“INTERNATIONAL PRESS REPORT”

THE 19th 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 24th JANUARY 2015.

RESULTS TRAINING RACES 16 & 17.

TRAINING RACE 16 was supposed to take place on Wednesday 14th January 2015 from 75km (46 miles) but because the weather forecast showed rain and thunderstorms it was decided to move the race a day later and a total of 2,479 pigeons from 34 different countries took part and this total included 2,308 international pigeons which in turn included 150 pigeons from the United Kingdom and 39 pigeons from Ireland, plus 171 pigeons from South Africa.

The convoy were liberated on Thursday 15th January 2015 at 08.25 in fine and warm conditions with a temperature of about 17c (62f) with light head wind. As the day moved forward the temperature would rise to around 27c (82f) at between 11.00 & 12.00 and 14.00 & 15.00 15.00 the possibility of some rain around and then fine up to 19.00. A reasonably steady race was anticipated by the loft staff.

LIVESTREAM was available to watch online and I logged in bright and early at 07.00 (GMT) or 09.00 (SA) time as I thought the winning pigeons should arrive between 09.20 and 09.25 going on past race from the same distance. The palm tree in the garden which is behind loft 1 is always is a good guide to see which way the wind is blowing and today it was a side wind, the sky was very cloudy with blue sky just starting to break through the clouds. Once again I did not have to wait long as all of a sudden bang on line at 09.21 a gang of around 50 pigeons appeared in the sky, they swung round and tried to land but then another group of over 150 pigeons swung round and they hit the top of loft 2, (the one nearest the warehouse in the next property), then another gang of about 150 followed closely by another gang of around 150. So within a matter of 2 minutes there were over 500 on top of the lofts. Then as usual it became a trapping test and those first through the traps took the honours. A few minutes more passed and there were literally hundred sitting on top of the lofts. It really is great viewing from nearly 6,000 miles away. If you have not logged on yet, treat yourself on the next race, you will just love the experience I assure you.

CONGRATULATIONS on winning 1st OPEN went to HELMUT + ALFONS KLAAS from GERMANY with their pigeon named SASPIRILLA bred by this great partnership, which was officially clocked at 09.21.38.63 to record a winning velocity of 1420ypm (48mph), these fanciers have already bred two pigeon to win 1st OPEN in the FINAL RACE over the past few years, plus many other outstanding One Loft Race performances literally all over the world, 2nd Ruediger Schoenau from Germany, 3rd Team Germany –WA Waldow + S Theil from Germany, 4th Franz Kleinhans from Germany, 5th Boris Baloh from Slovenia, 6th Aldahoum Loft from Kuwait, 7th SG Scherre from Germany, 8th Jon Dagel from United States Of America, 9th Saad Al Abhoul from Kuwait, 10th Frederik Langenraedt from Belgium, 11th Josef Huber from Germany, 12th Zaben Alazmi from Kuwait, 13th Grzegorz Klimczyk from Poland,

14th Ralf Platt from Germany, 15th Marian Paskov from Bulgaria, 16th Taffys Syndicate from United States Of America, with his good pigeon that has now won 2nd, 3rd, 2 x 4ths and now 16th Open, 17th Gyany Antonescu from Romania, 18th Wouters Family from Belgium, 19th Ahmad S Al-Juwaisri from Kuwait and 20th another for Frederik Langenraedt from Belgium. The top 20 pigeons were separated by just 51.60 seconds and had 8 different countries represented in this result and it should be mentioned that German fanciers took the first four places in this race. A total of 2,398 pigeons were officially clocked by 10.12, leaving just 81 still to return to the lofts. A later report showed that 2,452 were recorded by 13.00, leaving 27 still to return to the lofts.

CONGRATULATIONS on winning 1st UNITED KINGDOM, 47th OPEN went to LUCKY DEVILS SYNDICATE, administered by PAUL SMITH from STANSTED MOUNTFITCHET and with pigeon named LUCKY MISTRESS which was officially clocked at 09.22.42.93 just 1 minute 04.30 seconds away from the actual race winner and was bred by FENECH BROTHERS from ATTLEBOROUGH, this pigeon has also flown well and won 69th, 83rd, 129th, 56th, 40th and now 47th OPEN in this race series, 2nd UK, 49th Open Carlos Dream Syndicate, administered by Paul Smith from Stansted Mountfitchet with pigeon named CARLOS VICTORY bred by Terry Robinson from Melba Lofts, Goffs Oak which was officially clocked at 08.46.14.27 just 18.50 seconds away from the actual race winner, this pigeon is flying well and won 1st UK, 13th Open in TR13, 3rd UK, 67th Open in HSCR5, 1st UK, 10th Open in TR14 and now 2nd UK, 49th Open, 3rd UK, 61st Open Paul Smith Syndicate, administered by Paul Smith from Stansted Mountifitchet and with pigeon bred by Jimmy Richards from Laindon, 4th UK, 76th Open Ken Ambler from Oxenhope, 5th UK, 109th Open LJ Leech and S. Bannister with pigeon bred by Joe Leech & Son from Featherstone, 6th UK, 115th Open Qwestair Loft with pigeon bred by Ian Freeman from Trowbridge, 7th UK, 125th Open another for Lucky Devils Syndicate with their great pigeon Lucky Countess bred by Fenech Brothers from Attleborough, this consistent pigeon has already won 5th, 12th, 23rd, 29th, 30th, 38th, 45th, 50th, 84th, 92nd, 125th, 133rd and 143rd OPEN in this race series, plus she has also won US$12,735.55c (£8,490) in Nomination winnings, 8th UK, 134th Open another for Paul Smith Syndicate with a second pigeon bred by Jimmy Richards from Laindon, 9th UK, 137th Open Premier Stud UK Syndicate, administered by Paul Smith from Stansted Mountfitchet and with pigeon bred by Premier Stud from Patringham Haven, 10th UK, 144th Open Guys Lofts Elite with pigeon bred by Graham Guy from Wolverhampton, 11th UK, 162nd Open another for Paul Smith Syndicate with a third pigeon bred by Jimmy Richards from Laindon, 12th UK, 200th Open Alan Richardson from Whitby, 13th UK, 207th Open Golden Mile with pigeon bred by Gary Moody from Portsmouth, this pigeon was his Free Entry that he won from the NFC Nom the previous year, won 1st UK, 52nd Open in HSCR5 and also won US$1,000 (£667) International Country Prize Money, 14th UK, 212th Open Keith & Graham Jones from Aylesbury,

15th UK, 263rd Open Pet Shop Boys and Girls with pigeon bred by John Alderslade from Bridlington, 16th UK, 271st Open another for Lucky Devils Syndicate, a third pigeon bred by Fenech Brothers from Attleborough, 17th UK, 293rd Open another for Lucky Devils Syndicate with a fourth pigeon bred by Fenech Brothers from Attleborough, 18th UK, 308th Open Zandys Dream Team, administered by Paul Smith from Stansted Mountfitchet and with a fifth pigeon bred by Fenech Brothers from Attleborough, 19th UK, 316th Open Danny Gruzelier from Kempston and 20th UK, 318th Open R+P Montila from Everton, Sandy. A total of 141 UK pigeons were officially clocked by 10.12, leaving just 9 still to return to the lofts. A later report showed that 145 UK pigeons were in the lofts by 13.00, leaving 5 still to return to the lofts.

CONGRATULATIONS on winning 1st IRELAND, 123rd OPEN went to GERRY DALY, with pigeon named WIZZO which was officially clocked at 09.23.14.98 just 1 minute 35.65 seconds away from the actual race winner, 2nd Ireland, 380th Open Johnson and Leonard, 3rd Ireland, 485th CornDirect, 4th Ireland, 530th Open Boylan and Nasher, with pigeon bred by John Nash, 5th Ireland, 544th Open Mob Tops and 6th Ireland, 706th Open Dylan and Daniel Boylan. A total of 38 Irish pigeons were officially clocked by 10.12, leaving just 1 pigeon to make it back to the lofts. A later report showed that all 39 Irish were in the lofts by 13.00.

GLOBAL NOMINATIONS on this TRAINING RACE 16 amounted to US$4,168.40c (£2,780) and a total of 137 pigeons including 22 pigeons from the United Kingdom and 2 pigeons from Ireland and with 469 nominations were placed. There was only one UNITED KINGDOM winner and that was the LUCKY DEVILS SYNDICATE, administered by PAUL SMITH from STANSTED MOUNTFITCHET and with pigeon named LUCKY MISTRESS bred by FENECH BROTHERS from ATTLEBOROUGH, which won 47th OPEN and US$68.85c (£46) for its efforts. WELL DONE TO THIS WINNER.

THE OVERALL AVERAGES after 21 official races in the 2014/15 race series stands as follows:- 1st ITALY, 1st OPEN is CHRISTIANO PALTRINIERI with pigeon named DAISUKE JIGEN with a total flying time of 28.30.55.51, currently leading this category by nearly 20 minutes, this pigeon has won 73rd, 215th, 79th, 25th, 40th, 159th, 223rd, 1024th, 845th, 57th, 308th, 547th, 107th, 543rd, 50th, 1591st, 174th, 497th, 1277th, 1st and now 171st OPEN in the 21 races that count, no movement in overall position and remains the same and unchanged from the last race. 1st UNITED KINGDOM, 16th OPEN is IAN CRAMMOND and NIGEL LANGSTAFF from FONTWELL with their pigeon named FONTWELL FOXTROT ROMEO with a total flying time of 29.18.08.41 this pigeon has won 2488th, 1426th, 13th, 167th, 515th, 105th, 17th, 9th, 529th, 101st, 13th, 478th, 1329th, 587th, 216th, 131st, 1066th, 1007th, 973rd, 822nd and now 624th OPEN in the 21 races that count, staying the same position as in the last race. 1st IRELAND, 171st OPEN is CORNDIRECT with their pigeon named BOYO bred by BRENDAN McCANN with a total flying time of 30.26.08.28, this pigeon has won 1578th, 2082nd, 2510th, 1546th, 981st, 191st, 748th, 1647th, 553rd, 1542nd, 93rd, 2353rd, 1413th, 814th, 1691st, 1132nd, 1008th, 216th, 1065th, 1364th and now 485th OPEN in the 21 races that count, moving up 14 places from 185th in the last race.

TRAINING RACE 17 took place on Saturday 17th January 2015 from 102km (63 miles) and is the penultimate race before the FINAL RACE and a total of 2,465 pigeons were basketed from 34 different countries, this total included 170 South African pigeons and 2,295 international pigeons and this figure included 148 from the United Kingdom and 39 from Ireland.

The convoy were liberated at 07.55 in fine and warm conditions, with a light tail wind and a temperature of 18c (64f) and a fairly fast race was anticipated by the loft staff. As the day progressed the weather would remain sunny and the temperature would rise to about 31c (90f) by mid-afternoon and there was no train forecast until after dark.

LIVESTEAM was up and running and as I woke early and logged on to the SAMDPR web site at about 06.55 (GMT) or 08.55 South African time as I thought the first pigeons would arrive about 09.05 to 09.10. The weather was a little bit cloudy and overcast with blue sky just breaking through and not to windy. All in all it was a great day for a pigeon race. Then as I waited and watched my computer screen sipping my early morning cup of tea I saw a really big gang of about 100 pigeons bang on line at 09.05, they swung round the lofts and were joined in the sky by about another gang of about 100 and most of them landed and on loft 1 the one closest to the Control Tower, a few then landed on loft 2, the one near the big warehouse on the next property.

Immediately they started to trap like rockets and they started to trap another gang of about 100 came bang on line and hit the top of lofts 1 and 2, followed by another gang of about 100 pigeons hit the top of the lofts, then another bigger gang of probably about 150 pigeons came through the skies bang on line and hit the top of the lofts. All clocked before 09.10. They were literally falling out of the sky. So within about five minutes there was probably well over 1,000 plus pigeons home and as usual the quicker trappers take the spoils. I would just like to say that the trapping this year has greatly improved this year and it was great to see them not sitting about as much as they did last year. I continued to watch the pigeons approach the lofts for about 20 minutes and it should be mentioned that they must have a wonderful racing line by now because you could virtually draw a line through the sky as most of the gangs approached the two lofts. Well done to the loft staff for making sure the pigeons do not sit out like they have done in the past. Of course there will always be the exception and a few pigeons will always be troublesome. It really is fantastic to sit nearly 6,000 miles away and watch everything happen live in South Africa. Once again this is modern technology at its very best.

CONGRATULATIONS on winning 1st OPEN went to AL-ABRAQ LOFT from KUWAIT with his pigeon named ALSHAYB bred by ESSA AL-MANSORI which was officially clocked at 09.05.31.56 to record a winning velocity of 1562ypm (53mph), this pigeon also won 1st OPEN in TR7, 6th OPEN in TR11, 42nd OPEN in TR13 and now 1st OPEN in TR17. 2nd Piotr Surowiec from United States Of America, this pigeon has won 14th OPEN in TR14, 18th OPEN in TR15 and now 2nd OPEN in TR17, 3rd Rolf Huchthausen from Germany, 4th Nemelka – McCormick – Full Turn from United States Of America, the CAR WINNER in HSCR2, 5th Berghokke from South Africa, 6th Fayez Q8 from Kuwait, 7th Willi Holstiege from Germany, 8th Team Sylt 2000 from Germany, 9th Club Western Cape Pigeon Union from South Africa, 10th Dr Melanie Herding from Germany, 11th Team Fuge - Koch from Germany,

12th Cooney Gang Syndicate from United Kingdom, 13th Bieu Tran from United States Of America, 14th Brdr Broebech from Denmark, 15th Lucky Devils Syndicate from United Kingdom, 16th Ganus Family Loft from United States Of America, 17th Nanez Family Syndicate from United States Of America, 18th Al-Watri Lofts from Kuwait,