The first West Cumbria Amalgamation race of the season proved to be a bonanza for the Egremont loft of David Harrison and son.
They had a clean sweep in the Egremont Rangers club and had seven of their birds in the first 10 of the Amalgamation and the West Cumberland Federation.
The winner is a blue cock who is no stranger to the prize list as this was his eighth club prize and 6th Fed ticket. He won the Amal from Cannock in 2022 which included the gold watch for Michael Cape’s Memorial of which David is very proud.
David said: “He also sired a 2nd Amal from Cannock 2 last year in his first nest. Looking at his pedigree I can’t see Bulkke or a Kittel but I’m sure they will be in there somewhere.”
Denying David a complete clean sweep at the top of the sheet were the Dobson family in Cleator Moor.
Their first bird was a two-year-old blue hen from Andy Gregson of Preston who scored twice as a yearling and has been very consistent this year.
Mike McGrady continues to set the pace in the Sandwith club, taking all the tickets once again.
Andy Holliday and Ken Dixon led them home in Lowca with a two-year-old chequer hen that was 3rd Fed, 5th Amal, 6th Combine at Stratford last year and started this season with 3rd club and 28th Fed from Garstang.
West Cumberland Federation fanciers dominated the Amalgamation sheet, taking the first 30 positions before Richard Martindale and George Lawman headed the Derwent Valley fanciers.
The Copeland North West club should have been at Worcester but the race was cancelled because of poor weather conditions.
The Derwent Valley fanciers haven’t had a Federation race so far but the club results have seen some familiar names heading the result sheets.
At Flimby HS last year’s top loft of Jimmy Nelson and Fletcher Crellin were to the fore again with three tickets – first, fourth and sixth.
The winner is a yearling chequer hen, one of the loft’s natural youngsters that are only trained but not raced as a young bird. It’s a system that has served the partners well over the years.
She was bred in the stock loft and the sire is a Van den Bulkke and the dam is from their successful Karel Boeckx.
Father and son team of Geoff and Neil Wordsworth won Harrington Central with another pigeon which never raced as a young bird.
This dark cock was only trained as far as Askam and was bred in the stock loft off birds from Kevin Hibbert of Rotherham.
The McLuckie brothers did the double again winning both Workington Victoria and Workington Social Limit.
Their winner is a two-year-old chequer cock with a great record. He was Amalgamation old bird of the year last season.
He started the season in good nick, taking second club Garstang beaten by a loft-mate and led-up this week from Appleton.
He was bred in the brothers’ stock loft and is a grandson of Alfie Hawthorne’s Mars paired with a daughter of Jupiter and Princess Kittel of Alfie’s.
In Seaton the winner for Peter Dobie and Ralph Palmer is a two-year-old dark cock bred from two pigeons that both flew the Gold Ring race from Weymouth in 2021.
Their second pigeon is a blue cock that was third club the previous week and he is a full brother to the pigeon which won the 300km race in last year’s Moledo Yearling Championship in Portugal.
His dam is a full sister to the sire of the blue hen which was 14th in last years Who Dares Wins Final from Falaise.
WEST CUMBRIA AMALGAMATION (2090 birds): 1, 2, 5, 6, D. Harrison and son (Egremont Rangers) 1651, 1650, 1646.2, 1645; 3, 4, Dobson, sons, grandson and Lyle (Cleator Moor) 1648, 1646.4.
WEST CUMBERLAND FEDERATION (750 birds): 1, 2, 5, 6, D. Harrison and son (Egremont Rangers) 1651, 1650, 1646.2, 1645; 3, 4, Dobson, sons, grandson and Lyle (Cleator Moor) 1648, 1646.4.
CLEATOR MOOR CENTRAL (11 sent 335): 1, 2, 6, Dobson, sons, grandson and Lyle 1655, 1653, 1646.1; 3, 4, 5, Rodgers and Benn 1651, 1646.6, 1646.6.
SANDWITH (6 sent192): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, W. McGrady and son 1643, 1642.6, 1642.3, 1642.1, 1641.8, 1641.8.
LOWCA (5 sent 138): 1, Holliday and Dixon 1632; 2, 3, D. Lofthouse 1629, 1606; 4, Tomlinson and Banks 1603.
EGREMONT RANGERS (114 birds): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, D. Harrison and son 1651, 1650, 1646, 1645.6, 1645.1, 1645.1.
DERWENT VALLEY
HARRINGTON CENTRAL (9 sent 252): 1, 5, N. and G. Wordsworth 1620, 1602; 2, 4, 6, J. Devlin 1610, 1605, 1601; 3, M. Walker 1606.
FLIMBY HS (10 sent 344): 1, 4, 6, Nelson and Crellin 1584, 1577.1, 1576.4; 2, 3, Rushforth and Hunter 1582, 1577.2; 5, J. Varty, son and grandson 1576.5.
WORKINGTON VICTORIA (10 sent 391): 1, 3, 5, McLuckie bros 1651.1, 1650.7, 1649; 2, 6, Evans and Abraham 1651.06, 1647; 4, Martindale and Lawman 1650.2.
WORKINGTON SOCIAL LIMIT (6 sent 264): 1, 2, 3, 6, McLuckie bros 1632, 1630, 1629, 1617; 4, Williams and Hadfield 1620,6; 5, Wilson and Johnston 1620.3.
SEATON RBL (56 birds): 1, 2, Dobie and Palmer 1616, 1614.9; 3, 4, A. Parker and son 1614.2, 1605.
DEARHAM (6 sent 220): 1, 3, Varty, son and grandson 1587, 1581; 2, 5, 6, Dempsey, son and Reay 1582, 1570, 1569; 4, Todhunter and Grisedale 1573.
