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“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT - 24-05-24

“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT.

Three Borders Federation (Wincanton Race 2).

The Three Borders Federation had 780 birds away at Wincanton for the second old bird race of the 2024 season. The Three Borders Federation convoying team produced a cracking race when they liberated at 10.00hrs in to a south / south east wind. Kenny Wise of Isleworth clocked his game yearling blue chequer cock, ‘DE 111’, in on 1 hour 48 minutes, at 94 miles to win the Federation! Kenny had a brilliant race taking the first ten positions in the strong Isleworth club and 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 14th, 18th, 19th Federation Wincanton. Ken races on his own widowhood system, which he calls the ‘the chaos system’ and the winning cock, ‘DE 111’ won the Federation on this system. He is bred down from Ken’s Coutances National winner, Champion ‘DE 376’ and his nest sister; ‘DE 343’ was 4th Federation behind him in the Wincanton race. Ken told me the 2nd Federation winner was bred by James Parker and the 3rd Federation bird came from Peter Fox.  Great pigeon racing!

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The first ten in the Wincanton Federation result were: 1) Ken Wise 1534: 2) Ken Wise 1531: 3) Ken Wise 1529: 4) Ken Wise 15528: 5) S. Emans 1520: 6) S. Emans 1520: 7) Ken Wise 1520: 8) Ken Wise 1519: 9) Ken Wise 1518: 10) Frank & Sue Carson 1518. This was race number two of the season and at this point the Ashridge club are leading for the ‘Federation Points Trophy’ with 8 points, joint with the Mitcham & Merton club also being on 8 points.

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Ken Wise has won the Three Borders Federation many times in recent seasons, but also enjoys National and Classic racing from France. He has won in recent years; 1st open National Flying Club Coutances (Old Hen), four times 2nd open National, twice 3rd open National and four times open London & South East Classic club. One of Ken’s best seasons was probably in 2019 when recoded 1st open National Flying Club Coutances Old Hens National and 3rd open NFC Young Bird Coutances National on the same day. His National winner was his wonderful Gaby Vandenabeele blue hen, Champion ‘De 376’, and she was raced on Ken’s own widowhood system. The Coutances National was the last race of the 2019 season for the old birds and ‘De 376’ had several short races on her build up to her National win. She is a M. & D. Evans / Gaby Vandenabeele bloodlines, breed down on both sides from Mark’s Champion ‘Shadow’, one of the best breeding pigeons in the world.  What a great performance, 1st and 3rd National on the same day!

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Ken races on his own widowhood system, which he calls ‘the chaos system’ and his 32 widowhood cocks are paired up at Christmas, and rear one nest of babies before being split from their mates sitting six to eight days on their second round of eggs. They are then on the system being flown out around the loft for one hour every day and are trained two weeks before the first Federation race. They are never trained during the racing season and are raced, including the yearlings, through to Bergerac (458 miles). The cocks are never broken down, being fed twice a day on a first class widowhood mixture and the hens are never shown to the racers on marking nights, just get the nest bowl turned over. The cocks are allowed to go in the nest boxes during the week and perch on the turned over bowl. The time which the cocks get their hens for on their return from the race depends on how hard the fly is and normally this can be for a long time, as Ken is only really interested in racing from France. Although he likes Federation racing with his young birds, the old birds are mostly lined up for the National and Classic event, and repairs his widowhood cocks for the longer races.

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Ken’s loft in Isleworth is sited in the shadows of Twickenham Rugby Union Stadium. He has been in pigeon racing all his life, coming from a premier Middlesex pigeon family and Ken tells me his late father, Vic Wise, still raced successfully after moving to Wales a few years ago. The late Vic Wise raced mainly the Dordin pigeons, with great success, including 11th open NFC Nantes National (11,444 birds). He also kept a few Show Racers, as he also really enjoyed the show side of the sport. A very interesting fact was Vic raced his Show Racers and won races with them! I remember chatting with him at the RPRA Southern Region Show many years ago and he had won classes with Show Racers that had won races! Ken raced with his dad as A. Wise & Son when he was a lad and their best performance was 11th open NFC Nantes (11,444 birds) in 1982, but his pigeon story really started in 1988 when he purchased some Hermans from Mr & Mrs Basil Beebe of Horncastle and bred a family of sprint pigeons. The loft's record is outstanding and since obtaining Hermans from Basil Beebe and Bill Ward, of Ward Brothers from South Elmsall, he has won over 50 x 1sts in sprint racing from 1991 to 1996, lifting many trophies and averages in club and Federation. In 1994 Ken decided to have a go at Channel racing and, on obtaining stock from the very best long distance lofts, has never looked back. In the early days he was also very successful in the London & South East Classic Club, winning 2nd, 6th and 7th open Alencon, 19th open La Ferte Bernard, 21st open Nantes, 26th open Bordeaux, 12th open Guernsey, 32nd open Bordeaux and 27th open Nantes. In the National Flying Club he recorded: 50th open NFC Nantes (11,412 birds), 15th open NFC Vire (old hens), 50th open NFC Sartilly (10,072 birds), 82nd open NFC Sartilly, amongst many other premier positions. The Wise loft has won many times 1st Federation through the years and won the ‘Points Shield’ in the Three Borders Federation in 2016. Ken tells me his grandson, Rhoen, is very interested in the pigeons and could be the next generation of the Wise family to join the pigeon racing sport!

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Ken keeps 30 pairs of stock birds and these are housed in a separate structure, which is made with two nice spacious lofts with a 12ft aviary in between. The loft is fitted out with the German style up and over nest boxes, with trays for easy cleaning and grilled floors to keep the dreaded dust to a minimum. All the old birds, racers and stock birds are paired up at Christmas and the first round of eggs from the breeders are floated under the race team. The stock birds are fed on a good winter mixture during the rest period and are fed a Natural mixture three times a day when breeding. When bringing in a new stock bird Ken looks for outstanding performance in the parents and their family, but must also conform to the type of pigeon he likes. He likes all round families of pigeons, that win from 80 miles through to 450 miles and is not in to the eye sign method. He was persuaded into trying eye sign once and maintains it was his biggest mistake ever, with his performance going downhill rapidly. He maintains eye sign is rubbish! His method is pair good pigeons to good pigeon and let the basket sort them out. The main families kept are the Willy Thas and Busschaerts from Gerry Clements, Gaby Vandenbeele from M. & D. Evans, Ray Horton and Dave Hawkins, and the old family form Ken’s good friends, Ries and Gerard Schalkwijk of Holland.

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The Wise loft’s 100 young birds go on the ‘darkness’ system from weaning until the 21st June each season and says his birds are not in total black out when on the system, but maintains the loft is light enough to read a newspaper. The babies are trained ever day as soon as they begin to run and are still on the ‘dark’. Training is intense for the youngsters, but once they start to race, training is kept to three regular 30 mile tosses per week and they race the full young bird programme, as Ken thinks they need races to educate them for later life. His young bird feeding system has been the same for years and told me they get no more than 1¼  ounces each per day, ¼  of depurative in the morning and 1 ounce of young bird no maize mixture in the evening, with the mixture being changed to widowhood once racing starts. He treats his birds for all the normal things when necessary and once racing starts he treats on the Travipharma BV system, which he is well known for as he has been their agent for many years, and works on their stand at the BHW Blackpool Show every year.

Kenny has won five RPRA Awards in all, two being won in the 2008 season and has put up a string of major performances over a lot of years. In those three seasons he won the young bird average in the Three Borders Federation twice and was runner-up once, and 2008 season saw him win the average, plus 1st Federation twice. At that time he set new records in the Three Border Federation in 2008 and in one young bird Yeovil race won 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd open with 1,644 birds competing. Brilliant pigeon racing! The Federation winner was Ken’s handsome Willy Thas blue chequer cock, ‘DE 049’ and he was raced to the perch.  Ken told me one of his biggest thrills of the season was when he won the Federation in the longest young bird race from Yelverton (177 miles), with his good blue hen ‘DE 130’ and she won by 5ypm and was disadvantaged by flying against the wind. This game little hen was a M. & D. Evans / Vandenbeele, being a granddaughter of ‘Benneton’ and was sent to Yelverton showing to young cock. In 2008 Ken won five of the seven young bird races in the Isleworth club and was second in the other two.

Ken has had some brilliant young bird seasons in recent years. He worked very hard training his 2009 youngsters from Portsmouth and Southampton, both 50 mile plus tosses and he enjoyed a great young bird’s season, winning some brilliant positions at the back end of the season. Ken sent two big teams to the NFC Fougeres (219 miles) Young Bird National and London & South East Classic Club Guernsey (168 miles) race, both staged on the same Saturday in September. The L&SECC sent 2,157 young birds and Ken’s ETS system was working overtime and recorded: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th 5th SW Section, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 12th, 13th, 20th, 22nd, 31st, 32nd, 37th, 38th, 40th, 42nd, 58th, 59th, 69th, 74th, 84th, 87th, 88th open, 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th, 11th Gold Ring (£1,100). First bird clocked to record 1st SW Section, 4th open was Ken’s good Gaby Vandenabeele blue hen, ‘De 09’; she was bred by his good friend Ray Horton of Morpeth in Northumberland. The NFC Fougeres race was a steadier event and the Isleworth loft recorded a rake of premier positions including: 6th Section E, 7th, 17th, 43rd, 62nd, 89th, and 94th open. First bird home from the National was another Gaby Vandenabeele pigeon, this time a blue cock sent feeding a big baby. In recent seasons the Wise loft has raced the Gaby Vandenabeele pigeons obtained from Mark & Dickie Evans of Doncaster and continued to enjoy outstanding success, winning top position in the Federation National and Classic, including three times 1st open London & South East Classic Club, twice with young birds. Fantastic pigeon flying by any ones standards!

Going back a few years, I convoyed the London & South East Classic's first young bird race from Vire and it had an entry of 620 Young birds and 379 Old Hens, which I liberated at 08.30hrs into a no wind situation. A fairly good start to our 2012 young bird Classic season with the winners making 1400 ypm, but returns were a bit patchy. What a weekend! As I have always stated, all you can do as a pigeon convoyer, is produce the best race possible with the conditions you are presented with on the given weekend. The weather conditions were perfect, but were very hot on the Saturday of the Vire Classic and I think this contributed to the patchy returns on the day. Ken & Lyn Wise of Isleworth won the Vire young bird Classic and recording their third L&SECC winner in two seasons. Ken hadn’t raced many pigeons that season due to a few personal issues and his van engine blowing up. He had been without transport for a couple of months and could not train his birds, but he came back with a ‘bang’. What a brilliant performance by Lee and Joe Jackson of Bromley, winning 1st open Old Hens Classic. Two top class fancier with brilliant pigeons! This father and son partnership have a brilliant racing record over many years, winning premier positions in National and Classic racing. Ken Wise’s third L&SECC winner was a blue chequer cock paired up and driving to nest, and having his first race that year. The dam of this cock was a Mark & Dick Evans / Gaby Vandenabeele hen which had won 2nd section and 2nd ‘Gold Ring’ from the L&SECC Guernsey Young Bird Classic in the 2010 season. The Classic winner’s sire bred from the famous Mark & Dick Evans breeding pair ‘Jester’ & ‘Carrie’ and was a grandson of Champion ‘Shadow’. I was delighted to see my good friends, Ken and Lyn Wise, win the London & South East Classic Club for the third time in two seasons. A really brilliant performance!

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I was delighted to report that Ken and Lyn Wise of Isleworth had won the 2011 London & South East Classic Club Tours Classic in great style! Their winning pigeon was their yearling Gaby Vandenabeele blue chequer pied hen, ‘DE A3’, and this game celebrate hen won it all, 1st open Classic, 1st open Yearling Derby, £500 Jackpot and the ‘Brooker Gold Cup’. Brilliant pigeon racing! She was sent to Tours paired to Ken and was so keen; she fell over when she hit the landing area on the loft. Ken told me at the time she wasted a lot of time composing herself after the tumble, but still managed to get on the ETS to record her L&SECC win. ‘DE A3’ has been raced un-paired all this season, flying the Alencon Classic two weeks earlier and has been trained off the south coast, plus one north road toss from Stevenage. Her sire is Ken’s outstanding blue Gaby Vandenabeele stock cock, ‘DE 195’, which has bred several premier racers for the Isleworth loft including: ‘DE A3’ winner of 1st SW section, 1st open L&SECC Tours, her nest mate ‘DE 008’ winner of 1st SW section, 4th open L&SECC Guernsey (young bird) and ‘DE 130’ winner of 1st Three Borders Federation Yelverton (993 birds). This fantastic stock cock was bred by M. & D. Evans directly from there champion breeder, ‘Benneton’ and he in turn was bred from the very of Gaby Vandenabeele’s loft. The dam of the Tours Classic winner was ‘DE 159’, another M. & D. Evans / Vandenabeele, bred by Dave Hawkins and she is a daughter of his great breeder, ‘One So Wonderful’. Outstanding pigeons breeding outstanding pigeons! Ken has a very smart loft set at his home in Isleworth and was built by local carpenter, Mick Sutherland, to Ken’s own spec about fifteen years ago. He says the days of a closed in loft have long gone for him, as he now suffers with the dreaded pigeon fancier’s lung and now has to have an open loft, backed up by regular use of a loft coat and mask. The 32ft structure has a full length corridor, three sections for his 32 widowhood cocks and two sections for his young birds, grilled floors and self-cleaning nest boxes to keep down the dust. The loft has open door trapping, but now that Ken is fully on the ETS system, a wire door is used on race days, so the birds walk through a trap and across the pads at floor level.

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Ken & Lyn Wise won the Vire young bird Classic and recording their third London &South East Classic Club winner in two seasons. Ken hadn’t raced many pigeons that season due to a few personal issues and his van engine blowing up. He had been without transport for a couple of months and could not train his birds, but he came back with a ‘bang’. What a brilliant performance by Lee and Joe Jackson of Bromley, winning 1st open Old Hens Classic. Two top class fancier with brilliant pigeons! This father and son partnership have a brilliant racing record over many years, winning premier positions in National and Classic racing. Ken Wise’s third L&SECC winner was a blue chequer cock paired up and driving to nest, and having his first race that year. The dam of this cock was a Mark & Dick Evans / Gaby Vandenabeele hen which had won 2nd section and 2nd ‘Gold Ring’ from the L&SECC Guernsey Young Bird Classic in the 2010 season. The Classic winner’s sire bred from the famous Mark & Dick Evans breeding pair ‘Jester’ & ‘Carrie’ and was a grandson of Champion ‘Shadow’. I was delighted to see my good friends, Ken and Lyn Wise, win the London & South East Classic Club for the third time in two seasons. A really brilliant performance!

That’s our article for this week. Well done to Ken Wise on a great result from Wincanton! I can be contacted with any pigeon ‘banter’ on telephone number: 07535 484584 or email me at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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