“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT.
Three Borders Federation (Blandford).
It’s amazing that only a few weeks ago I wrote that Stuart Emans of the Mitcham & Merton club had never won the Federation from an inland race point and now he has won the Federation from Blandford, his fourth Three Borders inland winner of the 2024 season. Brilliant pigeon racing, Stuart! The Three Borders Federation held its fifth young bird race from Blandford on the last weekend in August and Dom McCoy, the Federation convoyer, liberated the birds at 009.00hrs, in to a strong East / North East wind situation. This was the first head wind the young birds have had to face this season and they cope with it really well, with returns being excellent. Members enjoyed a great steady race and Stuart Emans of the Mitcham & Merton club won 1st Federation Blandford, recording his fourth Federation winner of the season, previously winning from Okehampton and Honiton with his old birds, and Wincanton with a young bird. In spite of Stuart and his family being on holiday in Turkey the week before the race his youngsters really did come well, recording 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th Federation. Stuart’s Blandford Federation winner was a cracking looking blue chequer pied hen named ‘Jade 199’, named after Stuarts daughter and was raced to the perch. She was bred by Stuart’s good friend, Gary Young and is down from the ‘The Jan’ bloodlines of Leo Hermans. Prior to this season Stuart had only won the Federation from France and has come out this year and won four firsts in the Federation in inland races. Great pigeon racing mate!
The first ten in the Blandford Federation result were: 1) Stuart Emans 1234: 2) Stuart Emans 1233: 3) Stuart Emans 1233: 4) Stuart Emans 1233: 5) Stuart Emans 1232: 6) Stuart Emans 1231: 7) Stuart Emans 1231: 8) Stuart Emans 1230: 9) Frank & Sue Carson 1230: 10) Frank & Sue Carson 1229. This was race number sixteen of the season and at this point the Ashridge club are leading for the ‘Federation Points Trophy’ with 60 points, with the Mitcham & Merton club being R/U on 58 points. Stuart Emans is leading for the ‘Individual Points Trophy’ on 63 points.
Two weeks before the Blandford race Stuart Emans enjoyed a lovely summer holiday in Turkey with his family and grandchildren and that meant leaving the pigeons in the care of his good friend, Gary Young of Croydon. On his return from holiday, the birds had been locked up in the loft for nine days and Gary, as expected had kept them in good condition. Gary is very busy running his own business and racing his own birds, so Stuart is very grateful for him finding the time to take care of his birds so well. Before the Blandford race Stuart managed to get the young bird team in to the training basket for six tosses. The wind predicted for the upcoming Blandford race, which is a 90 miles fly to the Emans loft in Sutton was showing North East, so he adjusted his feeding towards the end of that week as he thought they would need a bit more energy, as this was going to be their toughest test yet.
A couple of days after the Blandford racing I phoned Stuart to congratulate him and he said, ‘on the morning of the race I made my usual phone call to my mate, Dave ‘Topper’ Taylor and we discussed what time we thought the birds would take. Dave predicted the birds would fly 40 to 42 miles per hour and I would want one between 11-10am and 11-15am. After I cleaned, fed and watered the old birds, then the same in the young bird loft, I was ready. With the fleur bird and whistle ready, it was time to sit and scan the sky for the race birds. Looking toward the sky and down the garden on the expected racing line, eight pigeons all racing each other appeared and descended towards my loft. At 11-09hars the first bird hit the ETS pad, with the other seven close behind. 1 had a fantastic race, sending 21 pigeons and clocking 20 all within 35 minutes and the final pigeon returning a bit later on! After a very enjoyable afternoon waiting for the birds, I had great expectations and it was time to go down to the club and get the clocks read. All the members had good returns and we eagerly awaited to see who had won. I was very pleased to take 14 positions, including the first eight in the club and a pick up on the ‘Gold Ring’ prizes. It is a big thank you to my good friend, Gary Young of Croydon, who looked after my birds so well while we were on holiday in Turkey and also for breeding ‘Jude 199’, my Blandford Federation winner. Thanks mate!’
Stuart Emans recently said his wonderful Gerald Delaney blue hen, ‘Jade 821’, has been so brilliant in the 2024 season and given him a lot of pleasure, winning 2nd Federation Okehampton, 3rd Federation Wincanton, 5th Federation Wincanton and 15th Federation Honiton. A strong contender for Federation ‘pigeon of the year’, I think Stuart! Stuart lives in Sutton and for his profession he is a fireman. He started up in the pigeon racing sport in 2008 and has won the Federation several time through the years, the highlight was winning 1st Three Borders Federation, 2nd Combine Bergerac and winning the Federation ‘Channel Averages’. Because of family and work commitments he had to pack up his pigeons for five year and restarted up in 2023 with young birds from his good friends Gary Young and Gerald Delaney. The 2024 season has seen Stuart race those yearlings with outstanding success. He pairs up in in February and races his fourteen cocks and seven hens on the roundabout system. His smart 24ft loft is set up for ETS trapping and is made up of a section for the old cocks, another for the young birds and the roundabout hens are housed in an aviary. He is not interested in fancy pedigrees or eye sign when selecting breeding pigeons and maintains the basket is the only way to find out if a pigeon is any good or not. Stuart gives his birds about ten training tosses up to 27 miles before the first race and then they get two exercise sessions every day around the loft once racing starts. Stuart’s young bird loft 12ft x 3ft, an aviary on the front and all trapping is for the ETS System. When he weans his youngsters at three weeks old, they go straight on the ‘darkness’ system. They are exercised around the loft once a day and called back in with a whistle, which has been used every time they are fed. They come off the ‘Darkness’ on the 21st June and they are fed on high Carbohydrate mixture, with Barley added.. Stuart starts training the babies as soon as they start to rang from the loft. This is while they are on the ‘Darkness’ system. His first training toss is from five miles and the youngsters are kept at this point until they come straight out of the training basket, race home and go into the loft trap. They then move up to 14 miles and then finally 27 miles. Before the first race the young birds have been in the training basket on average around 30 times. All young birds are flown to the perch and not separated as Stuart doesn’t have the time with work commitments. All the races are fed on Stuart’s own widowhood mixture, which he makes up himself and the racers are never broke down.
That’s it for this week! Well done to Stuart Emans on his fourth Federation win of the 2024 season! If you win and want a write up in this space, contact me on telephone number: 07535 484584 or email me on: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT (www.keithmott.com)