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Horses4 Courses

 

 

HORSES FOR COURSES

by Keith Mott

If you want to specialize in sprint or long distance racing, do you have go in for a certain type or strain of pigeons to do the job with success? The great thing about our sport is, one man’s meat is another man’s poison, meaning one fancier can be successful working to a method and another can be successful doing the opposite. Two great friends of mine, who I rate as two of the best pigeon racers I’ve met in my 45 years in the sport, have the complete opposite opinion on this subject. Brian Denney of Strensall is a household name in the world of long distance pigeon racing, having put up fantastic performances at the highest level from 750 miles over a long period of time. Brian has always told me, ‘good pigeon are good pigeons and he could turn a team of good short distance pigeons into a good team of long distance pigeons in four years’. Brian is immensely proud of ‘Bri Den’ 750 mile family of pigeons, which have been one of the best long distance families in Europe in recent years.

My late, great friend, Eric Cannon of Godalming, was a ‘master’ of the NFC Pau Grand National and would not ever look at a sprint pigeon. We used to meet up once a week at his home in Wormley to play snooker and talked on the phone most days, and we hardly had a conversation when he didn’t say ‘Pau National’. Eric had his base 550 mile family and when he brought in a cross it was always from a current, up to date long distance champion. There we have two legends of long distance pigeon racing with the complete opposite approach!

Back in the 1970s my brother Phil and I raced successfully with the Kirkpatrick and Kenyon pigeons, which were families noted for their premier achievements at the long distance. These were our first proper racing pigeons, obtained from the late John Winters of Kingston-upon-Thames and we recorded many firsts racing from France, but these birds also won many first from inland race points. I speak to many fanciers who tell me it’s ‘Horses for Courses’ and if you want to be successful at the long distance you must get long distance pigeons and to achieve success in sprint racing you need sprint families. This debate has gone on for years and is the same as the eyesign argument. Some fanciers believe and some definitely don’t, but there is no real proof to settle the debate either way. Our best pigeon in the 1970s was the Kirkpatrick / Kenyon dark pied cock, ‘John Boy’, and he was bred out of direct Johnny Winters stock birds, and as a young bird in 1972 he was one of our best young birds, winning several position inland including 2nd club Exmouth. This wonderful natural cock went on to win many prizes from France including: 1974: 1st club, 1st Surrey Federation, 3rd SMT Combine (6823 birds) Nantes, 1976: 1st club, 4th Surrey Federation, 12th SMT Combine (4234 birds) Niort. He was a perfect example of a pigeon bred from long distance bloodlines winning short and long distance!

 

When Betty and I moved into our house in Claygate in 1980 and formed our K. & B. Mott pigeon partnership, we had the Denys Brothers of Zulte, Belgium and Dordin of France pigeons, which were globally noted for their wonderful long distance achievements in International racing. At the start of the 1984 season, most pigeon fanciers in the British Isles were glad to see the back of 1983, with its paramyxovirus ban on channel racing, which left the racing and show programme in total disarray. Despite the ban, we enjoyed a brilliant season racing and showing. We won many major positions in races from 90 miles through to 450 miles, in the club, federation and combine, including ten times 1st club and lifting fourteen trophies. All this won with a very small racing team of eighteen birds! We were premier prize winners in the Surbiton F.C. and third highest prize winner in the London Columbarian Midweek Club (all 100 mile races), flying only half of the midweek programme. We raced our team on the natural system to our back garden 15ft x 6ft ‘Kidby’ loft. The main families kept in the 1980s were Alex Fleming of Esher, Denys Brothers of Belgium and Dordins from Ron Wasey of New Addington and Mr & Mrs John Hopwood of York. The pigeons were paired up on 14th February, as this usually meant the birds were laying their second round in time for the first federation race. Pairing on this date meant the birds were good up to 350 miles, but were normally over the top for the longest old bird race from Bergerac (455 miles). With such a small team of pigeons it was very hard to win right up to the end of the old bird programme. The Dordin pigeons from Ron Wasey and John Hopwood were brilliant racing and in the show pen from the outset, with the main one being a mealy late bred named ‘Ronnie’, which was gifted to our loft by Ron Wasey. This handsome cock won on the road and bred many good winners, including the ace racer ‘Gold Strike’, winner of the ‘Brooker Gold Cup’ and was the grand sire of a 1st open SMT Combine winner for Mrs. Annette Boyd of Tolworth. The best pigeon of the 1980s and probably my best pigeon ever was our famous Champion ‘Kenny’ and this Denys Brothers grizzle cock won 37 positions in the first six, including thirteen times 1st club, also 3rd, 5th and 9th in the Surrey Federation. This ‘once in a life time’ pigeon was eventually put to stock, breeding many winners and his daughter bred 2nd open Up North Combine for a fancier in the north-east of England. Champion ‘Kenny’ had several outstanding brothers, the best one being another grizzle named ‘Warrior’, and he won seven times 1st club, also 2nd, 3rd and 15th in the Surrey Federation. These brilliant cocks were raced on the natural system and never raced further than Plymouth (180 miles). The third brother, ‘Double Top’, won three times 1st club, including 1st club (by 75 minutes), 5th Surrey Federation, 7th open S.M.T. Combine Penzance. The reason I write this is to put over the fact that the three brothers were 100% Denys Brothers 600 mile bloodlines and won 23 firsts between them in inland races and were never sent out of the UK to compete. The 1980s were a golden decade Betty and I, winning up to ten firsts in most seasons and we were the premier prize winners in the Surbiton F.C. three years consecutively, with so called long distance families of pigeons.

I quite often have very interesting conversations with Mark and Dick Evans of Whitley Bridge, who are world famous for their wonderful racing performances and breeding of the Gaby Vandenabeele pigeons. The Vandenabeele pigeons must be rated as the best family in the UK at this time, winning everything at every level in recent seasons. In my opinion the Busschaerts were one of the best families of racing pigeon ever, winning big time over a great many years and now the Gaby Vandenabeele pigeons have replaced them. I think the Vandenabeele pigeons will be highly successful for many years to come! I was talking to Dick on the phone a couple of weeks ago and he was telling me about the success Lewis and Angela Milne of Sutton, near Doncaster have enjoyed with one of their Gaby Vandenabeele pigeons. I have always thought of the Vandenabeele pigeons being brilliant between 100 and 400 miles, but Lewis and Angela won 1st North Section, 3rd Open MNFC Bordeaux ‘Blue Riband’ National in 2013. Their section winner, ‘The 77 Cock’, was their single entry in the Bordeaux National and was bred by Mark & Dick Evans from ‘Calvin’ and ‘Cosmic Girl’, the 1st Up North Combine winner. ‘77’ and his nest brother were purchased by the Milnes at the Mr & Mrs Crossley clearance sale and were broken pigeons to the loft at Doncaster. Dick Evans tells me it is thought that their Bordeaux National performance might have set a new record, with ‘77’ recording a velocity of 1685ym flying 602 miles. This is probably the highest velocity recorded by a pigeon flying over 600 miles! My good friend, Ian French, who has been the MNFC convoyer for several seasons, liberated the 1352 Bordeaux National birds at 06.10hrs in no wind situation, but they picked some helping wind en route, with 600 mile pigeons being clock on the day. Dick Evans has told me that the Gaby Vandenabeele pigeons have been clocked at 500 miles and he has been asked many times if they will do 600 miles. This Bordeaux race has answered that question - they win at 600 miles!

Mark and Dick kindly let me have two pairs of Gaby Vandenabeele stock birds and they have really been breeding fantastic, having produced some brilliant racers, including 1st open Combine and 2nd Three Borders Federation in 2013. The key pigeon has been the blue wf hen, ‘Myrtle Exile’ and she has produced premier winners with both our two M & D Evans stock cocks. Our four Gaby Vandenabeele stock birds were all bred by Mark & Dick and ‘Myrtle Exile’ is a granddaughter of the world famous Champion ‘Golden Gaby’, winner of 1st open National Orleans (12,875 birds). What a fantastic breeding hen! ‘Myrtle Exile’ has produced, being paired to our grandson of ‘Pre-Olympic’, a cock we gifted to our great mate, Terry Haley of Watford and he has won as a young bird in the 2013 season: 14th Spelthorne open Yeovil (650 birds), flew the L&SECC Guernsey Young Bird Classic (a really bad race), was then clocked from the NFC Carentan (France) Young Bird National to record 415th open (3,330 birds) and seven days later was turned 205 miles North Road to Aycliffe to win 1st club (by 20 minutes), 1st Thames Valley Federation, 1st open North Thames NR Combine. He is now named, ‘The Watford Wizard’ and another the same way bred that we donated to the Spelthorne Breeder / Buyer and purchased by Derek Reid of Spelthorne won 3rd club Wincanton for him, beaten by two loft mates on the ETS. ‘Myrtle Exile’ and our grandson of the two ‘Myrtle Lofts’ legends, ‘Shadow’ and ‘Lord of the Rings’, ‘Myrtle Supremacy’ are our original pair of stock birds from Mark & Dick Evans and have been mate together for most of the time we have owned them and a daughter of them produced two babies in 2013 to win 1st club, 2nd Three Border Federation Taunton (1139 birds), 4th club, 13th Three Border Federation Blandford (1050 birds) and 3rd club, 12th Three Borders Federation, 12th SMT Combine Yelverton (606 birds) for Colin Crook and Andy Iddenden of Esher. Looking at my  breeding book I noticed our beautiful daughter of ‘Lord of the Rings’, ‘Myrtle Sovereign’, when mated to ‘Myrtle Supremacy’ produced  a youngster this season that made the main Belgian race in the Somerset One Loft Race for Brian Batchelor of Godalming, which is a good achievement in itself. Fantastic results in the 2013 season with only two pairs of Mark & Dick Evans / Gaby Vandenabeele stock birds!

To conclude this article, I must say that I have drawn from my own experiences and it seems different families will win at all distance on the right day, given the right conditions, but I’m sure many other fanciers would have had different experiences to prove the opposite. In over 40 years in visiting premier winning lofts and writing them up in the fancy press, I have probably handled more champion pigeons than most. In general I would definitely say that sprint and long distance pigeons have their own different type. The sprinters are the Linford Christie’s of the sport, being sorter in the body, all bulk at the front end across the chest and the long distance birds are the Sebastian Coe’s, being long cast and leaner, with bigger wings and wide flights.

There you have it, something a bit different this week! I can be contacted with any pigeon banter on telephone number: 01372 463480.

 

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

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Elimar - January 2014