THREE BORDERS FED
by Keith Mott
A FEW THANKYOUS
I would like to start this week’s article by thanking Dave Stanway, on behalf of the Three Borders Federation committee and its membership, for all his good work convoying the Federation’s birds over recent seasons. He has done a marvellous job for the Federation and has decided to retire from the very stressful job of convoying pigeons at the end of the current racing season. Dave has been convoying pigeons for many years and started with the London North Road Federation and LNRC in 1976, and visited Thurso and Lerwick many times. Convoying and being away most weekends is not conducive for being successful with your own pigeons, but Dave says he has had his good moments. He races his 24 birds on the roundabout system and a couple of seasons ago recorded 2nd open MNFC Falaise, being beat by two yards, using a clock and rubbers. He originates from London and started racing in 1955, winning 2nd club on his first race and won 1st Federation on his third race. Great pigeon racing! He raced widowhood for many years and likes sprint / middle distance racing. Dave owns the very impressive transporter, which is fitted out with quality ventilated curtains and has a trailer to cope with extra birdage. He told me, the transporter holds 84 crates (2,100 birds) and the trailer carries an extra 1,000 birds in 40 crates. He has own the transporter for ten years and never had a problem with it in all its many trips in the UK and to France. Thanks to Dave for all his good work and we hope he enjoys his retirement!
Thanks also to Dom McCoy who has done a fantastic job of Federation transport manager again this season, after doing such an outstanding job in previous seasons. Dom & Claire McCoy’s ‘Gladiator Lofts’ at Ashford have great results every year with 2010 being one of their best! As the 2010 season progressed their performances got even better and better. Dom’s young birds finished the season in fantastic style by winning 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Three Borders Federation (1,422 birds) Wincanton, 1st Three Borders Federation (836 birds) Exeter. Brilliant pigeon racing in one of the strongest Federations in the South of England! Dom and Claire had yet another great year racing in 2011 and won eleven firsts in the very strong Shepperton club, including Falaise, Messac and Bergerac, and 4th Federation Messac (857 birds), 2nd Federation, 4th SMT Combine Bergerac (450 miles), 7th, 18th Federation Taunton (1525 birds), 9th Federation Newton Abbot (885 birds). There is a bit of a story behind Dom and Claire’s Bergerac win, in the fact that they had never sent to this 450 mile race point before and they only sent one pigeon to record this brilliant performance.
The McCoy’s have a wonderful loft set up at their home in Ashford and in recent years have dedicated most of their lives racing their Van Loon, Jan Huybregts and Karel Boeckx pigeons, with outstanding success. On my recent visit to ‘Gladiator Lofts’ I was particularly impressed with Dom’s five compartment 40ft stock loft, which had big roomy sections and 10ft aviary attached. I handled several of Dom’s top breeders including his champion mealy cock, ‘Gladiator Del Pierro’, which is the sire and grand sire of countless winner, and winner of 17 firsts racing himself. A fantastic pigeon! He keeps a big team of stock birds, which are paired up the week after the BHW Blackpool show weather permitting and the main part of the stock birds are his fantastic Tom Roden and Bolton & Williamson / Van Loons. The race birds are housed in very smart 44ft loft, which runs down the side of the garden and Dom told me he races the old birds on the Roundabout system because it suits his life style, and the Widowhood is a terrible waste of good hens. Dom says, ‘the name of the game is keep them motivated’. The old birds are trained every day from Monday to Thursday, depending on the weather and the whole loft management is geared to sprint racing.
Dominic says his late father, Tom McCoy, was an outstanding pigeon racer in the London area for many years and his motto was no medication, plenty of training, good feeding and the best will survive and win. He says pigeon racing is a different game today and thinks the modern day sport is all about feeding, fitness, motivation and of course good pigeons. When I asked Dom how he started up in the sport, he told me, ‘My life with pigeons began in 1965 when my father, Tommy, was racing at the time in partnership with my uncle flying as, G. Olive & T. McCoy and they were very successful flying both north and south road. I began by cleaning out the lofts and waiting for birds to come back from training. I won my first race at the grand age of 13 years old from Dorchester (110 miles), flying at our local club the ‘City Arms’ in Hammersmith, which was a member club of the West Middlesex Federation. Later on when I was in my teenage years pigeons took second place too me going out and having holidays and I never raced or kept pigeons myself after 1970, until my restart in 2005. My family, including my brothers and uncles have all raced pigeons all through the years and the McCoy family are all very heavy in to pigeons. In 2005 my wife, Claire, decided that I needed a hobby and my brother, Billy, who flies in the Richmond Flying Club as T. McCoy & Son, suggested I should get restarted with the pigeons. So there it was settled, Pigeons from that day have become my resurrected love’.
It has been well documented in recent months what a bad race the 2014 Bergerac race was, with only four birds in the Federation and eleven in the SMT Combine being recorded in race time. It was nice to see our hard working Federation secretary, Bryan Poulton, doing well at this the longest old bird race again this season, recording 1st club, 3rd Federation, 9th SMT Combine (512 birds). One of Brian’s best races from Bergerac (450 miles) was in the 2013 season, winning 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th Shepperton club, 10th, 15th, 23rd, 25th Three Borders Federation, 13th, 22nd, 31st, 33rd SMT Combine. Great pigeon racing Bryan! The 2013 Bergerac winner was Bryan’s five year old dark pied cock, ‘70532’ and after several training races was sent to Bergerac sitting 14 day old eggs. This game cock was bred from a cross of all Bryan’s old families and his sire recorded 1st club, 5th Federation Bergerac in 2012 and flew it again in 2013. He is bred from the very best, with his dam being a Cattrysse / Dordin cross and winner of 1st section E (by over an hour), 10th open NFC Tarbes Grand National. Bryan tells me his loft houses several Bergerac winners at the present time! In the 2012 season Bryan won 5th and 13th in the Bergerac Federation result and winning the Shepperton club. He finds it very hard to find the time to race his birds properly these days, with the demands on his time running the Three Borders Federation and it’s great to see him have some good success. The Poulton pigeons are now his own inbred family and he says they have always tended to be better from the longer races. From the Continent, he maintains that his best performance was a few years ago racing from Bergerac in two clubs on the same weekend, taking the first three positions in one club and the first two in the other, all with birds clocked on the day of liberation.
The 2008 season saw Bryan send to his first NFC race for fifteen year, when he sent a small natural team of birds to the Tarbes Grand National and recorded his good seven year old blue chequer pied hen on the day of liberation, flying 564 miles, to win 1st Section E, 10th Open. This game hen was bred from Bryan’s base families of Cattrysse and Dordin, and being sent to Tarbes sitting14 day old eggs returned in excellent condition. On her build up to the Tarbes National she had two inland races, a Messac race when she scored 4th club and had several good training tosses before going to the National. She has scored many times from France including: 2002 (as a yearling): 1st club, 2nd Three Borders Federation Bergerac, 2003: 3rd club Bergerac, 2005: 2nd club, 11th Three Borders Federation, 24th SMT Combine Poitiers, 2006: 6th club, 20th Three Borders Federation Bergerac. A wonderful hen! It's always great to hear of any premier worker in the sport winning a good prize with his pigeons. It's hard to excel at racing with very limited time in the loft, so I was delighted to hear that Bryan Poulton, the hard-working Secretary of the Three Borders Federation of 27 years in office had won his favourite race from Bergerac again in the 2014 season.
Well that’s the final round up of the Three Borders Federation 2014 racing season! Thanks to all the working for making it another good season! I can be contacted with any pigeon ‘banter’ on telephone number: 01372 463480 or email:
TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT (www.keithmott.com)
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