“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT.
On a personal note!
The YouTube channel is going great and still attracting a lot of world-wide interest. When my son, Mark, suggested that I put my massive archive of pigeon films on the Internet in March 2016 he didn’t know what he was starting and to be honest, neither did I. It now hosts over 370 pigeon films and gets between 3,000 and 5,000 views worldwide every day. I have a long list of new pigeon visits lined up for YouTube filming and articles, for the next few months. At the time of writing this the channel has had well over 2 million views since we opened it in March 2016 and I would think we will be on that magic 3 million in the next few months. The top video is Number 38, Ron McCarthy of Rhymney and he had nearly 370,000 views worldwide in the year it has been on the internet. Just brilliant! Every film is tagged and if you go on to YouTube, type in my name or the name of the fancier you want to look at (lower case) it should all come up. On the article and photo front, the situation has gone through the roof with all the visits I’ve made in recent months and I have a very big stock pile of article waiting to be published. I love being mega busy and after the family time, now spend most of my time playing in the loft, writing, taking photos and editing the films for the YouTube channel. Some say I have become a recluse! I don’t race pigeons anymore and my pigeon fancy writing, website and the YouTube channel is my main hobby now. I get a massive amount of phone calls, emails and comments from fanciers interested in my work and I spend at least an hour every day answering them, which has always been par for the course.
I’ve been very busy writing, doing photos and updating the Website for the new 2018 season. My Internet website on: www.keithmott.com is a massive job every winter and is now fully updated for the new season. Although our stock team has an excellent record of producing premier winners for many fancier in the UK, we have changed a few of our pairings around for the 2018 season, just to try some new ideas. We will have two half-brother / half-sister matings out of our champion Eric Cannon red cock, ‘Foxwarren Fred’, and a ‘star’ mating in 2018 will be the Bourges Amalgamation winner, ‘Northern Expected’, paired to the champion stock hen and daughter of Champion ‘Tuff Nut’, ‘Lady Tuff Nut’. The 2016 season saw three new children of Champion ‘Foxwarren Fred’ put in the stock section and two new direct introductions from our good friend Brian Denney, in the form of ‘Strensall Lad’ and ‘Thelma’. These two new blue stock birds from Brian are children of Champion ‘Brian’s Blue’, winner in 2008 of 1st section K, 61st open NFC Tarbes Grand National (4,035 birds), NFC record holder being clocked at 748 miles on the day of liberation. Also winning 1st North East 700 Mile Club, 1st RPRA UK Long Distance Champion, plus RPRA Region Long Distance Award. A world class performance! The dam of these two new stock birds was a daughter of Champion ‘Dark Dancer’. The very best of Eric Cannon and Brian Denney’s 750 mile family! These two very successful families of Eric Cannon and Brian Denney were the main ones raced at ‘Foxwarren Lofts’, but we do have two pairs of the Gaby Vandenbeele pigeons bred for us by our good friends, Mark and Dick Evans. These Gaby Vandenabeeles have bred some super winning youngsters in the last six seasons, including 1st open Combine. Terry Haley hit the ‘jackpot’ again in the 2017 racing season and finished it off in a very special fashion, when he recorded 1st Combine twice in seven days. Just brilliant! The Aycliffe young bird win, Terry’s fifth Combine winner, was a great buzz for me personally, as the winning blue hen, now named ‘Misty Missile’, was a granddaughter of ‘The Watford Wizard’, the Gaby Vandenabeele cock we bred for Terry. ‘Misty Missile’ and ‘The Watford Wizard’ both won 1st Watford NR Club, 1st Thames Valley Federation, 1st North Thames NR Combine Aycliffe as young birds. Amazing! We had several other good winners reported in the 2017 season, including 2nd open National. Mick Parish’s first pigeon on the clock from the very hard 2017 Barcelona race was an Eric Cannon pigeon and grandson of ‘Foxwarren Ryan’ and ‘Foxwarren Katie’.
Our ‘Foxwarren Lofts’ have a wonderful record of breeding countless top class winners for themselves and other fanciers over many years. Our loft in Claygate has gifted a lot of youngsters to our friends and charity auctions over the years, and in the 2013 season our birds produced several premier prize winners including 1st open Combine, 1st open Amalgamation, 1st Federation (twice), and 2nd Federation (Twice) in that season. The loft has recently produced 1st open Combine two years on the trot and our birds have also produced 1st open Amalgamation Bourges (581 miles) two years on the trot.
One of Brian Denney’s greatest champions was ‘Brian’s Blue’, winner in 2008 of 1st section K, 61st open NFC Tarbes Grand National (4,035 birds), NFC record holder being clocked at 748 miles on the day of liberation. Also winning 1st North East 700 Mile Club, 1st RPRA UK Long Distance Champion, plus RPRA Region Long Distance Award. A fantastic performance! The dam of Champion ‘Brian’s Blue’ was ‘Foxwarren Pretender’ bred by us at ‘Foxwarren Lofts’ and she flew the English Channel twice as a young birds, recording 4th club Guernsey and then as a yearling flew Bergerac (455 miles) on the day of liberation to win 151st open L&SECC. ‘Pretender’s’ nest sister, ‘Betty M’, was gifted to Brian Denney out of the nest and she bred several top performers for the Strensall loft including: ‘Elton’ winner of 30th, 182nd open NFC Tarbes ( 748 miles) and ‘Class Blue’ winner of 2nd section K NFC Fougeres. ‘Foxwarren Pretender’ was loaded to Brian for a season when she bred Champion ‘Brian’s Blue’ and she was a half-sister to our champion racing and breeding hen, ‘Foxwarren Complete’, being a daughter of ‘Pathfinder’ who was bred by Brian Denney out of the wonderful racing and breeding hen, ‘Blue Pau’. Champion ‘Brian’s Blue’ proved to be a great breeder of winners, including: ‘Blue Boy’, winner of 12th, 130th open NFC Tarbes (748 miles).
After Clive Turner’s great success in 2011 when he won 1st open London & South East Classic Club Alencon (1,811 birds), he repeated his very high quality performances the following season, winning 1st Horsham RPC, 1st South Coast Federation, 1st Combine Saintes (374 miles), 1st, 2nd Horsham RPC, 1st, 3rd South Coast Federation (800 birds) Fougeres (192 miles), plus many other premier prizes in the club and Federation. Clive won the Combine from Saintes with his good widowhood mealy pied cock, ‘The Saintes Cock’, and he was bred by us at Claygate from two Busschaert / Staf Van Reet stock birds bred by Richard and Ken O’Connor of South Norwood. The Saintes Combine winner was latish bred in 2010 and had very little racing, but as well as winning the Combine he won several top positions inland in the strong Horsham club that season. His sire was the mealy pied stock cock, ‘Young Roman’, who was the sire of several good winners and was a son of the champion Busschaert, ‘Roman Nose’, winner of four times 1st Federation, when mated to the Paul Arnold / Staf Van Reet hen, ‘Dawn’, winner of 1st Combine. The dam of ‘The Saintes Cock’ was a daughter of the O’Connor’s ‘Champion of Champions’, ‘Batman’, winner of 17 first prizes, including five times 1st Federation and 4th open Combine. Champion ‘Batman’ was a Busschaert and half-brother to Champion ‘Roman Nose’. A fantastic family of winners! Clive’s 3rd South Coast Federation Fougeres winner in the 2012 season was also bred from our ‘Foxwarren Lofts’ blood lines.
Our small team of Mark and Dick Evans / Gaby Vandenabeele stock birds have really been breeding fantastic and have produced some brilliant racers, including 1st open Combine and 2nd Three Borders Federation in 2013. The key pigeon has been the blue WF hen, ‘Myrtle Exile’ and she has produced premier winners with two of our M. & D. Evans stock cocks. The Gaby Vandenabeele stock birds were mostly bred by Mark & Dick Evans of Whitley Bridge and ‘Myrtle Exile’ is a granddaughter of the world famous Champion ‘Golden Gaby’, winner of 1st open National Orleans (12,875 birds). What a fantastic breeding hen! ‘Myrtle Exile’ produced, being paired to our grandson of ‘Pre-Olympic’, a cock we gifted to their great mate, Terry Haley of Watford and he recorded as a young bird in the 2013 season: 14th Spelthorne open Yeovil (650 birds), flew the L&SECC Guernsey Young Bird Classic (a really bad race), was then clocked from the NFC Carentan (France) Young Bird National to record 415th open (3,330 birds) and seven days later was turned 205 miles North Road to Aycliffe to win 1st club (by 20 minutes), 1st Thames Valley Federation, 1st open North Thames NR Combine. The 2017 saw Terry Haley win 1st club, 1st Thames Valley, 1st North Thames NR Combine again from Aycliffe (205 miles) with his good blue hen young bird, ‘Misty Missile’ and she is a granddaughter of the ‘Watford Wizard’. ‘Myrtle Exile’ and our grandson of the two ‘Myrtle Lofts’ legends, ‘Shadow’ and ‘Lord of the Rings’, ‘Myrtle Supremacy’ was our original pair of stock birds from Mark & Dick Evans and they have been mate together for most of the time we have owned them and they have proved to be a champion pair of breeders. ‘White Tail’, a daughter of ‘Myrtle Supremacy’ and ‘Myrtle Exile’ produced 2nd, 5th, 5th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 24th Federation in recent seasons for Colin Crook and Andy Iddenden. A fantastic Gaby Vandenabeele stock pair!
Fred Dickson of Cramlington sent four birds to the Bourges (581 miles) race in 2013 and with the race turning out to be a very hard push home, the birds clocked in the Combine on the day of liberation could be counted on the fingers of one hand. Fred lives at the top end of the NEHU and clocked his good Eric Cannon blue chequer cock, ‘Northern Expected’, at 06.03hrs next morning to record 1st club, 1st Federation, 1st New North Amalgamation and 8th North of England Homing Union open result (2,355 birds). This wonderful round about cock has flown Bourges (581 miles) three times and won 1st, 3rd and 4th Federation. A fantastic achievement! ‘Northern Expected’s’ half-brother, a 100% Eric Cannon blue chequer cock, recorded 1st club, 1st Federation, 1st Amalgamation Bourges in the 2012 season and his dam, ‘Foxwarren Northerner’ was bred by Keith & Betty Mott. ‘Northern Expected’ is a son of Fred’s champion ‘Five Times Bourges Cock’ which was killed by a Sparrowhawk in front of the Cramlington loft and was the winner of 3rd, 5th, 8th Federation Bourges and sire of 1st, 1st, 3rd, 4th, 4th Federation, 1st, 1st Amalgamation Bourges (581 miles). ‘The Five Times Bourges Cock’ was bred from ‘Foxwarren Fred’, a red chequer cock bred by us and he has proved to be one of the best 550 mile stock cocks we have ever owned and was bred from the very best of Eric Cannon’s wonderful long distance family. ‘Foxwarren Fred’ is the sire of many premier long distance champions including: 1st Federation Bourges (581 miles), 2nd Federation Bourges, 2nd Federation Bourges, 2nd Federation Bourges, 3rd Federation Bourges, 5th Federation Bourges, 8th Federation Bourges, plus 2nd Amalgamation Bourges and is grand sire of 1st, 1st, 3rd, 4th, 4th Federation, 1st, 1st Amalgamation Bourges (581 miles) in the 2012 and 2013 seasons. Later in the 2013 season Fred Dickson won with a yearling blue chequer cock bred by us, and he recorded 1st club, 2nd Federation, 12th New North Amalgamation Arras (377 miles) in a strong north east wind. This game cock was a son of the good Eric Cannon stock hen, ‘Foxwarren Katie’ when mated to a son of the Number 1 Brian Denney stock pair, ‘Sasha’s Boy’ and ‘Lady Tuff Nut’. ‘Foxwarren Katie’ was a granddaughter of the Eric Cannon champions: ‘Culmer Marion’ winner of 1st open NFC Sartilly and ‘Culmer Channel Queen’ the NFC Pau Merit Award winner. ‘Sasha’s Boy’ is a full brother to ‘Dark Charm’ and ‘Dark Dancer’, with ‘Lady Tuff Nut’ being a daughter of the champion of all champions, ‘Tuff Nut’. This Brian Denney stock pair have produced Federation winners and ‘Sasha’s Boy’ is grandsire of 1st open International Agen (10,500 birds) in the 2015 racing season. There were several other good winners bred from our birds in the 2013 season including: Clive Turner who recoded 2nd open London & South East Classic Club Bergerac (450 miles) with a pigeon bred from K.& B. Mott birds.
Bobby and Anthony Besant won 1st open International Agen (10,500 birds) in the 2015 season and they named their winner ‘Noble Dream’, and their wonderful champion was a two year dark cock, raced on the widowhood system. Bobby remarked at the time that he thought it was a decent time when he came in from Agen and ‘Noble Dream’ did his usual party trick of landing in next doors tree before coming in to the loft to be clocked. He had won several premier positions before his Agen (499 miles) International win, including 3rd Three Borders Federation, 4th SMT Combine (699 birds) Nort sur Erdre (278 miles) as a yearling in the 2014 season. The dam of Champion ‘Noble Dream’ was the dark pied hen, ‘Half Crown’ and she was bred by us in Claygate. She was one of three sisters that we gifted to Bobby and Anthony in 2009 and I donated a full brother to the BHW Blackpool Show Charity auction in 2010, which raised for £740 for charity. ‘Half Crown’ was also the grand dam of Bob and Anthony’s second bird clocked on the day from the Agen International and she was crossed out with Mat Rakes and Geoff Cooper pigeons to produce this game dark cock. The sire of ‘Half Crown’ was the champion stock cock, ‘Sasha’s Boy’ and he was bred by Brian Denney. He was bred for the stock loft from Brian’s champion stock pair, ‘Maxi’ and ‘Dark Jan’ and was a full brother to the champion racing cocks, ‘Dark Charm’, ‘Dark Dancer’ and half-brother to ‘The Chequer Cock’. ‘Sasha’s Boy’ had proved to be outstanding at stock and had bred several top 550 mile racers, including Federation winners!
The dam of ‘Half Crown’ was our champion hen, ‘Foxwarren Complete’, who was a great 550 mile racer and has now proved to be a champion breeder. ‘Foxwarren Complete’ was the winner of 2003: 32nd open L&SECC Dax (530 miles), 2nd East Grinstead CC Dax, 2004: 29th open L&SECC San Sebastian (560 miles), 2005: 116th open L&SECC Pau (552 miles), 2007: 109th open L&SECC Pau. A real class hen! Her sire was ‘The Cannon Cock’ bred by Eric Cannon and this cock was the original pigeon Eric bred for me on my restart in 1998 and was a grandson of ‘Culmer White Flight’ and Champion ‘Culmer Sam’. The dam of ‘Foxwarren Complete’ was the brilliant blue cheque stock hen, ‘Pathfinder’, bred by Brian Denney and her dam was Champion ‘Blue Pau’ winner of 41st, 201st open NFC Pau (738 miles) and dam of many premier long distance racers including Champion ‘Classic Lad’ winner of 1st open Northern Classic Saintes (573 miles on the day of liberation). ‘Pathfinder’ was lightly raced before being put to stock and in 2001 flew 900 miles in three weeks to record 91st open L&SECC Perth, 52nd open L&SECC Thurso (520 miles). ‘Pathfinder’ was a champion breeder, producing many premier 550 mile racers, including ‘Foxwarren Complete’ and ‘Foxwarren Pretender’ dam of Champion ‘Brian’s Blue’, the winner for Brian Denney of : 2008: 1st section K, 61st open NFC Tarbes, being clocked on the day of liberation flying 748 miles,1st RPRA UK Long Distance Champion 2008. ‘Foxwarren Complete’ proved to be a ‘gold mine’ stock hen breeding many top 550 mile racers, as well as Bob and Anthony Besant’s champion stock hen, ‘Half Crown’, dam of Champion ‘Noble Dream’. ‘Foxwarren Complete’ is also the dam of the fantastic stock hen, ‘Foxwarren Northern Complete’, dam of many premier 550 mile racers including: 2nd Federation Bourges (581 miles), 3rd Federation Bourges, 4th Federation Bourges, 5th Federation Bourges, 8th Federation and is grand dam of 1st, 1st, 3rd, 4th, 4th Federation, 1st, 1st Amalgamation, 8th open NEHU (2,355 birds) Bourges (581 miles) in recent seasons. She is the dam of Fred Dickson’s champion cock, ‘The Five Times Bourges Cock’.
The 2016 was another very successful season for our pigeons, with several premier winners being reported to us. We have been told an Essex fancier won 1st open BICC St. Vincent a couple seasons ago with a bird bred from our stock birds. We entered two young birds in to a ‘one loft’ race for the first time in 2016 and went to the best, the French Young Bird Derby, run by my good friends, John and Lou McGee of Hernicourt. One of our Gaby Vandenabeele youngsters won 2nd (£150) in the Hot Spot 1. Race (255 birds) beaten by seven seconds on the ETS. This game youngster is yet another premier racer bred from our champion M. & D. Evans stock pair, ‘Myrtle Supremacy’ and ‘Myrtle Exile’.
Well that’s our article for this week! Just a little update on the ‘home front’ this week and I’m back to my usual rubbish for next week’s ‘ON THE ROAD’. LOL! Happy New Year to all our friends in the sport and good luck with your racing and showing in the 2018 season! I can be contacted with any pigeon ‘banter’ on telephone number: 01372 463480 or email me on:
TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT (www.keithmott.com).
