“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT.

‘Show Racer World’ – Number 2.

Colin & Jean Carter of Churchdown.

The 2015 BHW Blackpool ‘Show of the Year’ was its normal outstanding success! When I heard it was great news that my ol’ friends, Colin and Jean Carter of Churchdown had won Best in Show and Best Inter Society classes. I spoke to Colin on the Monday morning and he was delighted to finish off a brilliant 2014 / 5 show season with a Best in Show at Blackpool.

Colin & Jean Carter won Best in Show for the third time at the 2015 BHW Blackpool ‘Show of the Year’, with his champion silver hen, ‘Cotswold Silver Star’. This hen was bred from Steve Wheatley and Ron McCarthy stock birds and the Blackpool show was her first time in the show pen! Colin and Jean have had very successful 2014 / 15 show season and another principal pigeon was their mosaic hen, ‘Cotswold Southern Belle’, and she won this time: 1^st Blackpool show and Best Inter Society (350 birds), BIS RPRA Southern Region Show (729 birds), BOS Stithians Show, 1^st South West Open Show and 2^nd ‘Duchy’ Open Show. What a great season! Colin told me at that time, ‘this hen, ‘Cotswold Southern Belle’, is bred from our well known and successful mosaic family, which we have established over the last seven years from a pair of mosaic pigeons from John Robilliard, and a number of mosaic pigeons loaned from Ron McCarthy. By winning Best in Show at the RPRA Southern Region Show this winter, ‘Southern Belle’, she qualified for the ‘Supreme Champion’ class at the 2015 BHW Blackpool Show, but we decided to enter her in the normal show, and she won 1^st Class 10 and Best Inter Society Classes 9 to 14 (350 birds). By making this decision we helped secure ‘Most Points’ and £100 for the Devon & Cornwall Show Racer Society.’

Jean Carter passed away on the weekend of 16th May 2015, after several months of ill health. I had several phone conversations Colin and I was aware that she had not been well since the Blackpool Show in January, but I didn’t realise how ill she was. What a nice lady Jean was! We used to meet up with her every winter at the big shows, when she would be walking around the pens looking at the birds with Colin. Colin and Jean, were fanciers who enjoy their pigeons, top or bottom of the result sheet, they always enjoy themselves! Colin’s wife, Jean, was his pigeon partner and was very active in the sport, playing a big part in the management of the birds and attends all the big shows with him. The Colin and Jean Carter pigeon partnership was one of the all-time greats on the UK Show Racer scene!

When walking around the National shows in the winter months, we quite often bump into Colin Carter and being one of the premier Show Racer fanciers in the U.K., more often than not he had pigeons on the winners table, which is great achievement as his is a small team loft, with quality and not quantity being the criteria for their pigeon regime. Colin was born in Portchester, Hampshire in 1938 and no member of his family kept pigeons only shot them for food, along with wild rabbits, and chickens for their eggs. He became a pigeon fancier at the age of 15, when he caught a couple of strays at the local abattoir, where he worked as a slaughter man. In a short time he met up with two local fanciers, George Brister and Bill Harris senior, who set him up and got him going in the sport. His first club was the Fareham & Dist. F.C., flying both south and north road and he won his first race on the north road. At the age of 18, the young Colin had to go off and do his National Service and formed the H.T. Carter pigeon partnership with his father, Harold. The Carters were founder members of the Portchester Flying Club. Colin is a very keen fisherman and spent a lot of time out on his cousin’s boat in Portsmouth harbour. Fanciers he admired and gave him advice in the early days were Norman Southwell, Russ Dowden and Colin’s idol, Vic Robinson. Colin says he can remember Vic giving his opinion on eyesign, saying, ‘it’s eye site they need not eyesign’.

Colin’s first show birds came from Cyril Lowe of Guernsey in 1965 and at that time Bill Harris was a stoker on the boats that went on regular trips to Guernsey from Portsmouth. Bill would bring show birds over from Cyril to go to the big London shows. When Colin saw these Show Racers he was hooked and when Cyril Lowe found out he gifted Colin with several pairs. At that time Colin married his wife, Jean, and started a family. In 1970 work took the Carter family to Gloucestershire, where they set up home in Churchdown and because of lack of time all the pigeons had to be sold off. Colin restarted up in the sport in 1991 with a few race birds and joined the Newent & Dist. F.C. On visiting the Old Comrades Show at the N.E.C. Birmingham that winter, Colin bumped in to Doug McClary, who he hadn’t seen for over 20 years. One thing led to another and he soon had some of the McClary Show Racers in his back garden, replacing the racing pigeons. He joined the Monmouth Show Racer Society and more show birds were introduced, mainly from Ron McCarthy, Tony Williams and the Wheatley family in the north east of England.

Some of Colin and Jean Carter’s main achievements in recent years have been: 1995: B.I.S. Louella Fancier of the Year, Reserve Champion British S.R. Federation Show: 1996: 1^st. Pairs class B.H.W. Blackpool Show (Colin’s first attempt), B.I.S. East of England Spectacular: 1997: B.I.S and B.Y.B. at the B.H.W. Blackpool Show, Best Yearling at the Old Comrades Show: 1998: Club champion of the Devon & Cornwall S.R. Society, B.O.S. and Best yearling at the Old Comrades Show: 1999: B.I.S. and B.O.S. R.P.R.A. Southern Region Show, B.I.S. and B.O.S., Best yearling at the Old Comrades Show, Club champion of the Devon & Cornwall S.R. Society, B.I.S. Pensilva Show: 2000: B.Y.B. at the Old Comrades Show, B.I.S. Pensilva Show: 2002: B.Y.B. at the Old Comrades Show, Best Show Racer National Young Bird, B.O.S. to club champion and Champion Young Bird Devon & Cornwall S.R. Society: 2003: B.I.S. and B.Y.B. at the B.H.W. Blackpool show: 2004:  B.Y.B. Plymouth Open Show, Best Show Racer R.P.R.A. Southern Region Show: 2005: B.Y.B. Royal Welsh Show, B.O.S.Y.B. South West Open Show, B.I.S. Devon & Cornwall S.R. Society Young Bird Show, B.Y.B. and Reserve Champion Young Bird in the final club show.

Some of the premier pigeons in the Gloucestershire loft are: Champion ‘Cotswold Queen’, Best in Show B.H.W. Blackpool Show 2003, 1^st. National Young Bird Show, B.Y.B. and Reserve Champion Devon & Cornwall S.R. Society Show, 1^st. R.P.R.A. Southern Region Show: Champion ‘Cotswold Gem’, Best in Show B.H.W. Blackpool Show 1997, Best Yearling Old Comrades Show: Champion ‘Cotswold Star’, Best in Show Old Comrades Show 1999, 1^st. Thame Show, B.I.S. West Country Medley: ‘Young Ron’, Winner of the fancier of the year at Louella Show, beating all breeds in 1995. B.O.S. Thame Show, 1^st. B.H.W. Blackpool Show: ‘Cotswold Lad’, B.Y.B. Old Comrades Show, B.Y.C. Royal Welsh Show, 1^st. R.P.R.A. Southern Region Show: ‘Cotswold Girl’, Best in Show East of England Show 1996. Colin has owned many champions pigeons in his time and when I asked him which was his best bird, he had a good think and finally answered, ‘my good hen ‘Cotswold Jeanie’. She was my most consistent pigeon, being shown 44 times and taking 37 cards, including twice Best in Show and six times Best Opposites Sex in Classic and National shows. She was best hen at the Edinburgh International Show and was a fantastic breeder, producing many premier show birds, including ‘Colin’s Cracker’ winner of BIS BHW Blackpool Show in 2009 for Ron McCarthy of Wales’.

Colin told me he likes to keep his family as close bred as he can and that way, he can produce the type of bird that suits his management system, produce the type he likes. The loft has 18 nest boxes and at the final show, Blackpool, the loft is normally housing 12 pairs. The birds are paired up at the end of January and he breeds a maximum of 30 youngsters for the show pen. No stock birds are kept; all the old birds have to go to the show arena and competes in about 16 shows each season. Colin maintains that if a pigeon is six years of age or older in his loft, it is something very special and likes to breed off young pigeons, and not from old stagers. All young birds are pen trained, but are naturally quite tame and any showing wild tendencies are disposed of, as it upsets the rest of the loft. The show loft has four compartments, two for cocks and two for hens, with the birds being separated at the end of July. The young and old birds are run together and get a bath once a week. The perches are scrapped every morning, the floor three times a week and no deep litter system is used in the loft. The water fountains are topped up every day and the birds are fed on farm peas and beans, with a young bird mixture added in the summer months. T.W.P. is given before the shows.  When judging, Colin likes a bird that is well balanced, silky feathering, handsome looks and good colour. He doesn’t mind what colour, but the bird must be good in colour, not ‘wishy washy’, or one of those pretty ones you sometimes see, and of course handle fit, and not short in the keel.

The late, great Ron McCarthy of Rhymney. 

I remember received the phone call, a few of years ago from my good friend, Colin Carter, to inform me that the ‘master’, Ron McCarthy, had packed up his pigeons the week previous because of one or two health problems. Ron, then 81 years old, was going to retire from the Show Racer scene a year or so previous, but was persuaded by the lads to carry on, but then decided to call it a day! His 30 bird strong Show Racer team went up to the north east of England and are now the property the Wheatley family of Middlesbrough. This really was bad news as Ron was the ‘master’ of the show pen and his wonderful record in Society and National shows must rate him as one the greatest showmen of all time in the UK! Colin told me at that time, we will still see Ron about at the main National Shows as long as he can get a lift to venue and he will still enjoy the sport as a spectator. We looked forward to seeing the ‘master’ again the following winter! After some bad health problems and a stay in hospital Ron sadly passed away in December 2019. Ron was a lovely man and the pigeon show world lost one of the ‘all time’ greats.

Ron and June McCarthy of Rhymney won Best in Show at the 2009 BHW Blackpool Show for the record fifth time with a wonderful young dark chequer Show Racer cock, now named ‘Colin’s Cracker’ and he was bred by Colin Carter of Churchdown. He was bred from a cock loaned from Ron McCarthy which is also the sire of Ron’s Champion ‘Blue Boy’ winner of BIS at the BHW Blackpool Show in 2006 and the dam of ‘Colin’s Cracker’ was Colin’s good dark hen, winner of many firsts including ‘Champion Hen’ at the Edinburgh Show, plus is dam of many winners. Ron McCarthy’s good wife, June, passed away in March of 2008 and she was greatly missed at that year’s Blackpool event, as she had never missed a show and always enjoyed Ron’s success. Ron McCarthy had one of his best Blackpool Shows ever, also winning BOS, four fists and lifting ten BHW Trophies.

On one of my ‘Many Miles with Mott’ video tours of South Wales, I visited the premier Show Racer fanciers, Ron and June McCarthy of Gwent. In later years Ron’s video went on to the ‘Keith Mott YouTube Channel’ and is the most viewed film with 688 thousand hits (October 2023). In Ron’s 60 plus years in the sport, he had won many top positions, including B.I.S. Cardiff Charity Show, B.I.S. Show of the West, B.I.S. Birmingham Mail Show, B.I.S. Midlands Show several times, B.I.S. R.P.R.A. Southern Region Show several times, B.I.S. B.H.W. Blackpool Show (a then record five times), Supreme Champion at Blackpool and Supreme Champion Young Bird Southern Classic Show. A fantastic loft performance in classic shows! Ron said, although it was many years ago, he rates his wonderful blue chequer cock, ‘Sparky’, as his best champion pigeon. He won thirty six firsts and many times Best in Show at Classic and National events, including BIS at the ‘Peoples Show’ and BIS at the ‘Show of the West’ held at Swindon. This wonderful cock was winning in the ‘golden’ era of showing in the late 1960’s, when Harry King and other Show Racer ‘superstars’ were at their best.

Ron kept about 16 pairs of Show Racers which were paired up on February 14^th and bred about 40 youngsters each season. His loft was over 60 years old, starting out as a chicken shed, and was 22ft x 8ft with a flight on the front to bath the birds and keep the loft dry. Ron told me a good loft should be comfortable for the fancier and the pigeons. He had been with pigeons all his life as his father was a fancier, and his first few pairs of birds were housed in the coal house. Ron’s best bird over the last few years is his White Mealy cock winner of two firsts at the British Homing World Blackpool Show, including Best in Show and Best Opposite Sex; at the R.P.R.A. Southern Region Show, Best in Show; at the Royal Welsh, Best in Show and first at the Monmouth Open Show, plus many other good wins for the Rhymney loft. A once in a life time pigeon! The birds were fed on farm beans and peas, mixed with maize and a pinch of Linseed each day. Ron didn’t feed anything special for the moult, as the birds got the same corn all the year round. He liked to pair grandparents to their grandchildren to produce good Show Racers. He liked a bigger pigeon for stock, with strong head and good body. Ron tried deep litter for about six months, but his wife, June, hated it and Ron wasn’t too pleased either, he always had to clean his glasses after coming out of the loft, with the dust. He told me, he enjoyed scraping the loft out every day and most of his birds were tame. Ron McCarthy was one of the very best showmen in the sport ever. A lovely man and brilliant fancier!

Jimmy Fitzpatrick of Cambuslang.

A good friend of mine in the Show Racer world is someone I admire for his skill in producing so many show champions, is Jimmy Fitzpatrick of Cambuslang, near Glasgow. ‘Wee’ Jimmy is in partnership with Roddy Fleming and they have won countless classes and trophies at every Classic show, including B.I.S. R.P. Old Comrades Show (twice), B.O.S. Old Comrades (twice), B.Y.B. Old Comrades (three times), many premier prizes at the B.H.W. Blackpool Show and three times Champion of Great Britain. Jimmy has kept show pigeons over 30 years, previously racing pigeons with his father, and 1971 won three races on the trot in the very strong local club, with over 55 members competing. At the end of the 1971 season Jimmy attended his first classic pigeon show and fell in love with the wonderful show birds he saw. He got rid of his racing pigeons and made his start in Show Racers, with a gift pair of eggs from Charlie Hanner. Later Jimmy met the ‘Master’ show man, Don Spedding of Cumbria, whom he considers to be the greatest stockman of them all!

Jim’s show team is housed in a smart six section loft at Cambuslang and the inmates enjoy an attached 24ft. aviary. The 25 pairs of Show Racers don’t fly out, but are fed in the flight, to encourage them to exercise. Jimmy told me, he let all the birds out once, to try and get them flying out and they were all alright until they went around the house roof out of sight of the loft, and they were lost. Wood chips are used as a litter on the loft floors and the loft has heaters which are used on the night before the big show. The birds are paired up at the end of January and are fed a Channel mixture of beans, peas and tares. Jimmy makes up his own seed mixture and feeds groats when rearing. This loft competes in about 40 shows in a season and Jimmy maintains he has no favourite colour, but only likes good type. The birds get a bath the day before the big show, but just prior to travelling, the birds drinking water is withheld as the partners maintains their droppings are dryer for the show pen. He likes to enter a team of about 40 pigeons in the Classic and National shows, and has judged all over the U.K. In fact the first time I ever met Jimmy, was when he was judging the Devon & Cornwall show in the West Country, with Alan Spedding of Cumbria.

One of the partner’s best pigeons in recent years is the wonderful Red cock, ‘Red Rum’, and he is off Harry Spratt of Belfast bloodlines. This cock has won countless first prizes in big shows and is a champion breeder, being the sire of Classic winners. The many quality stock birds owned by the partners are housed at the Aberdeen home of Gary Coutts and about 150 youngsters are bred each season. Jimmy is a very hard man when it comes to selecting young birds and is happy to retain just one youngster from the whole season’s production. He maintains that when competing at National level only the very best stock will do. There you have it, Jimmy Fitzpatrick of Cambuslang!

The late, great Norman Perry of Port Talbot.

I was very sad to hear of the passing of the premier Show Racer fancier, Norman Perry of Port Talbot on Saturday 9^th April 2016. He was a member of the long list of top fanciers from South Wales and through the years I and many others have given him many first at National shows. Norman Perry and his wonderful Show Racer team were ‘world class’, winning ‘Supreme Champion’ at the BHW Blackpool Show three times. He won Best in Show at the BHW Blackpool Show in 2012 and his wonderful Mosaic hen went on to be ‘Supreme Champion’, which was a wonderful performance. At the 2009 BHW Blackpool Show Norman won ‘Supreme Champion’ and when I met up with him in the Winter Gardens on Saturday morning; he told me he was very proud that he had won. I first met Norman about fifteen years ago, when I was judging at the RPRA Southern Region Show and he won Best in Show with a Mosaic Chequer hen, bred from pigeons obtained from his good friend, Ron McCarthy of Rhymney. Norman has since gone on and won BIS at the Southern Region Show (twice), BOS at the RP Old Comrades Show and the top honours of ‘Supreme Champion’ and BIS at the BHW Blackpool Show for the first time in 2005. Norman had been in the sport since he left school and had kept Show Racers for about twelve years, being a north road racer before that. He changed over codes, to showing pigeons because his job as a postman didn’t allow him the time to race his birds properly. He was very keen on the long distance racing and won Lerwick twice. He paired his 25 pairs of show birds the weekend after the BHW Blackpool Show and kept mainly the very successful Ron McCarthy bloodlines. He had nine pairs of stock birds and bred about 50 babies each season, retaining half these for the show pen. Norman’s set up was made up of three lofts, with flights and the birds were fed on a Young Bird mixture. His club was the Monmouth Show Society and he entered only club events and three National shows each season.

I can remember at the 2006 RPRA Southern Region Show, when Norman won one of the classes I was judging. I normally judge the Show Racers and that year there were four of the best show men in the Show Racer world sitting on the side lines, 3ft. away watching me handle their birds, in the form of John Robilliard, Colin Carter, Ron McCarthy and Norman Perry, winners at that time, of seven times Best in Show at the B.H.W. Blackpool Show between them. I love a challenge! Norman won the class with a wonderful red hen and Colin was second with another red, which I think I’m right in saying won B.I.S. the week previous at a society show. The BBC ‘Inside Out’ television cameras came to the BHW Blackpool Show to film me judging in 2007 and the class winner which was featured on the programme was the smashing mosaic cock, ‘The Inside Out Cock’, owned by Norman Perry. A fancier with a big presence in the Show Racer world!

Les Carter & son of Birmingham.

This week’s article is a very special one for the Show Racer fraternity and features the outstanding loft of Les Carter senior & son, Les junior, of Kingstanding, near Birmingham. Les Carter senior sadly passed away a few years ago and now Les junior manages and shows the Show Racer team with his wife, Sarah. Les Carter senior first had some tumblers at the age of eight and then graduated to racing pigeons which he raced in Hockley, near Birmingham. Due to moving house the pigeons had to go and he restarted in the early 1980’s, racing in the Pheasey Flying Club alongside some ‘household’ name, including Albert Babington. He raced the Wildersmerch and Van De Bosche pigeons and being a heavy feeder had most of his best success from France, although he won the Tamworth Federation from Hullavington in 1996. When he was racing Les liked to compete from 80 miles through to 550 miles. Les junior had a great interest in the pigeons in his teenage years and when he became 21 years old in 1998, he decided to leave his full time job within the jewellery quarter, and set up his own business with his fiancée. This new venture demanded all the hours Les junior could physically manage to get the business up and running, so could not cope with the racing of the pigeons, which included his regular job of giving the birds 60 mile training tosses down the Motorway.

When I asked Les junior how he got in to the Show Racer side of the sport he told me, ‘Well I remember in 2000 reading the British Homing World and looking at some Cornish show reports written by Sandra Williams and these featured some stunning photographs of  Show Racers, and thought that was for me. This was my new pigeon venture and needed to obtain some Show Racer breeding stock. I remember at that time the Show Racer side of the sport was not that well reported, but whilst looking at the BHW, I noticed that Kevin Hicks of Cornwall was doing very well, so I decided to contact him to obtain some Mosaics which seem to be doing all the winning at that time. The first time I contacted Kevin he came across to me as a genuine man who would do all he could to help a new comer to Show Racers. I arranged to meet him at the Midland Show Racer Society open show in 2001, where he supplied me with a lovely Mosaic cock bird, which carried terrific colour and a suitable Mosaic hen that could be mated to him’.

Les had to find a Show Racer club to compete in, so joined the Midland SR Society and the Nottingham Fancy Pigeon Club, which at that time was organized by Andy Lowe, and about a 50 miles drive from the Carters home. In the early days, Les obtained birds from good fanciers from all over the country, from Cornwall through to Scotland. He obtained a number of birds from Sandra Williams of Cornwall, who was doing well with her Reds and Mealies at that time and after speaking to Sandra, she sent the Carter’s a Red cock and Mealy hen, which was Les’ first major breakthrough. This pair provided them with their first goal, winning a class at the mighty Midland SR Society show in 2002, when everything was being dominated by the two premier show men, Les Petty and Phil Crawford. Les says the feeling of the victory was brilliant and that bird went on to win other top prizes, becoming a consistent card winner. More Show Racers were obtained and his father’s racing pigeons were gradually phased out to make room for the show team. Les junior told me, ‘I can remember at that time my dad saying what have you got these show birds for and didn’t seem interested in them, but as time went on he grew to love them and now is very competitive with them’. In 2004 the father and son partnership purchased birds from Ted Bramley, which originated from Jim Fitzpatrick of Glasgow in Scotland and then some direct from Jim himself, who they say is show man with a big heart and would do anything to help newcomers to the sport. In 2003 Les had the opportunity to meet his now good friend Colin Carter of Gloucester and he also was one of the most consistent show men at the National events every winter, and he sold him a Red cock and Mealy hen, which have proved to be a brilliant stock pair for the Birmingham loft. In 2006 Colin’s pair bred a lovely Mealy cock which has won well in good company and has proved to an exceptional breeder of several premier winners at the Midland SR Society. From 2005 onwards the two Les’ acquired some more quality stock birds from Colin and Jean Carter on several visits to their Cotswold show loft and say they are lovely people and always greet you with a warm welcome.

When I asked Les about one or two of his best Show Racers he said, ‘In 2004 we entered a fair quantity of birds in to different shows, including the Midland SR Society events, including our good Mosaic cock, ‘Hicksy’ and he was bred from Kevin Hick’s original pair. He was going in to the big open show as a two year old with some good form, having already won at the Midland’s club show and to my surprise ‘Hicksy’ had won his class his class and Best in Show from 523 birds. This champion Mosaic Show Racer won many premier prizes including six first at major shows. Well two very good performances of the 2008 season was at the National Young Bird Show held at Nottingham, with our good Mealy hen, now named ‘The Cotswold Hen, and she won her class, 1^st Section and Best in Show with over 400 birds competing. A handsome Red cock, bred by Colin Carter won his class and 1^st section at the same show in 2008. Then in December 2008 we entered the Midland SR Society open show and that same Red cock, being shown against some of the best show men in the UK today, won his class and Best in Show (573 birds), and qualified to compete for Supreme Champion of Great Britain at the BHW Blackpool Show. This wonderful young cock is now named after Colin Carter’s loft, ‘The Cotswold Cock’, and finished the 2008 season with four firsts and three times Best in Show. To date he is the best young bird we have had the privilege of owning. In my view my good friend, Colin Carter, has had an exceptional 2008 / 09 show season by breeding three big winners for other fanciers, in the form of ‘The Cotswold Hen’: Best in Show at the National Young Bird Show, ‘The Cotswold Cock’: Best in Show at the Midland SR Society open show and Champion ‘Colin’s Cracker’: Best in Show at the BHW Blackpool Show 2009 for the ‘master’ show man, Ron McCarthy of Wales’.

Until February 2008 all the show birds and stock birds were housed in Les senior’s six section loft, but some have now been moved in to a smart new 20ft x 8ft loft in Les junior’s garden. The loft has a corridor, four spacious sections and is very well ventilated along the roof and floor levels. This enables fresh air to be constantly moved around the sections. The Carter partners do have different views on management of the pigeons, including feeding, supplements and Les senior uses deep litter in his loft and Les junior likes to scrape the floor boards on a daily basis. The Carter partners have about 20 pairs of Show Racers between them and pair up two weeks after the BHW Blackpool Show each year, and breed about 60 young birds for showing. They breed mainly from the stock team, but don’t like to breed to close, with Grandsire to Granddaughter being a favourable mating and the youngsters get lots of pen training at Les senior address. They like the birds to be tame. The partner’s feeding systems differ, but both feed a heavy mixture in the form of Buckton’s ‘High Speed’ which consists of beans, peas and tares. A handful of condition seed is given now and again, and the birds get a bath twice a week during the show season. The bird’s bath is in a small flight which is on wheels and is pushed up to the open windows of the loft for the birds to get access.

Les junior told me, ‘I think the future of the British Show Racer stands in good stead for the future, with competition being very strong and over 2,000 birds aways at our number one show, the BHW Blackpool Show. There is no standard for British Show Racers and I agree with this policy, as I don’t think there is any need for one. All the top judges do a brilliant job and know what to look for in a Show Racer, and obviously there are certain aspects that should always be took in to account, including good bars, good tight chequering, good stance, strong head, well balanced in body, silky feathering and lice free. These are all common sense points! I like to see a dark eye on a Show Racer, especially a Red or Mealy pigeon. I would recommend the sport of showing pigeons to any newcomer or ex-racing fancier, as the competition is strong and the social side is brilliant. As regard to who is the top show man in sport, I think there are many good fancier in the UK, but for there vast  knowledge within the sport I would include Kevin Hicks, John Robilliard, Jim Fitzpatrick and Ron McCarthy. I admire my good friend, Colin Carter, as one of the premier Show Racer fanciers in the UK at the present time, for his energy for success at all the leading shows whether it be in Scotland or at the other end of the country in Cornwall. Colin certainly gets his birds in the thick of the best competition and enjoys great success with them. I am grateful for all the advice and support I have received from Colin and Jean Carter over the last few years’.

This article is the second of several that I’ve penned to celebrate the new 2023 Show Racer season. I hope my readers enjoy them. I can be contacted with any pigeon news of ‘banter’ on telephone number: 01372 463480 or email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT (www.keithmott.com).