“FIRST INTERNATIONAL PRESS REPORT”
THE 18th SOUTH AFRICAN MILLION DOLLAR
(THE RACE WITH THE PROVEN TRACK RECORD)
(THE GREATEST PIGEON RACE IN THE WORLD)
DUE TO BE HELD IN LINBRO PARK, SANDTON,
SOUTH AFRICA ON SATURDAY 25th JANUARY 2014.
CAR RACE HOT SPOT 3 & TRAINING RACES 11 & 12.
I feel I must start this International Press Release with the sad new that broke earlier today as I started to prepare this report and that was Nelson Mandela, Past President of South Africa had passed away on the evening of Thursday 5th December at the age of 95. Of course he was an inspiration to many people in South Africa and many others literally all over the world and he will be sadly missed.
LIVESTREAM was available once again for this race and will be used for every race from now on. This means that you can log on to the official web site:- www.samdpr.com and watch the pigeons arriving at the lofts as they fall out of the sky. It is fantastic to be able to look at the pigeons homing live, sitting nearly 6,000 miles away from the lofts. I logged on early and watched the winning pigeons arrive home at 07-02 GMT (09.02 SA time). A gang of about 30 pigeons arrived first, quickly followed by two more similar size groups and then the pigeons literally just fell out of the sky. The weather at the loft site looked a bit overcast with a nice steady wind but these top class pigeons seemed to manage the task that had been put in front of them. This really is new modern technology at its best.
CAR RACE HOT SPOT 3 took place on Saturday 7th December 2013 from 224km (139 miles) and yet another world record breaking 4,092 pigeons were basketed from 40 different countries, this staggering total was made up by 286 South African pigeons and 3,806 International pigeons and this included 315 from the United Kingdom and 57 from Ireland. The convoy were liberated at 05.45 in fine and clear conditions, a few clouds and a light head wind, temperature of 16c (61f) and a good steady tough race was anticipated.
It should probably be mentioned that in the same race last year a total of 3,338 pigeons were sent, so this means that an extra 754 more pigeons made it to this CAR HOT SPOT RACE this year than the same race during last year. Surely this just goes to prove that by being careful with the pigeons in the early training tosses pays dividends in the end. The Loft Managers and Staff have done a magnificent job during these early tosses in very poor weather conditions.
CONGRATULATIONS for winning 1st OPEN goes to LENKA MACHARA from SLOVAKIA with pigeon named MATUS, which was officially clocked at 09.02.33.69 to record a winning velocity of 1242ypm (42mph), performances to date were 1456th, 974th, 4097th, 2783rd, 2275th, 1849th, 1772nd, 827th, 2041st, 1213rd and now 1st OPEN, 2nd Al-Abraq Loft from Kuwait, 3rd Greg Glazier from United States Of America, 4th Team Germany – Christoph Groene from Germany, 5th Lanoak Lone Rangers from United Kingdom, 6th Team Hooymans from Netherlands, 7th Etienne Devos from Belgium, 8th Jan Hooymans – Hu Zhen Yu from Netherlands, 9th Hans and Evert-Jan Eijerkamp from Netherlands, 10th Ken Darlington from United Kingdom, 11th Roan and Haack from United States Of America, 12th Team Hooymans from Netherlands, 13th Stanescu and Dobre from Romania, 14th Madison Loft from United States Of America, 15th Scott McAllister from United States Of America, 16th Juergen Stefaniszyn from Germany, 17th Mishal Ead from Kuwait, 18th Injazz Loft from Qatar, 19th Americas Dream Loft from United States Of America and 20th Ken Christopher from United States Of America. The top twenty in this result were separated by just 53.60 seconds and had 9 different countries represented, however it should be mentioned that the first seven positions were all taken by pigeons representing different countries. This race resulted in 3,855 pigeons being officially recorded by 18.52, leaving 237 pigeons to make it back to the lofts by nightfall. Sunday morning the pigeons started to roll in and by 16.45 a total of 3,940 had returned which meant that just 152 (3.71%) pigeons were still missing. The Monday morning loft list showed 4,007 pigeons in the lofts, which meant that only 85 (2.077%) had failed to return.
***THE BRAND NEW MOTOR CAR*** went to the pigeon that won 2nd OPEN for AL-ABRAQ LOFT from KUWAIT with his pigeon named AL MANSOURI THREE , which had previously won 597th, 61st, 142nd, 1009th, 161st, 3439th, 84th, 2305th, 1049th, 194th and now 2nd OPEN in its first eleven races. The pigeon that won 1st OPEN for the Slovakian fancier was NOT-ACTIVATED so could not win this fabulous prize.
***THE NINETEEN US$1,000 (£645) HOT SPOT CASH PRIZES*** were won by pigeons that took 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st & 22nd OPEN. In this race there was only one pigeon NOT ACTIVATED, which resulted in the owners of 14th OPEN an American fancier not winning a US$1,000 cash prize. SURELY, IF A PIGEON IS WORTH ENTERING INTO THE RACE AT THE START, THEN IT MUST BE WORTH ACTIVATING ONCE THEY GET TO THE CAR RACE HOT SPOTS? Still the fancier that won a bonus US$1,000 cash prize are now all highly delighted, meaning that this pigeon has now already paid for itself. It should be noted that the CAR WINNER does not receive a US$1,000 Cash Prize. For the full results see Results & Listings on SAMDPR Web Site www.samdpr.com
***THE TWO BIRD AVERAGE & US$2,000 (£1,290) CASH PRIZE*** 1st PRIZE was won by KOOPMAN RACING TEAM, TEAM S from NETHERLANDS with his two pigeons named OTIS and MORE THAN READY which took 68th and 74th OPEN. The best UNITED KINGDOM team took 20th OPEN for CRAMMOND and LANGSTAFF, TEAM B from FONTWELL and with two pigeons named FONTWELL LUCKY BEGGAR and FONTWELL FINESSE which took 36th and 586th OPEN. The best IRISH team took 12th OPEN for JOS REILLY – TEAM IRELAND, TEAM A with two pigeons named JOS 1 and JOS 2 which took 67th and 321st OPEN, both pigeons were bred by JOS REILLY from DUBLIN.
***THE THREE BIRD AVERAGE & US$3,000 (£1,935) CASH PRIZE*** 1st PRIZE was also won by KOOPMAN RACING TEAM, TEAM S from NETHERLANDS with his three pigeons named OTIS, MORE THAN READY and ABUNDANCE which took 68th, 74th and 369TH OPEN. The best UNITED KINGDOM team took 11th OPEN for LUCKY DEVILS SYNDICATE, TEAM I, administered by PAUL SMITH from STANSTED MOUNTFITCHET and with three pigeons named LUCKY PEARL, LUCKY HOPE and LUCKY VENTURE which took 185th, 543rd and 1191st OPEN and all being bred by BOB FENECH from ATTLEBOROUGH. The best IRISH team took 23rd OPEN for BOB DALY, TEAM A and with three pigeons named WIZZO JNR, JAIL BIRD and BELCAMP 60 which took 487th, 804 and 1818th.
CONGRATULATIONS on winning 1st UNITED KINGDOM, 5th OPEN went to LANOAK LONE RANGERS with pigeon named LANOAK DIRK which was bred by KEVIN FOSTER from LONGFIELD HILL and which was officially clocked at 09.02.58.54 just 24.85 seconds behind the actual race winner, this pigeon had already won 4115th, 312th, 3591st, 1609th, 812th, 3202nd, 2117th, 3184th, 3227th, 114th and now 5th OPEN, this pigeons sire was a double g-son of Kannibal and the dam was bred by Ronnie Williamson from a daughter of one of his NIPA winners, 2nd UK, 10th Open Ken Darlington from Barry, 3rd UK, 36th Open Ian Crammond and Nigel Langstaff from Fontwell, 4th UK, 39th Open Dave, Paul & Judy McCarthy from Wallasey, 5th UK, 41st Open Lucky Devils Syndicate, administered by Paul Smith from Stansted Mountfitchet and with a pigeon bred by Bob Fenech from Attleborough, 6th UK, 47th Open Keeping Up With The Jones NFC Nom and with a pigeon bred by Robbie Jones from Southampton, 7th UK, 93rd Open Syndicate Lofts UK with pigeon bred by Peter Fox from Bangor, 8th UK, 95th Open Reach Then Join with pigeon bred by Peter Keogh from Broxburn, 9th UK, 101st Open Premier Stud UK Syndicate, administered by Paul Smith from Stansted Mountfitchet and with pigeon bred by Premier Stud from Patringham Haven, 10th UK, 104th Open Alistair Hogg from Winchburgh, 11th UK, 129th Open Eamon Kelly from Abingdon, 12th UK, 185th Open another for the Lucky Devils Syndicate, administered by Paul Smith from Stansted Mountfitchet and with another pigeon bred by Bob Fenech from Attleborough, 13th UK, 193rd Open Planet Brothers from Noak Hill, 14th UK, 216th Open Tadt Syndicate with pigeon bred by Tadt Truszkowski from Rotherby, 15th UK, 254th Open another for Syndicate Lofts UK and with another bred by Peter Fox from Bangor, 16th UK, 278th Open Guys Lofts with a pigeon bred by Graham Guy from Wolverhampton, 17th UK, 305th Open Emilia Loft UK with pigeon bred by Sebastian Suski from Southampton, 18th UK, 308th Open another for the Lucky Devils Syndicate with another bred by Bob Fenech from Attleborough, 19th UK, 309th Open The Farriers with pigeon bred by Brian Greenley from Malton and 20th UK, 311th Open another for the Lucky Devils Syndicate with yet another pigeon bred by Bob Fenech from Attleborough, which was the fourth in this race result. This race resulted in 298 pigeons being officially clocked by 18.52, leaving 17 UK pigeons still to make it back to base camp. Another 7 UK pigeons were recorded on Sunday up to 16.45 making a total of 305, which meant just 10 (3.17%) were still missing. The Monday morning loft list showed 309 UK pigeons in the lofts, making just 6 (1.904%) were still missing.
CONGRATULATIONS on winning 1st IRELAND, 67th OPEN went to JOS REILLY – TEAM IRELAND with pigeon named JOS 1 which was officially clocked at 09.05.12.55, just 2 minute and 38.86 seconds behind the actual race winner, this winning pigeon has won 897th, 4062nd, 1793rd, 4370th, 4232nd, 1913th, 2127th, 482nd, 11th, 1969th and now 67th OPEN, this is the second time this pigeon has won 1st IRELAND as it did this in TR9, then 2nd Ireland, 84th Open Brammer and Nasher, 3rd Ireland, 321st Open another for Jos Reilly – Team Ireland, 4th Ireland, 326th Open Bernard Smyth – Gordon Brothers, 5th Ireland, 487th Open Bob Daly and 6th Ireland, 609th Open Safet Duran. This race resulted in 53 Irish pigeons being officially clocked by 18.52, leaving 4 still to return to the lofts by darkness. Then up to 16.45 on Sunday a further 2 Irish pigeons had homed making the total of 55 in the lofts, leaving just 2 (3.51%) were still missing. The Monday morning loft list still showed 55 Irish pigeons in the lofts.
GLOBAL NOMINATIONS totalled US$20,071.05c (£13,381) and had a total of 492 pigeons entered, with 1,756 Nominations, which included 41 pigeons from the UNITED KINGDOM and 3 pigeons from IRELAND. There was only one UK winner and that was EAMON KELLY from ABINGDON with his pigeon named JAMIE RAY that took 129th OPEN and won US$136 (£90.67p) for its efforts, this pigeon has already won quite a lot of pool money in this race series. WELL DONE EAMON. REGIONAL NOMINATIONS in the UNITED KINGDOM had 14 pigeons entered and 33 nominations which totalled US$135.15c (£90.10p) and three fanciers shared this money, EMILIA LOFT UK with pigeon named PRINCESS EMILIA and bred by SEBASTIAN SUSKI from SOUTHAMPTON took 305th OPEN and won US$11.90c (£7.93p), SYNDICATES BEACON UK with pigeon named MEABURN FANTASTIC and bred by IAN PARSONS from PENRITH took 562nd OPEN and won US$119 (£79.34p) and then AMBLERS OF OXENHOPE with pigeon named DANEDREAM bred by KEN AMBLER from OXENHOPE took 662nd OPEN and won just US$4.25c (£2.84p) . WELL DONE TO ALL.
CASCADE CHALLENGE for CAR RACE HOT SPOT 3 there was a total of US$9,916.50c (approx. £6,611) and a grand total of 372 pigeons were entered which included 24 from the United Kingdom and just 2 from Ireland. The nearest pigeon to winning the POT OF GOLD took 25th OPEN for THORSTEN + FINN LEON DAUM from GERMANY with pigeon named BELISAR, just 1 minute 05.65 seconds away from winning 1st OPEN. The nearest UNITED KINGDOM pigeon took 129th OPEN for EAMON KELLY from ABINGDON with his consistent pigeon named JAMIE RAY. The best IRISH pigeon took 3787th OPEN for LYONS and BLACKMORE with their pigeon named JACK THE LAD. This total of US$9,916.50c (£6,611) will now rollover to TRAINING RACE 11.
THE OVERALL GRAND AVERAGES after 11 races are as follows:- 1st KOOPMAN RACING TEAM from NETHERLANDS with their pigeon named OTIS with a combined flying time of 15.04.51.20, leading by just 2 minutes 25 seconds after taking 1058th, 136th, 758th, 1669th, 150th, 375th, 956th, 15th, 693rd, 1705th and now 68th OPEN in the first eleven races, a very consistent pigeon. 2nd Open is Al-Abraq Loft from Kuwait with pigeon named Khalaf. The truly amazing fact is that there are a total of 11 different countries represented in the top 20 in this category.
UNITED KINGDOM OVERALL AVERAGES after 11 races are as follows:- 1st UK, 18th OPEN LUCKY DEVILS SYNDICATE, administered by PAUL SMITH from STANSTED MOUNTFITCHET with pigeon named LUCKY STAR both bred by BOB FENECH from ATTLEBOROUGH with a combined flying times of 15.40.14.01 leading this category by over 38 minutes with performances of 1260th, 289th, 1280th, 963rd, 1061st, 114th, 57th, 304th, 3364th, 2181st and now 308th OPEN in the first eleven races, Bob’s team of pigeons that he entered into this race are certainly holding their own in the first eight races, 2nd UK, 52nd Open another for Lucky Devils Syndicate and named Lucky Vision, then 3rd UK, 115th Open Paul Smith Syndicate, administered by Paul Smith from Stansted Mountfitchet and with pigeon named Stansted Beauty bred by Jimmy Richards from Laindon. There were 9 UK pigeons in the top 199 in the Open in this category. WELL DONE TO ALL CONCERNED. IRISH OVERALL AVERAGES after 11 races are as follows:- 1st IRELAND, 385th OPEN BILLY WALLACE with his pigeon named MAUREEN with a combined flying time of 18.48.07.68 after taking 1407th, 2087th, 325th, 1686th, 3367th, 1129th, 1006th, 1598th, 235th, 1183rd and now 2041st OPEN in the first eleven races. The next Irish pigeon holds 481st Open. WELL DONE GUYS.