Ray Lunt at Endfield Lofts
with Les J Parkinson
The heading does say Ray Lunt but when you read through it you will see it is about three lofts and the introduction of new pigeons and pointers on what others have done to achieve success and why Ray went to them in the first place. There are a few photos from each loft so that you can see the type of pigeons each one has. To test the quality of the stock pigeons and find the breeders the stock birds were purchased with his friend Paul Beaumont who is also a top winning North West loft.
Ray Lunt - Johan Den Hartog - Paul Beaumont
You might need to bear with me on this paragraph, why do fanciers such as Ray Lunt carry on winning and how do they bring new stock in to keep up a winning loft. I often think about it and no matter how I look at it the same answer crops up, winners are winners, and you will not change that fact. So why are they winner's, well it is mostly down to stock sense and common sense which can be seen with pigeon fanciers who are winning, and they are farmers. They have plenty of stock sense and all the farmers I know, and I have known over the years who race pigeons are winners in our sport. Businessmen are the same, they generally come into the sport and can breed and race a good pigeon, for different reasons. Farmers have stock sense, businessmen who come into the sport are workers and they work their pigeons hard to achieve success. Then we have the best of winning fanciers who grow up with pigeons and will do anything to get hold of them, they are in their blood, and you could say they are obsessed with pigeons. There are areas where groups of young lads grow up together and win year after year, Salford is such an area and there have been some good fanciers who were and still are as I say obsessed with pigeons and still winning. One of those fanciers from Salford is Ray Lunt who has been one of the top fanciers in the North West for many years. There are still a lot of good fanciers who grew up in the sport and do win but we are talking about consistent winning fanciers year after year, decade after decade. We must also remember those fanciers on the fringes of winning are the hardcore of the sort and fanciers we need to keep pigeon racing going, it’s not just about all the winners. Ray Lunt’s roots were as we have said, Salford. Over the years Salford has seen pigeon fanciers who are in the present day, highly regarded as some of the top pigeon men in the whole of the country. Fanciers like Rays ex partners Garry Wall & Alan Curtis (Formally known as Curtis Wall & Lunt) who, to this day are still winning federations, combines and RPRA Awards on a regular basis and regarded as one of the absolute best there is. Another ex-partner of Ray and fellow Salford lad is Les Green, famous auctioneer, and another top fancier at the top of his game who’s still one of the best racing fanciers around. Finally, John Crehan (Crehan & O’Connor) Is another one who as a young lad spent many hours around Ray, and once again widely known and respected throughout the pigeon fraternity for his performances. John openly admits that he learnt a lot from Ray and his ex-partners in his early days.
These Salfordians make pigeon racing look ridiculously easy at times and generation after generation the area seems to produce pigeon men of the highest calibre.
Taking all the above into account how do fanciers keep winning, what is it they have in their heads that keeps them in that position of winning. Fanciers who can go out and find the pigeons that suit them and keep them in the frame year after year. They must be very selective in what they introduce into their lofts and when they don't fit, they have to go asap. The time to start looking is when the season has finished and you get an idea of what are the latest winners on the scene, mind you that is okay if they are not one-year wonders taking you to the top of the list.
As with every year in racing pigeons before you know it, we are at the end of another year, and Ray was saying that in his memory of over forty years racing this has been the worst ever for bad races and losses, but I think we will all be there to fight another day. The year has not been a total washout for Ray getting a few great prizes with the family of birds which he acquired from the north of Holland in 2017 as late breds. He then left them to mature for a year then in 2019 started the breeding program. The birds originate from the partnership of TJ & A Bosma who have been at the top of their game for many years. It took over a three-year period to find and blend these birds into the type that suit the way Ray races them in this country. 
In such a short space of time these birds have not disappointed. They have had fantastic results at all levels in competition with the likes of Classic, Feds and Combines. This year has been a super year for one individual which Ray has named "Mr Magic" who was bred in the summer of 2019, so was too late to race as a young bird. Then in 2020 it took him a little time to cotton on to what was required of him, but he went on to win in his first year. From then on "Mr Magic" went into 2021 with a bang taking 1st club, 1st Fed, and 1st combine on his first outing, then went on to win 2 more 1st feds and another 1st combine. After hearing one of his friends Steve O'Neil from Manchester who had split with his pigeon partner leaving him with no birds, Ray asked him if he wanted to try a round of young birds from his race team which he did. With covid lockdown in 2020 Ray took a second round off his race team for him which were given to him the first week in May where he only lightly raced them so not breaking any pots, but as yearlings to Ray’s amazement two cocks off "Mr Magic" came out to take the fed by storm, winning between them 4x1st feds and 2x1st combines. In all his years of racing Ray was saying that he has never come across a bird like "Mr Magic" a super breeder and racer. To hear that from Ray who has bred and raced some great pigeons means “Mr Magic” must be a great pigeon and with many more years to come who knows how many winners he will breed. Look at these results from him, in one year he and his two sons took 7x1st feds and 4x1st combines, brilliant flying by any standard. It is hard when you take a chance on a new family of pigeons, but if you don’t there is no way of knowing and going forward. It has not taken long for this family of birds to put their stamp on the pigeon sport, winning over 35x1st prizes in a two-and-a-half-year period, here are a few of the top performances these birds have taken. 1st 1333b. 1st 1483b. 1st 1719b. 1st 2781b. 1st 1005b. 1st 1698b. 1st 1669b. 1st 1144b. 1st 1792b. 1st 1439b. 1st 2154b. 1st 1652b. 1st 1868b. 1st 2364b. 1st 1033b. 1st 1320b.
This father and son partnership are like most others, they have their own area of the lofts that they look after, they are a winning combination who do work together to achieve the results that they strive for. Senior takes care of the racing pigeons, and he is quite thorough with what he does. Looking after and training the pigeons is always done on time. They are of course always on the search for good pigeons which is just as important, a few quality breeding pairs in the stock loft. As with any good fancier you are always looking at what you are doing and discuss the sport with the many friends in the sport where you may pick up a few ideas. Over 40yrs ago Tjipke and Auke were racing pigeons at a high level and that level of success has improved with having the Olympiad pigeon three times. But when the Chinese finally come around the corner the offer is there and they end up taking take your best pigeons with them, it becomes a lot more difficult to stay on such a high level. They do not have what they call a tribe, they have reached the top while introducing late breds from top lofts in the area. Later bred youngsters off very good racing pigeons in the Combine. Breeding young birds from the best racers available is just as important. When selecting, we look at prize percentage and how they perform on the middle-distance races for the young birds.
The team think by keeping the sport affordable and from that point of view further developing the automation of the sport and transport. It is also good to communicate with other members and to make decisions by means of surveys and or digital voting. Auke also believes it is a good idea for each department to set up its own committee to help get the various associations working together.
This is more like a report on three different lofts, but the idea is to show how Ray has come to his decision to build his new team on these two winning lofts. With over 40 years’ experience of researching and bringing new families in Ray has always been on the lookout for top quality birds to enhance his new and already fantastic team of pigeons. He is not happy with one family of new winners he is still looking though the Dutch magazines and the British Homing World, and he came across the name of the J Den Hartog & Son partnership from Culemborg in Holland. 
Never wanting to jump in with both feet more research was done into the competition where they race their pigeons. They compete in Afderling 7 with 650 members and looking at their results in the last ten seasons you could quite easily say they are fantastic racers, to say the least as the father and son have limited time as both have day jobs to go to. After the research and looking at their result which are from the top drawer, Ray then decided to contact them for a visit with a view to purchasing and introduce them into his lofts. when we visited their lofts in Holland. He was amazed when Johan told him that nobody from the UK had ever been to their lofts or imported their birds into the UK. When you look at their records they are among the best in Holland. On looking through their stock and race birds you can understand why they are winning so much; the pigeons have fantastic muscle tone and great feathering. Ray then acquired a selection of quality late breds off their best birds in 2019 and they were left to mature in 2020. In the spring of that year Ray was amazed at how they had matured. With that in mind he decided to purchase a full round off their stock in the summer of 2020. When the birds were ready it was not possible to get them into the UK due to the covid lock down, so they were left a while longer. When Johan started to pass the birds to Ray that he had purchased he was more than delighted with every bird he was handed. Ray started racing young birds off them in 2021 winning straight away with 1st in club, fed, Amal and combine with up to 2,500 birds. 1st Central Lanc’s Combine. 1st Liverpool Amal and over £6750 in gold ring racing, to say the least he was more than delighted and is now looking forward to racing them 2022. Here are some of their performances and awards in the last 5 seasons all Holland. 1st National Ace short distance in the NPO. 1st National Ace one-day-fond NPO. 1st National champion unnominated short distance old NPO. 1st National Champion unnominated sprint young birds NPO. 1st & 4th best all-round old bird WHZB/TBOTB. 1st Ace old bird WHZB/TBOTB. 1st National Ace short distance NPO. 1st National Ace WHZB/TBOTB. 2nd & 19th National Ace sprint/middle distance WHZB/TBOTB is who has the best and TBOTB is the best off the best.
Johan Den Hartog & Son once again had another marvellous season in 2021 with the 1st Provincial Ace bird Youngsters Department 7. Those who followed Department 7 the past few seasons know that the combination Den Hartog & Son had an amazing run of success. In the period of 2020 and 2021 they were crowned as General Emperor. Especially due to their fantastic ace birds they bring their team of racing pigeons to a higher level with National titles, WHZB ace birds and several different Teletext listings. Not wanting to bore you with results but hey need including because without them you would not be able to see how good these pigeons are. 1st National Ace birds Long Distance in 2019 with “Silver Lady”. 1st National Champion Signed Short Distance Holland 2019. 1st National Champion Non-Signed Short Distance youngsters Holland 2019. 1st National Ace bird Short Distance in 2016 with “Anna”. 1st Ace bird old WHZB in 2019 with “Silver Lady”. 1st Ace bird All Round old WHZB in 2019 with “Mandy”. 2nd Ace bird Short Distance / Middle Distance old in 2020 with “Golden Heidi”. 2nd Best Hen WHZB All Round in 2012 with “Lorena”. 3rd Best Cock WHZB 2015 with “Blue Wonder”. 4th Ace bird All Round old WHZB in 2019. 4th National Champion Signed Short Distance 2021. 7th National Ace bird Short Distance in 2019 with “Shanice”. 7th Ace bird Long Distance WHZB 2019 with “Silver Lady”. 7th Ace bird All Round old WHZB in 2019. 8th Ace bird Long Distance WHZB 2019 with “Silver Lady”. 9th National Ace bird WHZB 2019 with “Mandy”. 10th National Champion Non-Signed Short Distance Holland 2019. Championships 2021 Department 7. 1st General Emperor Region B2. 1st Champions Short Distance Non-signed. 1st General Non-signed. 1st Ace bird. Youngsters with “Kiran”. 1st Short Distance Signed Region B2. 1st General Signed Region B2. Teletext with Provincial and NPO Listings. 1st NPO Salbris 5,780b. 2nd Prov Roye 5,562b. 2nd NPO Sens 3,517b. 3rd Prov Lessines 6,709b. 5th Prov Lessines 6,709b. 5th Prov Niergnies 6,261b. 6th Prov Banteux 7,578b. 6th NPO Melun 5,644b. There were several more listed in the top ten, these are just to give you an idea of the quality of pigeons that we are talking about.
When you are winning as this partnership are they must have the right feeding methods, let’s start with what they do in the sprint races. During the first 6 weeks, the pigeons get on Monday and Tuesday morning 10 grams Recup per pigeon, in the evening 20 grams. On Wednesday, they have 10 grams of Beyers Super Widowhood then in the evening 20 grams. Moving on to Thursday morning, again 20 grams of Super Widowhood per pigeon are given with a further 40 grams of Beyers Elite Enzymix in the evening and what they do not eat remains for at 6.15am, they have nothing else after that. On their return from the race, they have fresh water and Super Widowhood. Then at around teatime they are separated and the do have Recup on Sunday. For the middle-distance races there is little difference, but they have no Recup, but they do have Galaxy Light of Beyers, they do have a bit smaller seeds and fats. Every evening they are also given a spoonful per pigeon a mix of hemp, Omega 3-6-9 granules of CEDE and some peanuts with the widowhood team in the nest boxes. Plus, they have fresh water on the day they return from the races with the feed being Super Widowhood. In the evening the pigeons are separated. For the marathon long distance races, they are treated in the same way as with the one-day long distance, but with the basketing being on the Tuesday, the feeding method is moved forward. For the Marathon and one-day distance races they are not separated until the day after the races. In all sections, the cocks are fed in their boxes and the hens in their own boxes. Before basketing, Belgasol is added to the drinking water and also when returning from the races regardless of the temperatures.
When the racing has finished pigeons get a complete 7-day yellow cure followed by a 12-day parastop cure. When that treatment is finished, they are all vaccinated against parathypus. As far as medical treatments go that is it, however in spring the pigeons get the herbal mix of Jan Smit in the drinking water, then follows a 12-day orni cure followed by a 5-day yellow cure which is done by powder over the food. During the racing season, the team keep everything under control with a monthly yellow pill. If they are in the baskets at a race for two nights basket or more, on the day of returning home and the day after, B.S. van der Weerd is put in the drinking water. Before each middle-distance race, they are given on a Tuesday and Wednesday for the airways. Every six weeks, the lofts are smoked out and in March, the pigeons are drip-fed against lice, which is at the same time as the paramyxo vaccination. The youngsters are treated against smallpox besides the vaccination. Only when there is something in the lofts that the team cannot solve the vet is consulted and a visit with some pigeons is arranged. I could probably extend the information on Johan and his son but let’s leave that for another day.
On the subject of information there has been a lot written about Ray over the years, so I am not going to go into all the old stuff other than a few questions that cross my mind. It’s results such as the above that attracted Ray to them in the first place and the winning ways of these pigeons is now reflected at Endfield lofts. The next question is “How long will these pigeons go on winning for Ray” I suppose that is down to how long he can maintain his higher than most levels of keenness and the selective breeding that he does. Having said that the quality of pigeons that he has introduced highlights just how keen he is after spending over 40yrs winning and I know for a fact that he has been winning since my first visit to the then racing loft at Marlborough Road in the early 90’s. Has he changed much since that early visit, I don’t think so, he is as keen as ever and always looking to move forward, always looking for competition in the races he likes to compete in most. No matter how he has raced his pigeons and with whom he has raced he has always been a winner. Another question could be, “What has made him a winner” I remember the Sandbach legend George Stubbs answering me that question over 40yrs ago. He looked at me as if I should have known without asking, “Dedication, Observation and Perseverance. Dedication because you must put your all into pigeon racing otherwise you are going to win nothing. Observation, you need to watch everything that goes on in and around the lofts, if you miss something then you are left behind. Perseverance, you need to keep going no matter what, even when things are not going your way you keep going until you have solved the problem. Only when you have achieved these points will you win like I do” I wouldn’t say the paragraph is word for word but as near as I can get it.
Ray Lunt with "Mr Magic"
Les J Parkinson.
Tel: 01606836036 – Mobile: 07871701585.
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