Gareth Watkins'
MARATHON SERIES
Part 5
LEE & KEVIN BUDDLE'S 'PIPI'
In this article I intend to highlight the performances of Lee and Kevin Buddle's great long distance racer 'Pipi', a chequer w/f cock that has now flown from the Catalan Capital of Barcelona on three occasions winning 5th & 10th Open BICC after having returned from his second trip to Spain badly injured.
The following is "Pipi's" race record in his development as a true long distance racer:-
As a young bird in 2007 he was brought along gently with just two races from Portsmouth at 101 miles.
In his yearling season he was raced from Portsmouth 101 miles, Lyndhurst 127 miles and Le Mans 221 miles where he finished at 4th Club. His final race of the yearling stage was from Tours at 260 miles.
The two year old stage of his development saw Pipi undergo the following preparatory race programme:-
Portsmouth 101 miles, 2 x EECC Val De Reuil 128 miles, plus EECC Saran 220 miles before being packed off to the NFC Tarbes race at 548 miles.
In 2010 he was raced from Bedhampton 102 miles, Westbay 179 miles, 2 x EECC Canappeville 136 miles, EECC Pithviers 190 miles, EECC Saran 220 miles, BICC Tarbes 548 miles and finally BICC Perpignan 579 miles. A pretty extensive programme that certainly didn't dampen his enthusiasm for long distance racing as in the 2011 season our lad had the following races:-
No inland preparation but straight into EECC Boves 102 miles, followed by EECC Canappeville 136 miles, 2 x EECC Pithviers 209 miles, EECC Boves 102 miles and then jumped more than 450 miles for his first attempt at BICC Barcelona 676 miles to win 3rd ES, 5th Open BICC.
The 2012 season saw him entered from Lyndhurst 127 miles, 2 x EECC Canappeville 136 miles, BICC Tours 260 miles winning 148th Open, and then into BICC Barcelona at 676 miles where he returned home injured.
Last season, 2013 his preparation was as follows:-
Lyndhurst 127 miles, 3 x EECC Pithiviers 190 miles and then off to BICC Barcelona to win 10th Open.
A pretty impressive record.
Perhaps now I should give a few details about Pipi's breeding.
The sire was bred by the late Jim Biss and had won three NFC positions from Tarbes and Bordeaux. His sire in turn was a pigeon named Navison and his dam contained the bloodlines of Legacy.
The dam of Pipi was a chequer pied which again had flown successfully from Tarbes twice and Bordeaux winning National positions with the NFC. She was bred from a son of Denney's Dark Peron when mated to the dam of the Buddle loft none other than Buddy a winner herself of 4th Open NFC Pau and dam, grand dam and great grand dam of many winners at the distance for the Buddles.
Pipi himself surprisingly, does not handle like a long distance pigeon as he is broad shouldered and wedge shaped more akin to a middle distance pigeon - but fortunately nobody told Pipi that!
Kevin and Lee with some of their trophies
THE PARTNERSHIP
Kevin and Lee have enjoyed consistent success at the distance since starting in the sport in 1996. Each and every season has seen a progressive improvement in their performances at National and International level culminating in their great win from the Pau International race in 2009 when they clocked the only two birds on the day into the U.K. winning 1st & 2nd Open BICC. The main bloodlines at the base of the present day family is made up of birds obtained in the late 90s from fanciers of the calibre of Brian Williams who gifted the partners six youngsters to start them off. To these were added some birds from J & R Wills of Frimley in Surrey along with birds from other top class long distance aces Jimmy Roy, Paul Kendal, Brian Denney and Jim Biss. The latest introductions have come from David Hales and Lee and Kevin’s good friend Mike Mitchell.
However, as mentioned above in Pipi's pedigree, the foundation of the loft, whose bloodlines run through all of the top performers, is a lovely chequer pied hen named “Buddy”. When I handled her at 12 years of age she still handled like a two year old.
The Buddle loft
THE LOFT
The lofts are situated in a compound at the rear of the family home and everything was in immaculate order. The main racing loft which faces south west has four sections. One section houses the 30 racing hens and three other sections house the team of 30 racing cocks. These latter three sections contain the up and over style nest boxes which incorporate grid floors to reduce the need for daily cleaning. A small young bird loft which is fronted by an aviary adjoins the main loft. Eight pairs of stock birds are housed in a separate loft just to the side and in front of the race loft.
Their hens in particular are nothing short of spectacular. Each and every one oozes class and handled as good as they looked. All handled similarly in so much as they were medium sized with terrific musculature, strong backs and lovely intelligent noble heads.
Both Kevin and Lee work full time and so time with the birds is extremely limited, in fact, for six months of the year during winter, they only see the birds in daylight at the weekends. Nevertheless the birds’ performances certainly don’t seem to have suffered.
The cock section
MANAGEMENT
The stock birds are mated in late January followed by the racers in February. The racers are allowed to rear a round of youngsters and are then separated and flown on the roundabout system for the duration of the old bird programme. Kevin and Lee like to get the birds into a half a dozen or so trainers out to 20 miles before racing begins and then give the long distance candidates perhaps 2 x 100 mile inland races followed by a couple of 200 mile channel races to get them in trim for their test at the distance. The final preparation for the long distance target race is a 250 mile channel race supplemented by their twice daily home exercise. The partners rarely train the birds after their initial pre season training as they simply do not have the time. During the periods of loft exercise the birds are let out and the lofts cleaned. The morning exercise lasts for around 30 minutes and the evening stint amounts to no more than 45 minutes. The birds are never forced to fly and the hens in particular rarely fly for more than 10 15 minutes, yet they can always be relied on to put in a full shift in long distance races. The race cocks are fed individually in their boxes whilst the racing hens are fed communally in a hopper on the floor. The food is always measured but never rationed as the racers always have sufficient for their needs. In the main the racers are fed Versele Laga Best All Round but in recent seasons they have also been given VL Superstar Plus to good effect. Other additions to the birds’ diet in the build up to a long distance race are sunflower hearts.
Kevin & Lee
BREEDING POLICY
Kevin and Lee have now developed a policy of only introducing top class pigeons bred from top class performers on the International stage with the BICC on a "care and share" basis i.e. lending out one of their top performance pigeons to mate with another top class performer raced by a friend and then sharing the offspring. This policy has already produced some terrific specimens and this should set up the Buddles for years to come. During the 2013 Old Bird International race programme of Pau, Agen, Barcelona, St Vincent, Marseille and Perpignan, Lee and Kevin entered 32 birds and clocked 26 birds from this gruelling 6 race programme, timing in each and every race with many birds featuring on the BICC results. The breeding policy is obviously working!
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Elimar - February 2014
