (1985 birds), plus 5th and 7th Federation in 2005. John won the Federation from Messac in the 2004 season and the winner, ‘The Diamond Cock’, a yearling blue chequer cock bred by his good friend, John Diamond, and was one of a batch of six gift youngsters sent to the Hersham loft. The Federation winner had every inland race on his build-up and took a week to come home from the first Combine race from Fougeres. However, he learnt by his mistake, winning the Federation from Messac the following weekend. ‘The Diamond Cock’ won 1st Three Borders Federation again in 2005 from Fougeres. Johnny paired up late in the 2004 season, as he had a stay in hospital early in the year and only raced nine cocks on the widowhood system. When Johnny won the Federation from Messac in 2004 he also recorded 3rd Open with a four-year-old blue chequer white flight cock recording his fifth race win. This game cock is son of John's ‘Oak Villa Champion’, winner of 18 x 1st club and 7 x 1st Federation. What a great loft of pigeons!
John has been in the sport on and off for over 60 years and it all started when his dad, who was a head gardener in Walton, took him to work to see the fantail which lived in the gardens. The lady who owned the gardens presented the young Johnny with a pair whites and he housed them in an old Rabbit hutch. On visiting the loft of local fancier, Bill Ridger, at the age of 14, he was presented with six young racing pigeons and he joined the Walton Homing Society, which at that time had a star-studded membership, including Freddie Ranaboldo and Mark Finestone. Success soon came John’s way, when a Ridger youngster won the first young bird race and recorded 1st club, 6th Federation. In later years Johnny became good friends with the late great Ayton Marshall of Seaton Sluice in the North East of England and obtained some brilliant Vandeveldes from him, which produced a lot of winners for the Keywood loft over many years. Two great, big winning pigeons in the 1970’s was the blue pied cock ‘The Marshall’ and his nest mate, ‘Barren Hen’, winner of 2nd SMT Combine Niort (3,500 birds).
That’s it for this week! Well done to Malik & Khan on yet another great Federation win! I can be contacted with any pigeon comments on telephone number: 01372 463480. See yer!
TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT (www.keithmott.com)