THREE BORDERS FED
Bergerac 2014
by Keith Mott
The Three Borders Federation held its last and longest old bird race of the 2014 season from Bergerac (450 miles) in mid July and in the words of the Federation secretary, Bryan Poulton, ‘it was probably the most disastrous race in the sixty he has been in pigeon racing’. With only four birds clocked in race time in the Federation and only eleven in the SMT Combine, everyone was pretty unhappy with the outcome of the event. There has been a lot conjecture since the race, to what coursed this disaster and many say it might have been rain and cloud cover in France. The birds were held over until the Saturday, being liberated at 06.20hrs in a West / North West wind. A good old fancier and friend of mine, Colin Mott of Molesey told me 45 years ago, if the flying ants leave their nests on a Saturday it is aways a bad race that day. The flying ants left their nests in their millions on that Saturday and every one north and south road had bad races. I took my youngsters for a 22 mile training toss that morning and they took three hours to come home, the only time they have slipped up. Talking to the Esher ‘ace’, Colin Crook, after the event and he tells me his babies took an hour to long on their training toss that day. I’m not suggesting for one moment that the millions ants flying in the sky affect our pigeons, but the atmosphere and weather conditions that trigger them to leave their nests is not conducive for good pigeon racing. I’m not personally really convinced what coursed our almost total wipe out at Bergerac, but the flying ant theory is food for thought!
Robert Winton of Aldershot won the Federation and 2nd open SMT Combine with his wonderful mealy black splash cock ‘Robbie’s Delight’ and he has flown Bergerac (445 miles) six times, scoring in the club five times. His fantastic racing record reads: 2009: 6th club Fougeres: 2010: 6th club Bergerac: 2011: 3rd club Bergerac: 2012: 1st club, 7th Federation, 20th SMT Combine Bergerac: 2013: 2nd club, 19th Federation, 27th SMT Combine Bergerac: 2014: 1st club, 1st Federation, 2nd SMT Combine Bergerac. A champion performance! Robbie tells me he bred him in 2006 from one of his old Bricoux cocks and a mealy hen, he purchased from Bryan Siggers when he packed up pigeon racing a few years ago. ‘Robbie’s Delight’ was raced on the widowhood system all the season, being paired up just before the Bergerac race and was sent in his favourite condition, sitting ten day old eggs. The 2014 season saw him fly the English Channel six times leading up to his Bergerac success!
The only four members in the Bergerac Federation result were: (Sunday Clockings) 1) Robert Winton 698: 2) Danny Allison & Amgad Ibrahim 500: (Monday Clockings) 3) Bryan Poulton 346: 4) R. Levingston 287. Well done to you all!
Robert Winton has enjoyed good racing in the very strong Guildford club in recent seasons and tells me he likes all the Federation races, but is becoming a bit of a Bergerac specialist. I don’t know if Robert was lucky or unlucky, when he recorded 2nd club, 2nd Three Borders Federation, 2nd open S.M.T. Combine Messac (241 miles) in the 2006 season, beaten by less than a yard by the Guildford ‘ace’ partnership of Mr. & Mrs. David May. If I won 2nd open Combine, I would at least expect to win the club, but this demonstrates how strong the Guildford club is! Robert’s ‘star’ pigeon was his two year old white Billy Parks Busschaert cock, ‘White Lightning”, bred by Dave Robinson of Normandy and he was raced on the widowhood system. Robert told me at the time ‘Lightning’ wasn’t the greatest trapper in the world, but was also the first birds clocked from the NFC Sennen Cove race and recorded 270th open National.
Rob races 28 cocks and 28 hens on the widowhood system and these are paired up on 1st. December. The racers rear a single youngster each and then are parted, to be repaired two weeks before the first Federation race. The Winton widowers get plenty of training to sharpen them up, including twenty chucks at 25 miles before racing and four tosses every week during racing. He likes sprint / middle distance racing best, as he hates long waits, but repairs the birds two weeks before Bergerac, to have a go at the longest old bird race. The racers are broke down for the first half of the week on the short races and are fed on a first class widowhood mixture. Rob shows the hens for ten minutes on marking night and on their return from the race they stay together all afternoon. He has two 12ft x 6ft ‘Blakes’ racing lofts, with ‘sputnik’ trapping and uses wooden floor grilles. Rob tells me, the 2014 season is his first on the ETS and he thinks it is great, wishing he had dumped the old clock years ago.
Robert has 25 pairs of stock birds, which are mainly Busschaerts from Dave Robinson and these are housed in 8ft x 6ft aviaries. The breeders are also paired on the 1st. December, with their eggs being floated under the race team and are fed a good ‘breeders’ mixture until they are split up in June, when they go on break down mixture. He breeds 100 young birds to race every year and there is no darkness system, he races them natural to the perch. Rob likes to give his youngsters a good education and starts training them at the end of May, with them flying the whole Federation programme and the National event.
The name Winton is very well known in the pigeon fraternity around the Guildford area, as Robert flew very successfully in partnership with his father, Richard Winton, since 1988. Rob started up on his own in 2004, with young birds at his own address and tells me, the competition with his dad is very hot. The partners raced the Bricoux pigeons on the natural system and one of their best seasons was in 2002, when they won 1st club, 1st Three Borders Federation Bergerac, 2nd open S.M.T. Combine Messac. Well done to Robert on his great performance in the Combine from Bergerac!
Danny Allison of the Esher club has enjoyed a brilliant 2014 old bird season, finishing in great style with 1st club, 2nd Federation, 7th SMT Combine Bergerac (453 miles). Apart from all his many other Federation positions he has won this season, he has recorded: 1st club, 1st Federation, 4th SMT Combine Falaise (740 birds), 1st club, 1st Federation, 2nd SMT Combine Messac (1,160 birds). These performances are what most fanciers just dream about!
With us both being Kingston lads, Danny Allison and I must go back well over 40 years to the late 1970s when we both raced in the Kingston & District HS, which was at that time one of the strongest clubs in the mighty Surrey Federation. Danny was born in to the pigeon racing sport with dad being a fancier and they flew in partnership for many years. They were very successful and when his dad came out of the sport, Danny took over the pigeons at a very young age. He has always raced on the natural system and has won many premier positions in the Federation and Combine through the years; the best being 1st open SMT Combine Bergerac (450 miles). In recent years he has been in partnership with Dennis Sheppard, Martin Penfold and more recently, Amgad Ibrahim, all premier fancier in the Surrey area, but a few years ago he decided to go it alone again and approached Trussler Brothers of West Molesey for some stock birds. Dick and Brian gave him 15 widowhood cocks with their mates and this generous gift by the brother is the base of Danny’s very successful team today. Danny told me that he is very grateful to Trussler Brothers, who have also given him other good stock pigeons and never charged him a penny! He calls them the ‘Godfathers’ of pigeon racing and says they are two brilliant blokes. Danny also told me they have been so generous with gift pigeons and advice, he owes much of his good success to them! I have known the late Dick Trussler and his brother, Brian, since I started up in the sport, 45 years ago, and they were one of best lofts in the south of England then and they are still one of the best today. They must have lost count of the first Federations they have won through the years and have also won 1st open L&SECC and 1st open SMT Combine. Certainly two of the best fancier ever to race in the Surrey area!
That’s our article for this week. I can be contacted with any pigeon ‘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)
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