“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT.

‘Show Racer World’ – Number 4.

Mike & Theresa Horner of Alton.

One of Mike and Theresa Horner’s red hens is one of my favourite Show Racers and that is reflected in how many times I have personally carded her in Classic and National shows. I first became aware of the wonderful red hen, ‘Cilla’, when she won Best in Show RPRA Southern Region Show for her owners, Mike and Theresa Horner, in 2007. The day after the Southern Region Show, Mike showed at the Southern Counties SR Society show held at Gravesend and ‘Cilla’ won Best Opposite Sex, being beaten by her half-brother, who won Best in Show. Mike and Theresa won Best Opposite Sex at the 2008 RPRA Southern Region Show with their champion red hen, ‘Cilla’. Mike tells me she has won 69 cards in premier shows, including 33 firsts and both her parents were very successful breeding reds, with her sire being obtained from Colin Carter in 2003, and her dam from Tony Williams. Champion ‘Cilla’ won: BIS RPRA Southern Region, BOS RPRA Southern Region Show, BIS Southern Counties SRS Open Show, BOS Southern Counties SRS Open Show, BIS CHASE Charity Show, BOS CHASE Charity Show, BIS Thame & Oxford Open Show, BIS South Coast Championship Show, BIS Reading ‘Gold Cup’ Show and was five times best red at the Southern Counties SRS Shows. She was bred in 2004 and no longer lay eggs, but has bred many winners, including card winners at the BHW Blackpool Show. What a fantastic hen!

I first met Mike Horner back in November 2006, when he first won Best in Show at the R.P.R.A. Southern Region Show and I was there at the High Wycombe event judging. To say he was overjoyed at his performance would be an under statement. This was his best performance ever with his Show Racers and he was over the moon! His team for the Southern Region Show were exceptionally good that year and in the light of that he fancied his chances. Mike and Theresa Horner won Best in Show (645 birds) with their four year old Mosaic show racer cock, ‘Barny’, and he has plenty of previous good form, having won in the show pen twelve times. He won Class 7. (Coloured Cock or Hen) at High Wycombe and also lifted two trophies, ‘Best Show Racer’ and ‘Best in Show’. He was a brilliant stock cock, breeding many winners including being the sire of ‘Bella’, winner of eight firsts and grand sire of ‘Misty’, winner of Supreme Champion SCSRS Show. A fantastic Show Racer cock!

Mike has been in pigeons, in one form or the other, all his life and is from a racing pigeon family, with his father and grandfathers being pigeon racers. He had racing pigeons up to the late 1970’s and flew in the Godalming & Dist. F.C. (Surrey Federation) with all the old greats of that time including, Stan Edgington, Paul Bridgewater, Alec Martin, Ron & Chris Cox and Eric Cannon. In those days he got lot of help from Pat McFadden, the secretary of the Godalming club at that time and raced the Channing of Wales family of pigeons. Years ago Mikes also kept a few Show Racers obtained from Bill Meader of London. The Horner racing loft had some good success, mostly from the longer channel races, as he flew on the natural system. He started up with the Show Racer properly on marring Theresa in 1980, with birds from Tony Williams, which were reds and mealies, and later some stock from Mr. & Mrs. Colin Carter of Churchdown. Mike’s latest champion, ‘Barny’, was bred from these original bloodlines.

He is a member of the Devon & Cornwall Show Racer Society, the Southern Counties Show Racer Society based at Gravesend and says he never missed a show for years at the Midland Show Racer Society, but it has now mover up to Birmingham and it’s to far to travel. His main show loft is a two section 18ft x 8ft structure, which houses his 32 bird show team and has a thick wood shavings litter on the floor. The few pairs of stock birds he owns are kept in a smaller loft and all are paired up in late January, producing about 30 young birds each season. Mike likes to split the show pairs up again in late May or early in June to get the moult going, ready for the show season the following winter. His nest boxes are removable and are taken out of the loft at the time of the birds being parted and replaced with ‘V’ perches, which the birds sit on through the show season. The birds are fed on a heavy racing mixture called ‘Cranleigh A1’, which he gets from Des McFadden’s ‘Pet’s Pantry’ at Cranleigh and

Mike gives them a conditioner every Sunday morning. Grit and Minerals are in front of the birds all the time. When Mike brings in a new stock bird he looks for a good type and likes a bigger bird in the hand. The birds never fly out and are given a bath at least once a week, with bath being moved from section to section every day. Mike is a busy self employed builder and hasn’t got the time for special preparation on his birds in the week leading up to a big show, but says his system has got a regular routine, which is the same week in and week out. His present day Show Racer family are bred down from the original Tony Williams / Colin Carter pigeons and has added a few blue chequers from Les Petty. Mike and Theresa travel around a lot judging at the National and Society shows every year and he says his wife is very helpful with his hobby. His favourite colours are reds and mealies and Mike told me the competition on the Show Racer scene is getting better every season and it’s getting harder and harder to win. His birds get about 15 shows in a season and Mike maintains the Welsh boys, Ron McCarthy and the late Norman Perry, were the fanciers to beat in the open National shows. Mike told me the fanciers on the Show Racer scene are a smashing bunch of lads and he really enjoys their company!

Some of Mike and Theresa’s best birds are: ‘Princess’ a red hen bred in 2000 and she  was one of the top pigeon in the Alton loft winning fourteen firsts in Society shows. Mike says this grand ol’ hen is well past showing now but has producing some outstanding young birds. ‘Blue Boy’ was a blue cock bred in 2004 and he won eight Society firsts to his credit. ‘Freddie’ a mealy cock also bred in the 2004 season and he had won six firsts in the Show Society events. Another beautiful blue cock that graced the Horner’s loft was ‘Cassius’ and he won twelve firsts in the show pen and two of them at SCSRS Shows.

Every January we all looked forward to the CHASE Charity Show and Auction, held at the Horsham YMCA Football Club and were put on by the Horsham Pigeon Club, under the leadership of Show Secretaries, Gordon and Delia Marsh and in later years, Clive Turner. Mike and Theresa Horner won BIS in the Show Racer classes several times and I can remember one of the wins with their champion red hen, ‘Cilla’, who had at that time previously won BIS at the 2007 RPRA Southern Region Show and then BOS at the 2008 RPRA show. What a fantastic hen, that went on and won everything in front of her after that!

Colin Reynolds of Gravesend.

The Show Secretary of the Southern Counties Show Racer Society, Colin Reynolds, has won Best in Show at most of the major shows and he tells me he has a good winning family of blues, which believe it or not, originally started from a pair of blue chequers! He has been Show Secretary for about ten  seasons and says he like the standard colours of blue chequer, blue, red chequer and mealy best, although he has several Mosaics in the loft. Colin keeps 20 pairs of Show Racers in his four section ‘L’ Shaped loft and pairs them up after the BHW Blackpool Show in January. The birds are fed on a high protein mixture, which includes Beans and Maple Peas. He has been keeping Show Racers since 2004, when the SCSRS was formed and says the Societies chairman, Jim Trim, was a big help in getting him going. The Reynolds loft has won Best in Show many times through the years, including BIS at the Thame Show in 2010. Colin started in the sport as a ten year old lad, when he got his stock birds by catching ‘roadies’ in old farm buildings near his home in Morpeth, in the North East of England. He has now been in the sport over 60 years and obtained his first racing pigeons in the 1950’s from Clarke Brothers who had won the Combine in long distance races. Colin moved to Gillingham in Kent, in 1971 and enjoyed racing long distance, with the Les Stevens / Fabry pigeons for many years. He raced very successfully with 16 natural pairs, but went completely over to Show Racer in 2004. Colin Reynolds, one of the sports workers and outstanding show men!

Colin Bullard of Lowestoft.

The month of November 2013 saw us make our annual drive up the M40 to High Wycombe for the RPRA Southern Region Show, which is one of the high lights of the show calendar in the South of England every winter. That year’s show held at the Hazelmere Community Centre turned out to be one of the best ever, with 596 birds entered. There was the usual auction of gift birds and the funds raised by the show and sale was donated to the RNLI and The Air Ambulance. I have been associated with the RPRA Southern Region Show since it first started all those years ago.

On the day ‘Best in Show’ was awarded to a beautiful opal hen who took every body’s eye in the pen as they walked around the hall and she was owned and shown by Colin Bullard, who travels all the way from Lowestoft on the East coast to show at High Wycombe. Colin is always the man to beat in any show he competes in and won BIS at the Southern Region Show in 2012, also with a another opal hen. He has had racing pigeons since he started at the age of 16, being very successful at club racing and has had Show Races about 30 years. His latest Southern Region BIS winner is closely related to his BIS winner at last year’s show and both are members of his mosaic family, which originate from birds obtained from George Bartle of Wretford. His opal hen is no stranger to winning, having won first at other premier shows. Colin has three small Show Racer lofts, which house about 20 pairs and these are all paired up in mid-February. He maintains the main factor in good loft design is that it is clean and dry, so his lofts are closed against rain and bad weather. He uses a sand and saw dust litter on the loft floors and the clean out is his first job every day. He has no special preparation in the days before a big show, but the birds get a bath every week.

No stock birds are kept and about 30 young birds are bred each season to show, and no Show Racers fly out. Colin has judged at all the main shows, including the BHW Blackpool Show and has won BIS East Coast Show, BIS Norwich Spectacular Show and BOS RP ‘Old Comrades’ Show. The Bullard garden is also the home of Colin’s racing pigeons and he races natural, with long distance racing in mind. He pairs the race birds the same time as the show birds and all are fed the same heavy maple pea and tic beans mixture. He really enjoys seeing the bird come in from the French race points and has won a nice few races through the years. Colin tells me he is only in pigeons for pure pleasure and only races in his local club and is not a member of any National clubs. Colin also won Best Racer at the Southern Region Show this year with handsome Dordin / Cattrysse blue pied cock too go with his BIS. Colin’s daughter, Lynn, has had her own 8ft x 6ft loft of Show Racers since she was ten years old and has been very successful through the years. She is now in her 30’s and has her own family, so time with the pigeons is hard to find, but she managed to win a class at this year’s Southern Region Show. Lynn has judged at many premier shows, including a class of Show Racers at the BHW Blackpool Show. Colin recently went in to hospital to undergo some surgery, which meant he could not lift for several. He has asked me to thank the local pigeon fanciers who helped him with his pigeons through this period, especial Phil Harrod, who cleaned his lofts out.

Well that’s our article for this week! I hope my readers have enjoyed reading about the brilliant success of these great Show Racer fanciers. I can be contacted with any pigeon ‘banter’ 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).