“FIRST INTERNATIONAL PRESS REPORT”
THE 15th SUN CITY MILLION DOLLAR
(THE RACE WITH THE PROVEN TRACK RECORD)
(THE GREATEST PIGEON RACE IN THE WORLD)
DUE TO BE HELD IN SUN CITY, SOUTH AFRICA ON
SATURDAY 22nd JANUARY 2011.
REPORT ON TRAINING RACE 7 & CAR RACE 3.
More daily training continued after TRAININ G RACE 6 before the basketing list appeared on the SCMDPR web site on Tuesday 22nd November for TRAINING RACE 7, which was due to be held on Wednesday 24th November from 81km (approx. 50 miles) and this showed a total of 3,282 pigeons had been entered, which was made up by 2,807 International and 475 South African entries and included 324 from the United Kingdom Team and also 45 from our Irish counterparts. However because of a bad weather forecast the convoy were liberated from 52km (32 miles) at 08-30 in overcast and cool conditions, 21C (70F), with light head wind and a good race was anticipated by the loft managers and Zandy Meyer (Race Director).
CONGRATULATIONS on winning 1st OPEN went to GANUS FAMILY LOFT from UNITED STATES OF AMERICA with pigeon named LAUGHING JEWEL which was clocked at 09-12-15.10 to record 1341ypm (43mph), performances so far were 615th, 1018th, 1904th, 1455th, 3396th, 1196th, 935th, 838th and now 1st in the last 9 races, then 2nd Open went to Luis Llorens from United States Of America, 3rd Open to Schlaggemeinschaft Primes from Austria, 4th Open to Willi Ferchen from Germany, 5th Open to Atlantis Family Loft from United States Of America, 6th Open to Team SA – Gladdin-Stender from South Africa, 7th Open to Gleeson - Lucas from Ireland, 8th Open to Manfred Kock + Ubbo Schroeder from Germany, 9th Open to MAD Kev from United Kingdom, 10th Open to Sundicate 5501 from South Africa, 11th Open to Janusz Popiol from Poland, 12th Open to Club Medpet Kouga Combine from South Africa, 13th Open to a Defaulter Pigeon, 14th Open to Gerhard Fix from Germany, 15th Open to Kuwait Loft from Kuwait, 16th Open to Premier Stud UK Syndicate from United Kingdom, 17th Open to Gisela u Hermann Schillling from Germany, 18th Open to Premier Australia Van Boxmeer from United Kingdom, 19th Open to Jon Dagel from United States Of America and then 20th Open to Club Lichtenburg Prestige Resiesduifklub from South Africa. These top 20 pigeons were all clocked within 10.50 seconds of the race winner and 8 different countries were represented in the top 20. The top 100 pigeons were all clocked within 39.55 seconds of the race winner. A total of 1,711 pigeons were officially recorded by 09-21 and this included 172 from the UK and 25 from Ireland. A later report showed 3,070 pigeons had been recorded by 09-42 and this included 312 from the UK and 44 from Ireland. Next report showed 3,143 clocked by 09-55 with no more UK or IRISH pigeons being clocked. Then 3,222 by 10-23, leaving 60 to return, then 3,240 by 12-06. Final report of the day showed 3,252 pigeons home by 17-23 and this included 321 UK and 45 Irish birds, leaving 30 still to make it back to base camp and this included 3 UK pigeons. A total of 99% returns from this race.
CONGRATULATIONS for winning 1st UNITED KINGDOM, 9th OPEN went to MAD KEV and the winning pigeon was named GABBY bred by KEVIN EARL which was clocked at 09-12-21.25, just 06.15 seconds behind the actual race winner, this pigeon had previously won 281st, 1318th, 1281st, 3091st, 24th, 288th, 182nd, 931st and now 9th in the last 9 races, then taking 2nd & 10th UK, 16th & 74th Open for Premier Stud UK Syndicate, administered by Paul Smith from Stansted Mountfitchet with 2 pigeons bred by Premier Stud from Patringham Haven, 3rd UK, 18th Open goes to Premier Australia Van Boxmeer with another pigeon bred by Premier Stud, 4th UK, 25th Open went to Brammer and Nasha with pigeon entered by Frank Brammer from Hempsted and bred by John Nash from Ireland, 5th & 17th UK, 31st & 133rd Open went to Fenland Lofts with 2 pigeons bred by Darren Peters from East Heckington, 6th UK, 36th Open went to Paul Smith Syndicate, administered by him and with a pigeon bred by Jimmy Richards from Laindon, 7th & 8th UK, 40th & 42nd Open went to Manchester Maestros with 2 pigeons bred by Davies, Crehan & O’Conner, 9th UK, 51st Open went to Dean Pallet from Shearsby, 11th UK, 75th Open went to Premier Kelly Van Boxmeer with another pigeon bred by Premier Stud, 12th UK, 79th Open for Frank Quinlan from Leeds, 13th UK, 81st Open went to Syndicate Lofts UK with pigeon bred by Peter Fox from Bangor, 14th UK, 118th Open went to The Royal Lofts (Her Majesty The Queen) and bred by Carlo Napolitano from Sandringham who is the Royal Lofts Manager, 15th UK, 129th Open went to Leech and Co with pigeon bred by JL Leech & Son from Featherstone, 16th UK, 132nd Open went to Twelve Wisemen Syndicate, administered by Paul Smith and with an entry bred by The Royal Lofts and entered by Peter Bourner from Sandringham, 18th UK, 142nd Open went to Baddeleygreen Boys with a pigeon bred by them, 19th UK, 144th Open went to Smith – McAllister Syndicate with a pigeon bred by Bruce McAllister from Furneaux Pelham and then 20th UK, 148th Open went to Gallows Hill Kid with a pigeon bred by Dave Murphy from Ripon. ALL THESE PIGEONS WERE CLOCKED WITHIN 53.20 SECONDS OF THE RACE WINNER. A total of 172 UK pigeons were officially clocked by 09-21, then 312 by 09-42, then 317 by 10-14, 320 by 12-06, then 321 by nightfall, which meant 3 were still missing. I am sure some of these will work back during the day and then be ready for CAR RACE 3 on Saturday. Another excellent race for the UNITED KINGDOM TEAM.
CONGRATULATIONS for winning 1st IRELAND, 7th OPEN goes to GLEESON - LUCAS with pigeon named ACHTUNG BABY which was clocked at 09-12-21.00, just 05.90 seconds behind the race winner, this pigeon had previously won 2390th, 3463rd, 2877th, 79th, 2450th, 198th, 2060th, 1337th and now 7th in the last 9 races, this pigeon had also previously won 1st Ireland, 79th Open in Car Race 1, 2nd Ireland, 61st Open Karl Donnelly, 3rd & 5th Ireland, 288th & 346th Open for Paul Poole and Son, 4th Ireland, 307th Open for Philip + Mark Smith and then 6th Ireland, 388th Open for The Beaumont Birds. The Irish Team had a total of 25 pigeons clocked by 09-21, still 44 by 09-42, then 45 by 10-00, which meant all were safely home. Another good result for the IRISH TEAM.
THE OVERALL SUN CITY GRAND AVERAGES after 9 races was as follows:- 1st is ITALIAN TEAM - CALTAVITURO from ITALY with pigeon named MAREMOLA 691 which has won 41st, 1063rd, 64th, 215th, 792nd, 79th, 170th, 31st and now 1649th in the first 9 races, with a flying time 11-07-21.75, leading by a clear 7 minutes and 13 seconds, 2nd Antonius Ruesing from Germany with Just A Thought, 3rd Ahmad A Al-Juwaisri from Kuwait with Abdulla 3, 4th Greatwall - Drapa from Germany with Mausy, 5th Koopman Racing Team from Netherlands with Ginger Spice, 6th Josef Lang from Germany with Isabella, 7th Frank Brieskorn from Germany with Skyjack, 8th Mathias u Otmar Theisen from Germany with Amauri, 9th Vincent Rooney from United States Of America with Bartell from Germany and 10th Noriega Loft from United States Of America with Super Charlie. Great to see 5 different countries represented in the top 10 with just over 19 minutes between them all.
The top five pigeons in the UNITED KINGDOM TEAM in this category are as follows:- 11th PREMIER STUD UK SYNDICATE administered by PAUL SMITH from STANSTED MOUNTFITCHET with PREMIER PAULA bred by PREMIER STUD from PATRINGHAM HAVEN, with a flying time of 11-27-03.58 which has won 773rd, 1084th, 453rd, 156th, 448th, 827th, 80th, 413th & 531st in the first 9 races, 34th Planet Brothers with Planets Pride bred by Planet Brothers from Noak Hill, 43rd was another for Premier Stud UK Syndicate with Premier Alison, 47th Premier Kelly Van Boxmeer with another bred by Premier Stud then 65th Manchester Maestros with Illustrious bred by Davies, Crehan & O’Conner. Another 13 UK pigeons in the top 191 in this category and then, which is a great result with so many top class pigeons competing.
The top three pigeons in the IRISH TEAM in this category are as follows:- 50th MORAN FAMILY with TINY TEGAN, with 948th, 1373rd, 783rd, 725th, 385th, 92nd, 1235th, 1802nd and now 1691st in the first 9 races, flying time 11-44-09.95, 93rd Karl Donnelly with Riley and then 162nd Philip + Mark Smith with Irish Sparky.
More training tosses on Thursday and Friday and then the basketing list appeared on the web site later on Friday 26th November for CAR RACE 3 which was due to take place on Saturday 27th November from Wolmaranstad 253km (157 miles). A total of 3,269 pigeons and included 2,796 International and 473 South African, with 322 from United Kingdom and 45 from Ireland. All were liberated at 06-00 in clear, partly cloudy conditions, light head wind and with a temperature of 21C (70F) and a steady race was anticipated by the loft managers and Zandy Meyer (Race Director). This was followed by a further update for Koster at mid morning and this showed moderate head winds, few clouds and 26C (79F). The mid day Sun City weather was cool and humid, little to no wind, 27C (81F) and overcast conditions. The afternoon weather in Sun City was for it to get even hotter and rising as the afternoon progressed. By late afternoon it was fine and hot in Sun City, a few clouds with a light head wind and with a temperature of 30C (86F). A mid morning report issued Sunday morning showed it clear skies, fine and hot 28C (83F) and once again getting hotter as the progressed, finally reaching 38C (104F) in mid afternoon.
CONGRATULATIONS for winning 1st OPEN goes to a DEFAULTER PIGEON which means the owner has not paid for this pigeon and that has now cost him winning a Brand New Motor Car and of course a US$1,000 cash prize, but as usual that is always good news for somebody else and 2nd OPEN goes to GARENTOWN SYNDICATE from AUSTRALIA with pigeon named UNGUARDED MOMENT bred by PAT MURPHY from QUEENSLAND which was clocked at 09-20-58.00 to record 1375ypm (47mph), only 00-45 second from taking 1st Open, this pigeon had previously won 162nd, 2867th, 1080th, 34th, 2998th, 245th, 413th, 277th, 1812th and now and now 2nd in its last 10 races, with 34th, 245th and now 2nd in the 3 CAR RACES held so far, 3rd Open went to Ali Ahmed Al Kooheji from Bahrain, 4th Open went to Ganus Family Loft from United States Of America with the same pigeon that won 1st OPEN in the previous race, 5th Open went to Team Internet-taubenschlag from Germany, 6th Open went to SG Jammer+Reinhard from Germany, 7th Open went to Skubal Loft from United States Of America, 8th Open went to Hok M Reijnen 1 from Netherlands, 9th Open went to Mario Schroeter from Germany, 10th Open went to Guys Lofts from United Kingdom, 11th Open went to Anneliese Zikeli from Germany, 12th Open went to Leon van Rooyen from South Africa, 13th Open went to Haji Al-Hadya from Kuwait, 14th Open went to Claude Rothgiesser from Canada, 15th Open went to Mathias u Otmar Theisen from Germany, 16th Open went to Homoud J Alazme from Kuwait, 17th Open went to Wilhelm Stoll from Germany, 18th Open went to Nova Club from Belgium, 19th Open went to Dean Pallett from United Kingdom and then 20th Open went to Team LBS from Germany. These top 20 pigeons were all officially clocked within 04.00 seconds of the race winner with 10 different countries being represented in this top 20 and the top 100 were all clocked within 3 minutes and 20 seconds of the winning pigeon. A total of 160 pigeons were officially clocked by 09-25, then 301 by 09-30, 499 by 09-35, 675 by 09-40, 972 by 09-48, 1,188 by 09-54, 1,527 by 10-03, 1,743 by 10-13, 2,423 by 11-12, 2,535 by
11-53, 2,576 by 12-19, then 2,815 by 17-37, then finally 2,879 making it by 19-27 leaving 390 pigeons still to make it back to base camp by nightfall. Once again as there was quite a few pigeons still missing the clock was left on and by 09-39 a further 132 had been officially clocked, making 3,011 in the lofts, plus another 31 made it by 10-18 and by nightfall a total 3,082 had been officially clocked and this total included 302 UK and 42 Irish pigeons, which meant that 187 were still missing. At the Monday morning loft check this showed 3,117 pigeons had returned to the lofts, leaving 152 still to return to the lofts. This total included 2,669 International and 448 South African pigeons with 304 UK and 42 Irish included in what had made it back to the lofts. This represented a 95.35% return rate from the longest race so far. By basketing for the next race 3,147 pigeons which showed that 96.27% had returned to the lofts, leaving just 122 still missing.
THE BRAND NEW CAR WINNER FOR CAR RACE 3 went to the pigeon that actually won 2nd Open for GARENTOWN SYNDICATE from AUSTRALIA with pigeon named UNGUARDED MOMENT bred by PAT MURPHY from QUEENSLAND. This is a great result for Australia and their team who have been great supporters of the SCMDPR and it was fantastic to see somebody winning the car in this race. John Koster emailed me bright and early to give me the fanciers name, who unfortunately they had been able to contact him and congratulate him up to the time of the email being sent to me. It should also be mentioned that the pigeon that actually won 1st OPEN was a DEFAULTER PIGEON, which means it has not been paid for by the owner, so was not eligible to win any prizes or prize money. When will these guys that enter pigeons and do not pay for them ever learn?
The US$20,000 CAR RACE 3 CASH PRIZES (20 x US$1,000) went to the pigeons that won 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 19th & 20th. The pigeons that took 1st, 3rd, 12th, 13th & 18th which were a Defaulter Pigeon plus one pigeon from Bahrain, one from South Africa, one from Kuwait and one from Belgium were “NOT-ACTIVATED” so did not win any of the US$1,000 cash prizes for their efforts, which once again shows the importance of paying for all your entries. So the extra 5 x US$1,000 cash prizes went to the following:- 21st Henrik Meldgaard from Denmark, 22nd Jiri Svoboda from Czech Republic, 23rd Certain Loft USA from United States Of America, 24th Lighthouse Road from South Africa and 25th Fareed Kathrada – Turf Pet from South Africa. CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THESE CASH WINNERS.