Keith Mott writes about winning fanciers past and present
2008 GUERNSEY 1 CLASSIC
My assistant for the first Guernsey young bird classic was my son, Mark, and I must say I really enjoy have him riding ‘shotgun’, as he works hard, and is great company. Thanks to the few lads who stayed behind at Leatherhead, to load the 70 baskets there, this is the hardest part of any race, loading the birds on the transporter and help always seems a bit short when this job come up. Our ol’ mate, Barry Buggy of Kingston, was great help this time. Thanks mate! It was a bit surprising to find the Guernsey liberation site in such a bad state on this visit. There was graffiti sprayed on the wall, old pallets and ply board thrown around the car park, and the playing field was like a lunar landscape. The football pitches were a sea of mud and every blade of grass was gone! I was told they had a big music festival there on a rainy day recently and the beer tents and the 7,000 people who attended coursed thousands of pounds of damage to the site. I hope they get it back to its former pleasant state, as it is a nice place to visit with the pigeons. Doesn’t time fly; this was my fourteenth visit to Guernsey with the L&SECC pigeons!
For several days before the first young bird event from Guernsey, according to the early weather reports, it looked like it was going to be a holdover with rain over the Channel Islands on that Saturday, but my weatherman Steve Appleby, studied his carts and told me their could be a window in the weather for an early morning liberation. On the day Steve and I put our heads together and had an early release, too produce an excellent race against all the odds. I liberated the 2,151 birds at my earliest time ever at Guernsey and according to phone calls and emails received on my return home, late on Sunday morning the members enjoyed a very good race, with excellent returns. On our arrival at the Guernsey car park liberation site the sky had broken cloud cover and was bright and starry. I got no sleep as I knew it would be an early liberation or a hold over until Sunday and was keen to keep an eye on the weather and prepare the transporter for release. I rang my race advisor, Steve Appleby, at 06.00hrs and he gave me a favourable weather report for the English Channel and main land England, but informed me that the pending bad weather was about 40 miles west of Guernsey and coming in. I watched the weather with antisapation and with the sun braking through the 60 per cent broken cloud cover, we liberated the 2,151 birds at 06.30hrs in a brisk south / south west wind. The convoy broke into three batches and cleared Guernsey in a northerly direction in good time. After parking the transporter in the dock yard we had a full English breakfast at our regular café on the sea front and noticed it started to spit with rain at 08.00hrs, and then the Guernsey weather took a nose dive. At that time our birds were just hitting the south coast of England and were hot-foot on their way home. It was a work of art getting a liberation and good race that day from a rain soaked Guernsey, but we beat the weather and enjoyed a good young bird classic! The race was won by Chitty Brothers of Kings Langley in Hertfordshire and I need to catch up with them for an article in the near future, so this week we are going to look at a former winner of the Guernsey young bird classic.
-----------------
ALAN & GARY YOUNG OF CROYDON
1st, 2nd, 3rd. open L&SECC Guernsey (2) 2007
Alan and Gary Young had three pigeon come together from the second young bird Guernsey Classic race (2,000 birds) and produced a fantastic result by recording 1st, 2nd. and 3rd. open. The first pigeon too hand and to win the Classic was the blue chequer cock, ‘Anto’, and he had previously won 4th. open Federation (1,495 birds) Portland. His sire was bred from the T.B.O. Partnership’s champion racer, ‘Mack-One’, winner of four times 1st. Federation, when mated to, ‘Shore Bet’, also winner of four times 1st. Federation. The dam of ‘Anto’ is a M. & D. Evans hen bred down from their champion ‘Hillcroft Fantasy’. This game cock was a ‘darkness’ youngster, flying his fourth race when he won the Guernsey Classic and was sent sitting seven day old eggs. In fact he was mated to the 3rd. open Guernsey Classic winner, ‘Amelia’, which had previously won 3rd. Federation (1,495 birds) Portland, 13th. Federation (1,667 birds) Blandford. When Gary came around to my house after the event to have his birds photographed, we had a good chat about the race and he said, the three birds were in the loft together and it was just a matter of which one came to hand first would be the Classic winner. The 2nd. open blue chequer cock, ‘Danny Boy’, was bred from a Geoff Kirkland pigeon, the same one that bred the Young’s 2006 N.F.C. Chale winner, Champion ‘Louisa’, making then half brother, half sister. Gary says, it was a shame he didn’t clock ‘Danny Boy’ first from Guernsey, as it would have meant the Kirkland pigeon would have bred a National winner in 2006 and a Classic winner in 2007. Mind boggling! ‘Danny Boy’ was the Young’s first bird clocked from the first Guernsey Classic two weeks previous, to record 33rd. open and I think he must be a good contender to win the ‘Wally Dann Memorial Cup’ for best young bird of the year. This young racing machine was sent to Guernsey sitting eggs and had previously won 5th. Federation (1,696 birds) Blandford.
The weekend before the Guernsey Classic, Alan and Gary sent a team of 17 youngsters to the N.F.C. Guernsey National (5,408 birds) and recorded 5th, 7th, 11th, 23rd, 99th, 176th open, lifting 2nd Gold Ring National. The partners got two pigeons together from the National and first one on the clock to record 5th. open, was the Belgium rung blue chequer cock ‘Willy’, and he was obtained from a fancier up country named Steve Hole. This cock was raced to the perch and previously recorded 3rd Federation (1,692 birds) Blandford.
The 2007 young bird team were set up for the London & South East Classic Club and National Flying Club races and were trained off the south coast, from Bognor and Portsmouth. Gary told me that they were trained on the Winchester line for a while with the ‘foot and mouth’ ban, but once this was lifted he turned them back to the coast. They also got additional ‘four up’ tosses from 10 miles in the evenings and came home from the Federation races in batches. The youngsters were fed on ‘Gerry Plus’ and were given regular exercise around the loft. The young birds were split in to two teams because of the ‘bird flu’ seven day rule and both performed brilliantly. The youngsters were put on the ‘darkness’ system on weaning and taken off two week earlier than usual, in early June, because Alan went on holiday. They were darkened from 5pm until 8am and the sexes were kept separated for the first three races, then they were allowed to run together for the rest of the racing season, with fantastic success. In the 2007 season training started about six weeks before the first race, with short tosses then went in big jumps down to the south coast. My good friend, Bobby Besant, has been giving the partners one or two pointers with their pigeon management this season and Gary says he would like to thank him for his advice.
The old sporting saying of, ‘when it’s your day, it really is your day’, applied very strongly to Alan and Gary Young when they sent to the 2006 N.F.C. Chale young bird race and didn’t just have one pigeon come to win 1st. open, but had two come together. The first pigeon on the clock to win 1st. open National was the partners little blue pied hen, Champion ‘Louisa’, and she was bred from Geoff Kirkland and Dave Hunt bloodlines. She had four club races on her build up to her National win and the L.&S.E.C.C. race from Yelverton, when she recorded 35th. open. In my opinion, ‘Louisa’, is a perfect pigeon, small, apple bodied, wonderful feathering and eye, with a brilliant racing record to finish it off! My type of racing pigeon! The second pigeon on the clock from the Chale National was the blue chequer cock, ‘The Huntsman’, and he was a bit slow on the trap but still recorded 5th. open National. This game pigeon had previously won 54th. open L.&S.E.C.C. Exeter, a couple of weekends before.
Alan flew pigeons in the 1960s, with his son, Gary, became a pigeon partner about ten years ago and they race in the Surrey Valley Club (Surrey Federation). Alan and Gary have been racing from the present Croydon address for four years and their two section 24ft.x 6ft. racing loft has sputnik trapping. The partners race 20 cocks on the widowhood system and these are paired up on their return from the Blackpool Show in late January. The racers are fed on light mixtures and Gary told me the partners like National and Classic channel racing best. The racers rear a pair of youngsters, with the hens being taken away with the young ones at about 17 days old and the cocks are given about six 30 mile training tosses when they are repaired just before the racing season starts. Gary says his racers are a bit fat at the start of the season, but the first few inland races knock them into shape. Although firsts have been recorded in the Saturday club, Gary says, most of their best positions have been won in the National and Classic clubs, including 8th. open L.&S.E.C.C. Bergerac (450 miles). One of the premier racers at the Croydon loft is ‘The Mosaic Hen’ and she has an outstanding racing record, including 1st. open Federation (1,328 birds) from Lyndhurst.
The Young’s keep ten pairs of stock birds, which are housed in a 7ft x 5ft loft, with aviary and are mated the same time as the racers so the eggs can be floated. During the breeding season a wood shavings and sand litter is used on the stock loft floor These birds are fed a first class ‘breeding’ mixture and a lot of the stock birds have come from Gary’s good friend, Dave Hunt of Dagenham, in the east end of London. The partners told me, Dave has been a very good friend, giving them some first class stock birds and excellent advice. One of the main stock birds is the blue pied cock, Champion ‘Mack One’, which was bred and raced by the T.B.O. Partnership and he has sired several good winners, but Gary says his grand children are outstanding. This wonderful cock was champion young bird of Europe in 1999 and won 1st. Open Bosmolen Gold Ring Classic, 1st. open Amalgamation (by 30 ypm), four times 1ST. Federation and was undefeated at Federation level. What pigeon to have in your stock loft! Other bloodlines at the Croydon loft are Geoff Kirkland and M. & D. Evans. The Young’s breed 70 young birds for racing each season and Gary says he likes to go training with them at 4am., and sometimes they go down the road twice a day. Alan and Gary really enjoy young bird racing and start training about five weeks before the first race, working them up to Petersfield (45 miles). During the racing season the babies get a couple of 12 mile tosses each week and the hens race the programme, with a few cock being stopped after a few races and saved for the widowhood system. The young cocks and hens are kept in separate sections during the racing season and run together on the marking day.
When picking out new stock birds, Gary says he is only interested in good winning bloodlines and not type. He maintains that if a fancier lives in a club radius and is of good character, he should not be refused entry in a club, regardless if he is a good racer or not. The partners like to show their birds in the winter months, but only at club level and not at National events.
Well there you have it, the 2007 L.& S.E.C.C. young bird Guernsey (2) winners, Alan and Gary Young. Just to clear up a little error that appeared in a recent ‘The Racing Pigeon’ article that suggested that I convoyed the L&SECC and CSCFC pigeons to Bergerac this season. Of course this was incorrect, my ol’ mate, Tony Kane, convoyed this race in 2008. Fanciers can relay any comment on telephone number: 01372 463480.