The third race of the season for West Cumbrian fanciers proved to be another good one.
Appleton is regarded as one of, if not the best of the various race-points, and it lived up to its reputation with excellent returns and in good time.
It was a special day for the Cleator Moor loft of Joe Tomlinson and Brian Banks.
They won the specially-licensed south section of the Derwent Valley Federation, the Cleator Moor Central and Lowca clubs.
To cap it all they took the first six positions in them all with their winner covering the 90 miles at just under 57mph.
Their winning pigeon is a yearling mealy hen who raced quite consistently last year as a young bird, earning 14th Fed and Amalgamation at Appleton 2.
She followed this up by winning the Fed and Amalgamation the following week at Appleton 3.
She was then put away for the rest of the season and this year she has been consistently up there to the loft from the first two races and went over the pad first on Saturday when they got a few together.
Her sire is a mealy cock who is a grandson of Niewe Goede Rode and the dam is a daughter of the top breeding cock Best Boy Kittle who is responsible for four Fed winners for the loft.
However he is also responsible for a host of winners in England and Ireland.
In Egremont Rangers the winner was David Harrison and son with a yearling blue hen which missed most of the season last year due to being hawked at Flookborough.
Her sire is out of a son of King Kong which was a Dutch champion for Jean Hornesch and was bought by Tony Ali where it excelled at stock and found its way to David’s loft after Tony’s clearance sale.
The dam is a daughter of Bret x Becky, Malcolm Scott’s top stock pair which are responsible for a lot of winners for David as well as other fanciers in the UK and Ireland.
The first Federation race of the season, with two sections and an open, will be staged this weekend from Penkridge.
Several lofts in the Derwent Valley have had really good starts to the new season and will be hoping to top the Fed sheet – none more so than Neil Semple who has won Harrington Central in all three races.
He also took fifth and sixth this week after the birds were liberated at 11am in a light south wind.
Latest win was by a yearling red hen whose dam is Neil’s number one stock hen who has now bred nine winners while the sire was bred by Graham Best – and thereby hangs a tale.
Neil says: “Graham had a stock bird get out on him and offered a reward for whoever got it in.
“I got it in and as promised Besty gifted me a pair of young birds off it. The stock birds originally came from Steve Foster’s Syndicate lofts.
“So this pigeon is a Hereman Ceuster x Van Den Bulck.”
In Seaton Alan Parker made it a hat-trick, although he didn’t take all the tickets this time as Peter Dobie and Ralph Palmer were 2nd, 3rd and 4th.
Alan’s winner is a yearling blue pied hen, the nest-mate to last week’s winner with the sire from McLuckie brothers and the dam off Michael McGrady.
In Workington Victoria the club had a third different winner in Kevin Evans and Bob Taylor, and it also is a Hereman Ceuster, but out of the 33 hen Sapphire from Taylor brothers of Newbiggin.
Over in Workington Social Limit Williams and Hadfield took the first three tickets when it could have been more.
Stephen Williams said: “We had four come together and it was after 10 minutes that we realised only three of them had been timed.
“The first bird to the loft the previous two weeks was the one that had missed and she was our nominated bird and knockout pigeon. Our mistake, not the hen’s.”
The first over the pad was a blue yearling cock, again it is a Hereman Ceuster but one which had little young bird experience.
After a bad Flookburgh race it was put back in but brought back from Carnforth so put away for the season.
It hadn’t been an auspicious start this year, either, as he homed on the Sunday morning on both occasions.
In Flimby Jimmy Nelson and Fleck Crellin won and took three other tickets in their best race so far.
The winner is a yearling blue cock which was bred in the stock loft off a hen that was an exceptional racer for the partners with a win and ten other tickets in the Flimby club.
She is off the loft’s successful Karl Boeckx bloodlines while the cock is a Van Den Bulck through Les Green birds.
- DERWENT VALLEY SOUTH SECTION (Licenced RPRA race, 20 sent 493): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Tomlinson and Banks 1669, 1668.3, 1668.0, 1667.5, 1667.5, 1667.2.
- LOWCA HS (8 sent 242): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Tomlinson and Banks 1669, 1668.3, 1668.0, 1667.5, 1667.5, 1667.2.
- CLEATOR MOOR CENTRAL (9 sent 212): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Tomlinson and Banks 1672, 1671, 1670.9, 1670.4, 1670.4, 1670.1.
- EGREMONT RANGERS (80 birds): 1, 2, 4, D. Harrison and son 1654, 1625, 1617.7; 3, P. Bewsher, son and Park 1622; 5, 6, Marr, Scott and Lofthouse 1617;5, 1616.
- WORKINGTON SOCIAL LIMIT (8 sent 241): 1, 2, 3, Williams and Hadfield 1642.9, 1642.9, 1642.4; 4, M. and L. Cape 1641.9; 5, 6, Mr and Mrs Walters 1641.5, 1639.
- HARRINGTON CENTRAL (7 sent 234): 1, 5, 6, N. Semple 1648.163, 1645.5, 1645,5; 2, 3, 4, Mr and Mrs Carter and sons 1648.162, 1647.3, 1647.3.
- SEATON RBL (3 sent 69): 1, A. Parker 1656.8; 2, 3, 4, Dobie and Palmer 1656.7, 1649, 1646.
- FLIMBY HS (12 sent 422): 1, 4, 5, 6, Nelson and Crellin 1627, 1606, 1604, 1603; 2, I. McGarr 1618; 3, M. Varty and co 1614.
- WORKINGTON VICTORIA (10 sent 350): 1, Evans, Taylor and Abraham 1664; 2, 3, 4, Martindale and Lawman 1663.6, 1663.3, 1662.8; 5, 6, Williams and Hadfield 1662.3, 1662.3.
