Keith Mott
SIX OF THE BEST - SPRINT
Last week we had ‘SIX OF THE BEST’ long distance and as promised, this week I’ve dug out six champion sprint pigeons! Needless to say, I’m not for one minute saying they are the greatest pigeons in the world, but six of the best that I’ve come across in my 35 years as a pigeon scribe. Just a bit of fun! Looking through my archive this week, I’ve seen some brilliant Young Birds, including Tony Dann’s hen that won the Surrey Federation three times as a young bird and Mike Staddon’s double combine winning youngster ‘Perrott 89’. Next time maybe we will have a ‘SIX OF THE BEST’ young birds! Now let’s have a look at my sprinter six of the best in detail:
CH. ‘FILMSTAR’ – Frank & Ann Tasker of Wainfleet.
When Frank Tasker speaks about his Champion ‘Filmstar’, you can hear the pride in his voice, and quite rightly too, as he owned the ultimate in a racing pigeon. ‘Filmstar’ was wonderful to look at and handle, and he was also a champion breeder. He was bred from the very best Mencke Haelterman bloodlines, and his sire, ‘Blue Telstar’ being obtained via Claude Hetru of Lomme, France. ‘Blue Telstar’ was a direct son of ‘Eole’, the champion of the champions; being the winner of 1st. open National Royan and 1st. open National Poitiers. The dam of ‘Filmstar’ was ‘Jonge Whitenose’, bred by Frank and Ann Tasker and they said she was one of the best breeding hens they ever owned. Her sire is the base of their entire loft, the champion breeder, ‘Blue Eole’, and he was a full brother to Champion ‘Eole’, winner of twice 1st. open National. A wonderful family of pigeons!
Champion ‘Filmstar’ won 26 times 1st. prize, 12 times 1st. open Federation and in 1986 was the R.P.R.A. Sprint Champion of Great Britain. He also won two R.P.R.A. Awards and 7th. World Champion Versela Laga. Frank says, he was the base of his present loft and his children have bred at least 50 times 1st. open Federation winners. He is grandsire and great grandsire of ten 1st. open National and Classic winners including, ‘Starlett’, 1st. open N.F.C. Pontorson for Ced and Clive Allwright, ‘Digit’, 1st. open M.N.F.C. Nantes for Dave Sharratt, 1st. open C.S.C.F.C. Rennes for Tony Hayne, 1st. open C.S.C.F.C. Bergerac for Staddon Brothers, 1st. open Up North Combine Abbeville for Les Thurlow, two champion racers for G. White & son and of course 1st. open North Road Championship Club Berwick National in 2000 for Frank and Ann Tasker. Champion ‘Filmstar’, a once in a lifetime pigeon!
CH. ‘WHITE BEAK’ - C. H. Besant & sons of New Malden.
The Besant loft has won 1st. open National Flying Club twice; the first time in 1979 from Guernsey with their champion young bird, ‘Stafford All Alone’ and this game Krauth blue cock beat 9,353 birds, and won the Young Bird National by five clear minutes. Champion ‘Stafford All Alone’ was a full brother to the widowhood blue cock Champion ‘White Beak’, winner of 14 times first prize, beaten by loft mates for a further six firsts, and both these Krauth cocks went to Louella Pigeon World. “White beak” was once said to one of the most outstanding Krauths in Europe, winning 68 prizes from 87 miles through to 555 miles. He was also said to be one of the most versatile Krauths at that time, winning from Blandford, and then going on to record 150th. open (6,066 birds) N.F.C. Pau (555 miles). The two brothers were bred from the stock pair, ‘Duke’ and ‘Duchess’, both direct Martin Krauth imports. I have known the Besant family for well over 30 years, and in that time I have seen them win every major award there is to win in pigeon racing. The brothers, Ken, Bobby and Ron, have won at Club, Open, Federation, Combine and National level and theirs must be rated as one of the all time great lofts in the United Kingdom. When I first met Bobby and Ken in 1970, their dad, Cecil, had just passed away and the boys were about to take over the very successful C. H. Besant & sons pigeons. Although I never met Cecil, I had always admired his fantastic performances in the Surrey Federation. The boys carried this great fancier’s name on in pigeon racing history to an even higher degree.
CH. ‘EURO BIRD’ - Fred Elliott of Thorpe.
Champion 'Euro Bird' and his nestmate 'On A Promise' must be the dream brothers as both these two Widowhood cocks have won the Federation twice. The nest pair were bred by Mervyn Patt of North Devon from Corbett / Sarah's Busschaerts and their grandsire was the champion cock 'Sheer Class'. 'Euro Bird' won 1st. open S.M.T. Combine Rennes and also proved to be a chamion at stock, being the sire of several good racers including, Champion ‘Euro Lad’ and the pied cock 'Oly' winner of 2nd Three Borders Fed Le Mans and 2nd Three Borders Fed Blandford (beaten by loftmate).
Fred Elliott has been one of the premier pigeon racers in the south of England for many year, with the highlight of his brilliant racing career being in 1994 when he won 1st. open N.F.C. Nantes. His National winner was his Busschaert windhood cock, Champion ‘Euro Lad’ and when I say champion, this cock was a champion in the truest sence of the word. His sire was Fred’s dark pied cock, ‘Euro Bird’, winner of 1st. open S.M.T. Combine Rennes. Champion ‘Euro Lad’s’ full racing performance was: 1994: 1st. Section, 1st. open N.F.C. Nantes (11,400 birds) plus the car, 1993: 1st. Section, 7th. open N.F.C. Nantes (12,027 birds), 1st. Three Borders Federation Le Mans, 19th. open L.& S.E.C.C. Le Mans (1,885 birds), 9th. open L.& S.E.C.C. Tours (1,090 birds). A fantastic pigeon!
CH. ‘KENNY’ – Keith & Betty Mott of Claygate.
Dare I put one of my own pigeons in my sprint ‘SIX OF THE BEST’. Well he was a bit special! My best pigeon of the 1980’s and probably my best of all time 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 very strong Surrey Federation. This ‘once in a life time’ pigeon was eventually put to stock, breeding many winners and his daughter bred a pigeon to win 2nd. open Up North Combine for a fancier in the north east of England. His grand dam was the champion stock hen, ‘Little Mo’, bred in 1972, by the Denys family in Belgium and I purchased this great hen off the late Alec Martin of Worpledon. The ‘Little Mo’ Grizzle bloodline produced a density of premier racers, including Geoff Snelling’s Amalgamation winner in the 1970’s. Geoff's 1st Open Amalgamation winning pigeon was his yearling red grizzle cock called 'Magri' which won the Amalgamation by 31 y.p.m., earning him an RPRA Southern Region Award. 'Magri's' sire, a Denys Brothers grizzle, was bred by Bernard Miles from the two champion stock pigeons 'Grey Flight II' and 'Little Mo', both from Denys Brothers in Belgium.
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). A 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 1980’s were a golden decade for our loft at Claygate, winning up to ten firsts in most seasons and were the premier prize winners in the Surbiton F.C. three years consecutively.
CH. ‘TOM THUMB’ - Vic Shaw of North London.
Back in the late 1990’s, Doug Went took me on a video tour of his home turf of North London and we had the pleasure of visiting several premier lofts including Vic Shaw. At the time I visited Vic, he owned probably one of the best pigeons in London, in the form of Champion 'Tom Thumb', a blue chequer Janssen widowhood cock. Prior to my visit to Vic's loft I had heard so much about this little rocket, which had won 9 times 1sts club, 6 times 1sts. open Federation and 1st Open London NR Combine Berwick (8,000 birds). 'Tom Thumb' liked races up to 250 miles and was bred from Janssen pigeons obtained from Len Hopton of Wolverhampton. A fantastic champion!
Vic raced with his father as a teenager and started on his own over 20 years ago. He has won 1st Open London NR Combine three times, 2nd Open twice and says his best performance was when his great hen, 'Boadicea', was the only bird on the day in the London NR Combine from 500 miles. This wonderful blue chequer Janssen hen was raced on the natural system and was bred from a long line of distance winners. Vic liked races over 200 miles and had won 1st. open Federation over 35 times.
‘MELODY’ - John Furness of Knaphill
The last pigeon in my sprint ‘SIX OF THE BEST’ is a hen, which in this day and age, it’s very rare to have an outstanding sprinting female. My good mate, Mick Worsfold, took me to John's Knaphill home for the loft visit and as always, it rained. The Furness loft housed three main families, Hansenne, Kirkpatrick and Burghers, with the Hansenne pigeons being best for long distances and hard days. The first pigeon John handed me to inspect was his great Burghers blue chequer pied hen 'Melody', winner of: 1976 -1st club Weymouth, 2nd club Exeter, 3rd club Plymouth, 1st club, 8th Federation, 11 th Combine Wadebridge; 1977 - 2nd club Weymouth, 1st club Exeter, 1st club, 3rd Federation, 41st Combine Laval, 5th club Angers, 1st club Weymouth; 1978 - 2nd club Vire, 3rd club Laval, 2nd club Exeter, 1st club Exeter, 1st club Weymouth, 5th club Bergerac and she bred winners. 'Melody' was a wonderful hen, handling medium appled bodied and was a grand-daughter of John's champion Burghers stock hen 'Bernadette'. The stock hen was bred by Bernard Burghers and was the dam of fourteen 1st prize winners, including 1st and 2nd Combine and five Federation winners.
In my time as a racing pigeon writer I have visited many lofts which are based on eyesign, but I think the late Johnny Furness' loft must take the cake. I have never seen so many good eyed pigeons in one loft and this had been achieved by many years study of the subject. He paired up on eyesign and said it's a method of getting the best out of your birds in the shortest time. The Furness pigeons won the Federation countless times.
Continental racing farce!
After my recent article on going North Road in the 2007 season, I received a load of phone calls from fancier who are sick of the way DEFRA are treating us with our racing from the Continent and the ‘bird flu’ problem. They were all very interested in starting a North Road club in Claygate, but that needs a lot of thought and sorting out. Several of us have been invited to join a club in Middlesex, about ten miles from me and race through to Thurso (520 miles) with the Thames Valley Federation. If I do go North Road after Christmas, I will be also joining the N.R.C.C. Believe me when I say, there is nothing as great as racing from Pau and all those 550 mile plus race points in the South of France and Spain, but Thurso and Lerwick are a very good second and are far better than what we had in the 2006 season. I am a South Road racer, but if by the New Year things have not improved, and I can’t see that happening, I will be turning North Road to get some 500 miles plus racing. No matter if DEFRA throws us a few crumbs, with four weeks Channel racing at the last minute, as they did in 2006, I will stay North Road. I’ve already written three resignation letters for South Road clubs. There has been no ‘bird flu’ cases for a long time in the U.K., so why have they stopped our birds from going over the Channel! What have we got to do to get back into France? The whole Continental racing / ‘bird flu thing has become farce! Well how about the new ‘bird flu’ jab, at £20 a bird? Even if they give it away, free of charge, I wouldn’t give it to my pigeons! Don’t our pigeons get enough vaccinations already? If they bring it in, that pigeons have to have this jab to go over to the Continent, I for one, will NEVER race from over the Channel again. I feel really sorry for Peter Bryant, General Manager of the R.P.R.A., having to deal with those people at DEFRA, it must be like talking to s brick wall. He is doing a great job! I really am getting sick of this ‘bird flu’ and Continental racing farce!
Right, that’s it for this week and I have put my ‘soap box’ away! I hope my readers have enjoyed my sprinter ‘SIX OF THE BEST’. I will try and sort a young bird article very soon. Any comments to me on Telephone: 01372 463480. See yer!
TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT.
