Keith Mott writes about winning fanciers past and present
THREE BORDERS FEDERATION NEWS
The Three Borders Federation sent a nice1837 birds to the second race of the 2009 season from Yeovil and with the convoy being liberated into a brisk north east wind it turned out a very steady event with only two game pigeons recording a velocity over 1300 ypm. Those two birds, recording 1st and 2nd Federation, were clocked at the Ewell loft of Bob and Danny Carter and these two great Esher & District RPC member have started the 2009 season as they finished the 2008 season, winning premier positions in the Federation. The 2008 season saw Bob Carter, his son Danny and silent partner, Ron Keeley win the ‘Individual Point Trophy’ in the Three Borders Federation. Some the Carter’s best performances of the 2008 season were: 1st, 2nd, 10th Federation (1,771 birds) West Bay, 1st, 10th Federation (722 birds), 11th open SMT Combine Messac, 1st Federation (1,687 birds) Wincanton, 2nd, 3rd, 10th Federation (1,118 birds) Portland, 4th Federation (1,034 birds), 7th open SMT Combine Fougeres, 5th, 14th Federation (1,199 birds) Kingsdown, 6th Federation (1,493 birds) Kingsdown, 10th, 12th, 13th Federation (1,079 birds) Kingsdown, 11th, 20th Federation (801 birds) Messac, 16th, 23rd Federation (1,257 birds) Exeter. Brilliant pigeon racing!
The 2009 Yeovil Federation winner was the two year old dark chequer Vandenabeele widowhood cock, ‘13405’ and he was bred by Dighton & Lister. This wonderful cock is proving to be a champion racer and breeder, with winning the Federation him self and breeding several good winners, including the outstanding pied cock, Danny’s Boy’, winner of 4th Federation Yelverton, 6th Federation Kingsdown and 10th Federation West Bay. Second bird on Bob and Danny’s clock from Yeovil, to record 2nd Federation was the brilliant Barry Hall blue chequer widowhood cock, ‘49339’, and he also won 2nd Three Borders Federation West Bay (1771 birds) in the 2008 season when the Carters won 1st and 2nd Federation. What a brilliant widowhood cock, winner of twice 2nd Federation, both times beaten by loft mates! Also worth a mention is their good Barry Hall blue cock, ‘Hildene Prince’, which is proving to be Fougeres (213 miles) specialist, winning 2008: 1st Esher & Dist. RPC, 4th Three Borders Federation, 7th SMT Combine Fougeres, and now in 2009: 2nd Esher & Dist. RPC Fougeres, 61st section E. NFC Fougeres. A brilliant loft of pigeons!
I have only known Bob Carter a few years, with the first time I met him being when he joined my club the Esher & Dist RPC, with his good friend, Johnny Barrett, and since then they have both set the club on fire with their outstanding performances.
The Carter partners race 20 cocks on the widowhood system and all the racers are mated up in December. Bob tells me the widowhood cocks exercise around the loft twice a day and during the racing season are broke down for the first half of the week on Depurative mixture, and then built up with Super Widowhood mixture in the second half of the week. Bob doesn’t show the hens on marking night and the racing cock only get their hen for a short time on their return from the race. The cock are not broke down for the longer race up to 450 miles, being fed on Super Widowhood all week and Bob likes the cocks to be holding 8 to 9 flights for these events. The Carter’s have about 50 young birds to race each year and have raced on the darkness system for the last two seasons, with outstanding success and great losses. Bob says, in his opinion the big losses with the babies each year is because of the Federations clashing! He trains the youngsters every day, weather permitting, up to 30 miles and races them natural to the perch, but they are allowed to pair up if they want. They race the full Federation young bird programme from 100 miles through to 180 miles. The Carter partnership race to two lofts, a 20ft x 8ft structure with a tiles apex roof for the old birds and another 20ft x 8ft shed for the young birds. The most important feature of Bob’s lofts is that they are dry and well ventilated. When I asked young Daniel if the partners like deep litter his reply was, ‘Our experience of using Deep litter is the amount of dust it creates and as my dad cleans out 365 days a year, it defeats the object of cleanliness.
Bob Carter was born in Battersea, London and obtained his first pigeons at the age of nine, and kept them with his friend, Donald Hawes. Their first birds were from Bill Patterson of Benfield Street and he sold them four pigeons for two shillings. The first was an 8ft x 10ft structure; sited in the back yard of the butcher’s shop and he raced mainly Sam Mayo’s Vandy pigeons. Bob remembers another Battersea fancier, Billy Colston, helped them get started with pigeons and their first winner, a blue cock bird was a gift from Billy. The cock was an Amule pigeon from the stock of the best local fancier in the 1980’s, ‘Scrubber’ Cook of Battersea and in those days they flew as Hawes Bros & Carter in the old Putney RPC. Bob’s uncle, Bob Taylor, was a very successful pigeon racer and years ago he flew in the Old Man’s Institute Club. Bob’s wife, Linda, is very keen on the pigeons and her father, George Atkins of Battersea, was also a very good fancier. Bringing the story up to date, Bob has two partners now in the form of his son, Daniel, and Ronnie Keeley, and they are the Three Borders Federation Individual Points Champions of 2008. Through the years Bob Carter has won the Federation countless times!
With a brisk south wind the members of the Three Borders Federation sent 1703 birds to the first Kingsdown of the 2009 season and every one enjoyed a ‘banger’ of a race, with the winners making nearly a mile, a minute. Khan Brothers of New Malden won the Federation and no one was more surprised that the brothers them selves, as the team was only sent for a training fly in preparation for the forth coming National and Classic races. The partner’s winner was a two year old Janssen blue widowhood hen and she flew the NFC Saintes race as a yearling in 2008.
Khan Brothers recorded 2nd open London & South East Classic Club from the Alencon Classic race in 2008 and although they have won the Classic, they are a bit unlucky being 2nd open on several occasions. Amin and Shabir’s latest successful classic pigeon, a blue pied cock, was bred from their premier racer ‘22’ when mated to a cock from Mark Gilbert’s Dax International winner, Champion ‘Southfield Supreme’. The brothers moved to New Malden from Kingston in 2003 and only taking a kit of young birds with them, this great performance marked the start of a new era for the Khans at their new loft. The new racing loft is 45ft long, with four sections, open door trapping and a tiled roof. There have flown on the natural system, but these days they mostly race 35 cocks and a few hens on the widowhood system, with the National and Classic races in mind. Amin told me the brother are only interested in the National and Classic races and train off the south coast three times a week, and also use the short Federation events to get the birds into shape. The racers are mated up on the old traditional date of 14th February and very few youngsters are taken off the race team to keep them fresh. The main feed for the racers is a good widowhood mixture and they are broken down for three days every week. The Khans have a team of 80 youngsters every year, with 50 of them being put on the ‘darkness’ system and are raced every weekend through to the Nationals. The other 30 are kept natural, being well trained up to 50 miles and have their first races as yearlings. The 18 pairs of stock birds are kept at the old loft in Kingston and the base family is Janssen.
I was raised in Kingston-upon-Thames and my parents house was a about a mile from the London & South East Classic Club winning loft Amin and Shabir Khan. The brothers have won premier positions in all the National and Classic clubs including the British International Championship Club and the National Flying Club. I convoyed the London & South East Classic Club pigeons to Bordeaux in 1999 and after the morning mist had lifted I liberated the 959 birds at 07.35hrs, with sunshine on the baskets. Eleven game pigeons were recorded on the day of liberation, with Amin and Shabir Khan clocking their first arrival just before 20.00hrs. Khan Brothers won 1st open L&SECC from Bordeaux in 1999 and their winner, a two year old Janssen Meuleman blue hen, was a real class act, having won major positions previously, including 1st Section, 3rd Open L&SECC Guernsey as a young bird. The hen just called, ‘22’, was a grand daughter of Herman Beverdam’s, ‘Real Deal’, and her dam was from Mike Fitzhugh of Redcar. Amin told me she was chipping off on the day of marking for the Bordeaux Classic and the lads waited for the egg to hatch before taking her off to the Sutton marking station.
Thirty years ago, when the Khan Brothers were schoolboys and I kept pigeons with my brother, Phil, at my parent’s address, they used to come around the back gate to see our birds. Amin has kept pigeons for about twenty years and Shabir joined the partnership fifteen years ago when Amin could not cope with the pigeons because of his shift work. Amin and Shabir have enjoyed some quality success in recent seasons, including 2nd and 5th Open NFC Young Bird National (7,000 birds), 1st Section, 3rd Open L&SECC Guernsey, 2nd open L&SECC La Ferte Bernard, 1st and 2nd Open SMT Combine Alencon and 1st Open L.& S.E.C.C. Bordeaux. While I was visiting their Kingston loft after their L&SECC win in 1999, the Khan Brothers, showed me their 1998 SMT Combine Alencon winner, a Janssen blue chequer cock sent on a chipping egg. His dam was a seven times winner for the lads. The main family kept the same Janssen as today and when they bring in a stock bird, it must be from a champion racer, or off the parents of a champion racer. They kept eight pairs of stock birds then and breed about 40 youngsters each season, which were raced on the natural system. The young birds were allowed to pair up for racing and their 2nd Open NFC Young Bird National winner was sent feeding a five day old youngster.
There you have it, the recent Three Borders Federation successes of Bob and Danny Carter of the Esher &Dist RPC and the brilliant Khan Brothers of New Malden! I can be contacted with any pigeon comments on telephone number: 01372 463480. See yer!
TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT.