SCOTTISH NATIONAL FLYING CLUB
NEWBURY
Report by Joe Murphy
For the first old bird race of the season with the SNFC the members entered 2838 birds into the inland race from Newbury. Convoyer Colin Gray liberated the birds at 06.00am with no wind at the liberation site. He also stated that there was sunshine on the baskets and the birds cleared very quickly. The birdage is down by 779 birds on last year's entry, however this is expected due to the heavy losses experienced in last weeks' federation racing. Plus the fact that since we are now able to have racing from France many fanciers would not want to take a chance on sending their Gold Cup entries to this inland national.
Disaster of a day
All week I have been working with Steve Nutt on the text message and landline services and we had this down to a fine art. Then on the Friday night I received emails and phone calls from fancies wanting to join this service and I said I would try to accommodate them. I then sent these new numbers to be added to the data base and when I tried to send out the liberation time it would not work. We then discovered that the data base had been left open and this was the problem, then the server would not accept the land line numbers and Steve had to end up contacting the technical team to assist him. While all this is going on the fanciers are phoning to say that they have not received the message and I had this out on lib line so the membership knew. I had also updated the SNFC web page so we hoped that it would be ok for when the birds were due home. It was not to be and by this time I was in a right state, however with the help of my wife Margaret we managed to work together in updating both the lib line and web page as the race progressed. I started at working with Steve before 6am and finished at 3pm and had assisted Mel Jarvis with clock resets in between. What a day and I can only apologise to the fanciers who took up the text service for the delay in sending out the information. The whole purpose of this system is to give you it as soon as I receive news of the early pigeons. I hope you will realise that it was out of my control and, believe me, it cannot get any worse than this Saturday.
Leading Pigeons
Probable 1st and 2nd section A and 1st and 2nd open are the Dumfries husband and wife partnership of Mr & Mrs Gunther. Karl and Liz have been very successful these past few years and were Solway federation fanciers of the year in 2005, and fanciers may remember they won 1st south section from the SNFC Falaise race last year with Blue Boy. He is a medium size cock and handles like a ball and also has a nice pearl type of eye. Karl says he is a good racing pigeon and has won his fair share of prizes (29) over the 3 years flown on widowhood. As a young bird he was raced out to 200 miles winning 5th club 7th section from Seldom Gate. Then as a yearling he won 3rd club 3rd section Appleby, 3rd club 9th section Seldom Gate, 2nd club 3rd section Ripon, 3rd club 5th section Wakefield and 1st club 2nd section Newark. 
As a 2 year old he won 7th club 9th section Appleby, 3rd club 7th section Ripon, 3rd club 5th section Newark, 1st club 1st section Huntingdon and then 9th club Leicester. In 2005 Blue Boy won 10th club Ripon, 5th club 9th section Wakefield, 7th club Wakefield, 9th club 10th section Huntingdon, 3rd club 4th section Maidstone 313 miles. He was then given 2 weeks rest just his normal fly round the loft then received a training flight from Penrith a distance of 50 miles and then 2 from Carlisle a distance of 30 miles.He was then re-paired to his hen and was sent to the SNFC Falaise race sitting 5 days on eggs winning 1st section A 4th open. His breeding is from Karl and Liz's own family of Daum Thorsten from Otzberg in Germany. Sire of Blue Boy is a direct son of Daum Thorsten's Golden Couple. While the dam is again Daum Thorsten stock being from Jos Thone bloodlines This year Blue Boy was raced out to Worcester winning a couple of prizes in the first 10 in the club, however as it looked as if we were not going to race from France Karl stopped him for the season. When news of the Avian Flu ban was lifted Karl decided to enter him for the Gold Cup race and lifted him right into the Newbury race as a training flight. He was shown his hen for about 10 minutes prior to the race and he cooed down into the nest bowl calling to her and this was the condition he was sent to the race. Karl told me he only sent Blue Boy to have time on the wing as he had decided to send him to Alencon, however if he wins the SNFC then that might be another story. Karl said he noticed the 2 cocks racing each other as they came towards the loft and as soon as they went through the doors he noticed it was Blue Boy so he timed him first and then the other blue cock that is probable 2nd section and 2nd open. He is a 3 year old and was sent to Falaise last year returning injured during the week after the race. He was left to sit and Karl monitored his progress this year he has had 5 races out to Mangotsfield a distance of 252 miles prior to the inland national. He was prepared in the same widowhood condition as Blue Boy and Karl and Liz this year have raced both cocks and hens on widowhood with success I might add and from the national race they have 10 of their 11 entries home. This 2nd open cock sire was a black cock from black pied hen called Miss Chartreux who is now in Hong Kong. Dam of the 2nd open cock was a blue hen direct from Daum Thorsten of Germany. This hen is a stock hen and has produced last week’s winner from Mangotsfield and this weeks blue cock to win 2nd open Newbury not bad you will agree.
1st & 2nd Open
Karl and Liz only fly the Daum Thorsten family and have done so with outstanding success since their introduction. When I phoned Karl he was talking Daum giving him the good news of this outstanding performance of being 1st and 2nd open. Karl had previously joked that if he ever won the SNFC with one of Daum pigeons then he would have to come over to Scotland to the SNFC presentation and wear a KILT. Daum has agreed to do this and the 21st of October 2006 will be a very special night as both these German fanciers will be dressed in the full Scottish Highland regalia. On behalf of officials and members of the SNFC we send our congratulations to Karl and Liz and of coarse Daum on this wonderful achievement.
SNFC President Tom Davidson with Karl
Section B probable winner is Mike Neri who flies as J Neri & son however Mike's father passed away last year and he has continued to keep the name of the partnership. Mike timed in a yearling chequer pied hen sent on chipping eggs and she had a full wing. This was her 4th race of the season as she has previously had Tow Law 1 & 2 a distance of 96 miles then into Huntington 275 miles she was then trained last Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday from Selkirk a distance of 25 miles and was then entered into the inland national. Mike’s winner is a Louella Pigeon World Corbett Busschaert being a batch of 6 for £141.00 he does not have a pedigree for her and she is the only one left from the original six. Mike feeds Versa Laga Sport Extra which he obtains from Stewart Fraser of Craigmiller Pet Supplies.
Mike Neri
Probable section C winner is Mike Donnachie of Kingseat in Fife which is not far from Crossgates on the M92. Mike’s team have been flying well and anyone who reads my weekly column will have noticed his name in the federation results this year he has also won the Leicester open race last week end. Mike also won the club from Huntington the same day as the Newbury national with the nest mate to the probable section winner. This is a 3 year blue bar cock sent on the drive Mike gave him his hen on Monday as they are going to Alencon and he was surprised that he was his first pigeon as he was sent to gain time on the wing for the Gold Cup race the same as the Gunther’s winner. As a youngster the blue cock flew the full federation programme out to Wakefield 185 miles then as a yearling out to Maidstone 369 miles, as a 2 year old he was out to Falaise being timed in just out of the result. This year he has had 3 races Otterburn 78 miles Ripon 155 miles and Wakefield 185 miles he is trained along with Mikes race team twice a week from Dunbar a distance of 35 to 40 miles every week. His sire is a top stock dark chequer white flighted cock who is out of Mike’s Golden Pair of Rutters Brothers. The cock of this golden pair is a son of Tosey when paired to champion Eva who won 3rd and 5th UNC from Bourges 560 miles. As a matter of interest Tosey bred winners out to 622 miles for Ralph Rutter and was one of his best pigeons. The hen of the golden pair is a direct daughter of Phyllis when paired to Thunder Bird again another top quality breeder of numerous winners. Dam of Mike’s probable section winner is a 95 bred chequer pied hen who was bred by Ian French who gifted her to Mike. Ian and Mike met up at the Rutter Brother sale and struck up a friendship which continues to this day. Ian purchased Tosey and Dolly Bird and he paired these two birds together and gave Mike the chequer pied hen that has been a cracking stock hen as she has bred some very good winners for Mike.
Mike Donnachie
Section D probable winners are Stewart Brothers of Stirling the partnership consists of John, Colin and James and you will not find keener fanciers anywhere in the land. The have had their share of success at club and federation racing over the years however they are now concentrating on longer distance races and have invested their hard earned cash into trying to build up a team of distance pigeons. John told me ‘this will take us years Joe however we are prepared to work at it and hard work never killed anyone.’ The partners timed in a 2 year old chequer tick eyed hen sent sitting on a 6 day old young bird and her 1st flight was ½ way up, she is a small apple bodied hen and John says she is a good handler. This hen was a darkness youngster and flew the full federation programme winning 5th club 21st federation Otterburn then as a yearling she won 4th club 17th federation Otterburn she was then sent to the English coast line. This year she has flown the first 4 races Kelso 69 miles Otterburn 94 miles Ripon 169 miles and Wakefield 197 which was 2 weeks ago. She has then been trained every night for 8 days from Hermiston Gate (near Edinburgh) a distance of 30 miles from the loft. She is a half sister to the partners 21st open Europa Classic winner who won £500 in this race. Sire is a direct son of the Houben Cock who was purchased at Blackpool show from Louella Pigeon World for the pricely sum of £25 Colin Stewart purchased him as a hen however when he bought him home and he matured he turned out to be a cock and what a bird he has been for the partners as he has bred countless winners for them and other fanciers. Dam of the section winner is a red hen Jan Aarden bloodlines bred down from stock purchased from Clwyd Lofts she too has been worth every penny. She is a 2 x 1st prize winner and was actually timed at 14.42 from this Newbury national. She also is a top breeder as well as being the dam of the probable section winner she is the dam of the Europa winner also a red cock who has won 2 x 1st clubs and many minor positions in both club and federation. The tick eyed section winning hen is also turning out to breed the goods as she is the dam of 3 very good birds for the partners. There is a little story attached to one of these children last year in the young bird national race from Cheltenham a young hen dropped with the leading birds into a loft in Forfar. The fancier contacted George Briggs in Dundee who knew John and George gave him a phone quoting the ring number of a NW federation stray. John thought George was winding him up as the number he read out was the partners all pooler at the young bird national. The next day George took the bird to the SNFC secretary house when he took over the clock sheets and John collected the young hen. She has been raced this year and has shown some promise and John says she he has faith in this little hen (watch this space).
My thanks to John for taking the time to contact me and for supplying me with a photograph of their winning pigeon for this story as a matter of interest the brother had all their 5 entries home by 15.00 hours on the day.
Stewart Bros' Section D winner
Section E probable winner is Ian Ritchie of Kirkintilloch which is north of Glasgow Ian timed in a yearling chequer white flight hen sitting 12 days on eggs. As a youngster she flew the full race programme out to Leyland 160 miles, and then this year she was flown natural and had 4 races out to Uttoxeter a distance of 260 miles. She is trained along with the rest of Ian’s team twice a week from Abbington a distance of 42 miles south of him this distance is the amount of miles by car. Sire is a home bred chequer cock a half Busschaert unfortunately he was lost last year while racing. Dam was Ian’s winner in last year inland national race were she won 7th region 10th west section she is also a Busschaert.
Section F winner and probable 1st west section winner is Mick McQuire of Dumbarton who timed in a 2 year old dark chequer cock at 13.40 flying a distance of 341 miles. This cock’s hen laid her 2nd egg on the day of basketing and Mick had to lift him from the nest he was so keen. He returned with his 2nd flight half grown and Mick says he is a good handler and has nice silky feathering. He was a very steady young bird in 2004 flying the whole young bird programme without setting the heather on fire - but very steady. As a yearling he was given 5 races ranging from 85 to 250miles his best result was 2nd club Ripon 175 miles. This year he has had Kelso 29/04/04, Otterburn 6/5/06, Scotch Corner 27/05/06, finishing first club which turned out to be a very hard race. It's penultimate race was Wakefield 03/06/06. This pigeon was set up for eitherHuntingdon 305 miles or Newbury National 341 miles, however after encountering some problems concerning theWest Coast Combine Mick decided to get her readyfor Newbury which has been a wise decision. Mike phoned me late on tonight Sunday and told me he has probably won the west section and he is delighted. He said that when he went down the street today fanciers and the general public were stopping their cars and congratulating him on his success he was absolutely overwhelmed by this response. This is what it is all about and I would encourage fanciers or readers of this report to take time out to look at a map of Scotland and look for Dumbarton which is due west of Glasgow and marvel at the performance of Mick McQuire section winner. Sire and Dam were gift birds from Allan Love of Lochwinnoch who had to give up the sport due to contacting pigeon lung a couple of years ago. Readers may remember I mentioned that Allan birds were responsible for the breeding of Willie Wallace of Paisley young bird section F winner last year.
Mick Maquire
Probable 2nd section F are Morris Brothers of Johnstone in Renfrewshire whom fancies may recall that last year the brothers won 6th and 8th west section 1st and 3rd region with 2 full brothers to this years pigeon. In 2002 they were 1st region 2nd west section 11th open again a full sister to this years pigeon the base birds are down from Barry Mc Nicholas and are Bert Camphius Janssen bloodlines my thanks to Robert for the above details.
Section G probable 1st north section winner is Irvine Buchan of Peterhead who timed in his 2 year old grizzle cock at 15.57 pm flying 420 miles. The grizzle cock was entered into the race sitting 14 days on eggs, he was a late bred in 2004 and was therefore not raced then as a yearling he flew out to Doncaster 280 miles. This year he has had 5 races prior to the inland national with his last race the week before from Newark 305 miles. Sire is a red grizzle cock same way bred as Irvine’s mealy cock who won 3rd north section SNFC Falaise last year being out of his 1st and 2nd federation Sartilly winners. The red grizzle cock was Irvine’s 1st bird from the Le Farte Bernard race however he was lost at last year Gold Cup race. Dam of the probable section winner is a Kirkpatrick crossed Thorpe hen (Mr Thorpe was a winner of the BICC on 4 occasions I think) this family have proved themselves from the south coast of England to Sartilly and Falaise in France for Irvine. As a matter of interest Irvine timed in his 2nd pigeon 4 minutes after timing in his first bird and she looks like being 3rd section and he has 8 out of his 10 birds home.
Irvine Buchan
Probable 2nd section G are the ‘Flying Undertakers’ Stewart Maskame and Craig Mackie of Peterhead who timed a 2 year old light chequer cock at 15.58 flying 423 miles he was sent driving his hen to the nest. He has been flown on roundabout all year and had 4 races Perth 99 miles, Cupar 94 miles Hexham 170 miles and then Rotherham 283 mile before being stopped for the inland national. He was repaired for a day and then his hen went to the Newark race and on her return they were left together for the 5 days before he was basketed for the inland national. This cock was lost as a youngster at the 2nd race and returned via the SHU stray centre a month later. The following year as a yearling he was again lost in the early part of the season however he returned under his own merit and once fit was back on the road and raced out to Hastings 470 miles returning 2nd morning. His sire was a chequer cock that was bred down from George Ritchie of Ritchie and Whyte fame his dam was a full sister to Georges 1st north section 6th open SNFC Chenoise and 3rd north section 70th open Liege, unfortunately this chequer cock was lost racing. Dam of the 2 year old cock was bred by Irvine Buchan from his Kirkpatrick family of birds she was gifted to Stewart and Craig when they restarted back in the sport 5 years ago.
Conclusion
First thing we must do is congratualate all the above winners and wish everyone all the very best for the Gold Cup race. The Newbury race turned out to be a good steady race with the winners spread right over the whole country and when you see the velocities of the section winners you will see what I mean. There is not much between the sections, which to me proves it was a very even race and not dominated by one area. Returns on the whole are very good with many fanciers reporting 100% home which will help the club as some will now go into the Gold Cup (Alencon) and Gold Globe (Tours) races. We must congratulate our convoyer Colin for a first class job on looking after the birds and one of the fancier I spoke to said that is why he enters his birds into the SNFC races as he knows they are well looked after and the birds are always the number one priority. The race controllers also did a first class job as did our weather man Steve Appleby who told them to have the birds up early as it was to be very warm over England during the day and the weather was to close in over Scotland by late evening. This is exactly how it transpired so well done Steve for this advice and it is obvious the birds never hung about as the leading birds recorded velocities of high 1300’s.
I must again thank all the fanciers who phoned the lib line service recording their arrivals and if you want to see the 130+ names log onto the liberation update on the www.snfc.co.uk site.
As you can appreciate I have to collate all this information as quickly as possible after the race and I have spent most of my day on the phone speaking to the above fanciers obtaining the birds details and I must thank them for their assistance and some have even emailed me photos of their winners which is first class. I must also thank big Derek Hay who has gone out of his way to help me with details of the west section winners. I do not have time to wait until the probable result is sent out to collate all this information if I did I would find that the majority of fanciers were at work so have to work very quickly after the race. However the one thing I do not need is rumours going about saying that since I contacted so and so then they must be the winners of the race which is not true. It is not my place to tell any fancier their position in fact even as I type this report up I don’t have clue who has won each section. The SNFC president phones these winners and once this has been done then I am told who has won the section, so please no more stories that I told anyone they won the race. I have just received the probable section winners at 22.00 hours on Sunday night and will add this to the end of this report I have also updated the web page with these leading times and velocities.
News Update
Due to the hall at Musselburgh being used for a guide parent night the times for the Alencon race marking will be from 15.30 till 17.00 hours on Tuesday 27th of June so please take a note in your diary. In my last report on the SNFC I wrote that the committee had agreed to give the retiring secretary Allan McGonigal a consultancy fee when this was not correct this gift was for a decoration fee for Allan and Sandra to redecorate the room they used as an office for the SNFC my apologies for any misunderstanding on this matter.
Car Nomination
Members have up until race marking for the Gold Cup to pay their money for the Car prize so don’t miss out at only £20 per loft it is the chance of a life time. The co efficient will be worked out on each section from the 3 channel races Alencon Tours and Falaise. This is a very fair system and will not be dominated by the one area so everyone has the same chance if you look at the birdage for the Newbury race when fanciers north of the Forth sent over 1000 bird then they have as much chance of winning the car as any other area don’t miss out pay your £20 to one of the committee at the marking station and you never know you could win a brand new car in 2006.
I have just received the following is the probable winners of the Inland National from Newbury subject to objection.
Section A - 1st - Mr & Mrs Gunther - Dumfries - Velocity - 1367
2nd.- Mr &Mrs Gunther - Dumfries - Velocity - 1366
Probable 1st & 2nd Open
3rd. -J Fergusson - Eastriggs - Velocity - 1338
Section B - 1st - J.Neri & Son - Edinburgh- Velocity - 1331
2nd - E.R.Jamieson & Hardie - Velocity - 1302
Galashiels
3rd - Sheperd& Mark - Tranent - Velocity - 1298
Section C 1st - M Donnachie- Kingseat - Velocity - 1326
2nd - ADownie - Errol - Velocity - 1318
3rd - JMullen -Lumphinnans- Velocity - 1290
SectionD 1st - Stewart Bros. Stirling - Velocity - 1300
2nd -T&M Paterson -Plean - Velocity -1291.9
3rd - s. McArthur - Alloa - Velocity- 1291.8
SectionE 1st - I Ritchie - Kirkintilloch- Velocity - 1302
2nd - W&H Holland -Muirhead - Velocity - 1275
3rd - J Hannah- Blantyre - Velocity - 1261
Billy Holland
SectionF 1st- M McQuire - Dumbarton -Velocity - 1304
2nd - Morris Bros. - Johnstone - Velocity - 1216
3rd - W. Gass- Inchinnan -Velocity - 1191
SectionG 1st - I Buchan - Peterhead - Velocity - 1249
2nd- Maskame & Mackie -Peterhead -Velocity - 1245
3rd - G. Willox - Peterhead - Velocity - 1241
My thanks to Andy Garven our new secretary for doing a first class job and supplying me so quickly and I have also been told that the winners of each section have been told by the president Tom Davidson. I would like to finish off by thanking all the section winning fancier for supplying me with the news on their pigeons and to the others who have supplied me photographs to go with this report without your help this could not be achieved many THANKS. I would appreciate if the members of the committee who go to verify the other pigeons in the sections can take details and forward them to me so I can compile an overall analysis on the Newbury race.
Compiled and copy write Joe Murphy
Scottish National Flying Club Press Officer
