Rooster J Cogburn Column

[Rooster J. Cogburn]

The Story of a Long Distance Champion

Rosary Beads-Bred& Raced by David Jamieson, East Calder

In the spring of 2011, in the East Calder lofts of DavieJamieson, hatched a pigeon the likes of which are few. Banded with the yellowring marked SU11 CA 858, her hopeful owner was at that time oblivious to whatexactly her future would hold.

 

 

Here we are some four years down the line where this hen, Rosary Beads, could be likened to theMessi of FC Barcelona or the Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes. Great teams alwayshave a star, and Davie Jamieson’s superb loft of racing pigeons is nodifferent. Great and superb are two of the many similar words that could beused to describe Davie’s current team, this last few seasons have rarely seenthem keep his picture out the paper or his name from peppering the results.Multiple SNFC section victories have been achieved and numerous top 5 and 10Open prizes have been won, these from far away race points such as Newbury,Reims, Ancenis and Clermont. September 2015 saw him with fifteen pigeons on theOpen result from the SNFC Buckingham Young Bird Open, a feat practicallyunheard of in the area in which he flies. The quality of stock and racershoused in these lofts is the stuff most fanciers will only ever dream of andthis is a story about the jewel in the crown of astonishing achievements.

 

 

Rosary Beads wasbred and hatched to a light chequer cock and a red hen, both of which could beconsidered blue blooded in terms of racing pigeon ancestry. The cock of thepair was the result of an arranged mating between two of Scotland’s finestmultiple long distance performance pigeons of the era, his sire being aScottish National Flying Club Gold Award winner for the late Dale Newcombe. Acock that was given the name KardaleStyle-scoring five times at over 500 miles with the SNFC notching up 113^th,15^thand55^th Open in our Gold Cup race as well as 26^th and 84^thOpen Sartilly. This fine cock was bred by Dale and like many of his prominentwinners in the 90s and 00s his breeding was greatly influenced by thebloodlines of the John Ellis of Elphinstone pigeons.

 

 

John Ellis is mostassociated with the Lothian Pair, ablue cock and red hen that left behind a dynasty of winners. With terms like‘Golden Pair’ and ‘Wonder Couple’ being so widely used in the selling ofpigeons these days, it’s easy to see why they are often dispelled as myth. Thatbeing said Lothian King and Queenmore than fit the bill. Their genes can be traced back to those John’s late father,JTEllis of Haddington had in his loft- a blend of winning lines from; the McCabeBros of East Calder, Willie Fairgreave of East Saltoun, the Piercey Bros of Spittaland Geordie Robertson of Cupar. The best known daughter of the pair Lothian Lass was somewhat of a flyingmachine winning a Gold Award with the following SNFC Open positions; 21^st,8^th,24^th,11^th,77^th,248^thand 128^th. A son was gifted to Dale Newcombe and went on to breednone other than Kardale Clive’s memory the1993 SNFC Gold Cup Winner when paired to a Gunn and Cheerie hen. Any cock andhen that bred a racer in the calibre of LothianLass would be considered a ‘Golden Pair’ in the eyes of many fanciers. Whenone considers that eight of her siblings won in SNFC Open competition 8^th,9^th,21^st,22^nd,29^th,31^st,35^th,41^st,42^nd,63^rd,66^th,68^th,123^rd,129^th,132^nd,153^rd,176^th,192^nd,243^rd, between them racing 500-600miles, this couldbe considered a Platinum pairing. This line of birds not only won for JohnEllis and Dale Newcombe,but impacted the lofts of many top fanciers including;John Bosworth, Tom McEwan,Mr and Mrs Smith, Richard & Jamie Combe, JockAllan, Mr and Mrs Elliot, Joe Mullen,Joe Murphy and so on.

 

 

There is a reason I’ve gone into depth regarding theachievements of the John Ellis pigeons, when John decided to part with hispigeons Davie Jamieson was fortunate enough to acquire the entire team. Daviereckons around 70% of his present day team have the Ellis of Elphinstone bloodrunning through their veins. He has expressed tremendous gratitude to John-theman he describes as the best fancier he has ever met and is indebted to him,not only for these tremendous birds, but for the advice and friendship he hasgiven him over the years-completely altering his opinions on all aspectsrelating to the management and preparation of pigeons for long distancenational racing. The list of top lofts winning with these bloodlines has onlygotten longer since they have been in Davie’s hand as they’ve played a part inoutright National winners for the top Solway flyers; Crombie and Mechan, BillySmith and John Little.

 

 

Back now to this chequer cock,the sire of Rosary Beads, anda little about his dam. This was a hen of great class, I’ve heard many whohandled the bird remark on how she was one of the finest birds they’ve everseen. Known as the Cholet Hen,Davie obtainedher at the clearance sale of J & J Keir of Thornton in Fife. As a 600 mileracer she was every bit the champion winning from this distance on fouroccasions over three different race points. She won 11^th and 60^thOpen Chenoise, plus 5^th Open Tours with the SNFC, before going ontowin 3^rd Open SNRPC Cholet and earning her retirement. Her breeding is the very best Fife had tooffer being down through the Keir’s 4^th Open Rennes Hen My Little Lady as well many of thereference pigeons of John Traill of Thornton, who went through a spell in theSNFC’s longest race the likes of which has scarcely been seen before or since.Over the course of four seasons in the mid-1990s he was able to amass 1^st,8^thand 30^th Open Niort at 690miles as well as 1^st,2^ndand 30^th Open Nantes at 620miles. A true legend of long distanceracing into Scotland. After reading the performances and heritage of the Cholet Hen it should come as no surpriseto hear she has been a phenomenal breeder in East Calder, in fact she is thepigeon Davie Jamieson hails as the best he has ever obtained.

 

 

 

Much like RosaryBeads’ sire her dam is also of immaculate long distance ancestry, a 2007latebred red hen, her sister is recognised as one of Davie’s best breeders.This outstanding nest pair are bred from birds Davie purchased from his namesake (no relation), the late Matt Jamieson of Annan. The sire of the pair inparticular is a bit special and was the pigeon Matt Considered to be the bestin his loft at the time. Being three times in the first 22 Open SNFC including4^th Open from the Alencon Gold Cup, it’s simple enough to see why.The Jamieson brothers of Annan are as synonymous a name to pigeon racing in thesouth of Scotland as Johnny Kirkpatrick and BlueBlitz. Yes, the names of John and Matt Jamieson are considered household,with four National wins between them and a string of 2nds and 3rds etc. therehave been few better over the Scottish National Flying Club’s long history. Apoint I found quite interesting and a little coincidental in this instance waswhen Matt Jamieson won the Nantes National in 1969 with Border Star, the runner up was none other than Haddington’s JTEllis. With pigeons so deeply rooted intop long distance bloodlines it is little wonder a pigeon like Rosary Beads has appeared in DavieJamieson’s loft.

 

 

On to the champion herself and her young bird season, Rosary Beads is described by her owneras being a fairly attractive young hen, one of a few eye catchers amongst his2011 youngsters, but little more than that. Not part of his darkness team, apleasant pearl eye turned in her head and she saw out the federation programmewith no remarkable proficiency. At this point it’s worth noting that she, aswith all Davie youngsters, was given no training prior to entering the firstrace of 50 miles. To expand on that point, none of Davie’s pigeons young or oldare ever taken a training toss at any time. They are expected to exercise wellround home and fed in such a way that encourages this. Friends of Davie’s havewatched his birds roaming miles from home and with the lack of training by roadand a light, carefully thought out diet this becomes habit. The only time theyare in a basket is to race.

 

 

Although showing no real signs of racing talent as ayoungster, Davie liked the look and breeding of Rosary Beads enough to take youngsters from her as a yearling. Thisis not something he usually practises, preferring for the most part to breedoff his stock birds and prizewinning racers. As a yearling racer she wentthrough the same procedure as the majority of Davie’s birds at this age, it’susually a case of a handful of inland races down to the English coast then theyare left to mature out for the following season. There have been instances inwhich Davie has sent yearlings over the channel if they have what he’s lookingfor come the time. One such example is a red full sister of Rosary Beads which as a late bred took26^th Open SNFC Ypres, a distance of just under 437 miles, in whatwas only the pigeons fourth time in a basket in her lifetime.

 

 

In 2013 Rosary Beads turnedtwo years old, by now she had the look of a bird that could do something ofnote. The fact she had never really shone up to this point is not somethingthat deterred Davie too much. After all it is reasonably common for good longdistance racers never to see a clock until sent a long distance. At thebeginning of the year the usual procedure was carried out; the birds werepaired in February then parted in April to be raced on a form of roundabout.This is the same for all the old bird racers in Davie’s loft before he re-pairsthem for a chosen race point. The race point chosen for Rosary Beads this particular season was the Scottish NationalFlying Club’s longest race. Always a testing event, at times disastrous and in2013 to be flown from a race point unknown to the club-Ancenis, convoying withthe Midland’s National Flying Club. The race took place on the 6^thof July with the birds being liberated at 0550. In years gone by 743miles intoScotland has been achieved on the day of liberation, so with the early liberationtime day birds weren’t ruled out, even if it was just in hope rather thanexpectation. News filtered through the MNFC, with the bulk of their birdsflying around 200- 300 miles less than the Scottish contingent, were having asticky one-thus doubts began to form as to whether any pigeons would make itinto Scotland by nightfall. There was one timed on the night and in hindsightif only one person was to get a bird on the day it was going to be Scott IrvingJr. for in 2013 his birds flew nothing short of magnificently. Scott clockedhis superb chequer hen at 2121 eventually taking 1^st Open, althoughI’m sure it wouldn’t have been an easy night-with timing in so close to raceclosing into Brydekirk there would always be the fear that someone furthernorth could clock early the next day for the win. Someone did indeed time in 63miles further north the following day, none other at Davie Jamieson-who clockedhis first pigeon at 0446, but had to make do with 2^nd Open just sixyards per minute shy of the National winning pace Scott had set the previousnight. Davie’s first bird was a 3 year old cock now known as White Mick, I’ve had the pleasure ofhandling this pigeon and would class him as absolutely magnificent. The racewas still on, but the fancy had a time to wait until the next pigeons arrived.The third pigeon timed in the country taking 3^rd Open for herefforts was the subject of this report RosaryBeads, at the time of 0801 she was a very good pigeon. To be 2^ndand 3^rd Open SNFC racing just shy of 600miles would do most people,but not Davie Jamieson for he was to time another of his entries as the cherryon top in the form of 10^th Open, giving him 1^st,2^ndand 3^rd Section D to boot. I have tried to find another example of afancier with three pigeons in the first 10 Open from the SNFC’s longest raceand I think I’ll be trying for a good while more.

 

 

After Davie’s success from Ancenis in 2013, the good chequercock White Mick was, I can imagine,ever so slightly better looking to his eyes than Rosary Beads. This was to change at 2100 on the 7^th ofJuly 2014. Again the SNFC were at Ancenis with the MNFC, again it was an earlyliberation (0610), again Davie Jamieson and RosaryBeads were to the fore. Sent sitting 12 day eggs on basketting day as in2013, this time she was to fly the 598 miles on the day of liberation-being thefurthest flying pigeon in the race to do so. Beaten only to 1^stSection by a super pigeon of Tam Fyfe’s she was to be 2^nd Section D,4^th Open. I have tried to find an example of a pigeon to havefinished twice in the first 4 Open from the SNFC’s longest race and again Ithink I’ll be trying for a good while more. That Saturday in July emerged apigeon in the class of; John Bosworth’s Arleen’s Vintage (twice first 5 Open, threetimes first 15 Open Longest Race), Jim Sanderson’s Loan Frill Lady (twice first 7 Open Longest Race) and Jock Traill’s Nancy (twice first 8 Open Longest Race), fulfilling the ambition ofa fancier who got his first pigeons as a boy in 1970 and his first SNFC diplomafor 57^th Open Sartilly in 1984. A real dream come true.

 

 

So what was next for RosaryBeads ?I remember reading the race report in 2014 in which Dr Lynch raisedthe dilemma faced by Davie- keep her going or retire her to stock? Fortunatelythe decision made in 2015 transpired to be the right one. With her preparationunaltered from the two years previous going to plan it was off to Ancenis againin early July for this long distance champion. It was this third crossing thatbrought her owner the most joy, despite the fact she never made it home on thenight, arriving at 0518 made her the first pigeon timed in Scotland thatmorning and brought her the section win that had eluded her up until now. Herarrival only marked the beginning of a great morning in East Calder, foranother hen was clocked at 0645 and a third at 0813. This saw Davie Jamiesonfinishing 11^th, 15^th and 20^th Open and taking1^st,2^nd and 3^rd from this race point for thesecond time in three seasons. I mentioned the legendary Jock Traill’s four yearrun in the SNFC’s longest race earlier in this report and when one considersDavie Jamieson’s 2^nd,3^rd,4^th,10^th,11^th,15^th,20th,and 41st from the equivalent race point over a three year period he has a greatdeal to be proud of.

 

 

Rosary Beads performancesover this time have earned her a SNFC Silver Award of which will be hard tobetter. To summarise, this tremendous pigeon has won

 

2^nd Section D, 3^rd Open SNFC Ancenis(598 miles)

 

2^nd Section D,4^th Open SNFC Ancenis(598miles)

 

1^st Section D, 11^th Open SNFC Ancenis(598miles)

 

A retirement well-earned and with youngsters and siblings ofRosary Beads already showing greatpromise, I’m sure we will hear more of this great hen as breeder.

 

 

 

As a closing thought I’d firstly like to thank DavieJamieson for giving me the opportunity to compile this short report. SecondlyI’d like to congratulate him on breeding and racing this long distancechampion. Thirdly I only hope I have given her the credit she warrants and finallyI extend a thanks to Paul Bamford on behalf of Davie, his pigeons andfriendship are greatly valued.

 

 

Lewis McCalley