| Author: Joe Murphy | Title: 7 0f the Best Part 2 by Joe Murphy |
| Date: 2022-02-18 07:55:41 | Uploaded by: Brian |
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The Joe Murphy’s Column
Seven of the Best Part 2 (First Published in 2004)
Re-Typed February 2022
1
Tom McEwen’s Marlene’s Boy
The next two pigeons in my story are both related- Marlene’s Boy and Fortune
Lady are both grandchildren of Tom McEwen’s 4th open SNFC Rennes winner.
Let start at the beginning; Tom McEwen flew in partnership with his late father
and his brother Archie as McEwen & Sons in Elphinstone Homing Society. They
had a very good blue hen wheat was bred down from a Charles Van Der Esptbloodlines, which Tom’s father had purchased years before. This blue hen was
sent to the Silver Jubilee Gold Cup race from Rennes with the SNFC and had an
entry of 7,476 birds competing. The convoy was liberated at 06-30am into a light
variable wind on Friday 24th June 1977. Tom timed in the blue hen at 20-36-11
to win 4th east section and 4th open with a velocity of 1128 for the 542 miles. The
blue hen turned out to be the foundation stone of Tom’s present day family. One
of Tom’s close friends and club mates is Jimmy Smith of the famous Mr & Mrs
Smith partnership. One Saturday, Jimmy walked the short distance to visit Tom
who was waiting on some late arrivals coming home from a training flight. As
they stood chatting, a blue pied cock SN11 1809 dropped on the grass in front of
the loft. Its wing was drooping down and Tom remarked to Jimmy, ‘Well his days
of racing are now over’. The bird had previously been injured and Tom thought
he had recovered as he had not suffered any ill effects while flying with the other
kit of birds round the loft. However, the strain of having to work hard from this
race was too much for him and it was obvious that he had not recovered fully
from his original injury. Jimmy asked Tom what he would do with the pied cock
11809 and his reply was he would go into the stock loft as he was direct son from
‘Blue Paul’, the partnership 1970 -1
st open SNFC Young Bird winner from
Cheltenham when paired to his good blue hen that won 4th open SNFC Rennes.
Tom had bred six from this pair and they were all doing well in the race team, so
keeping one back for stock would be a worthwhile exercise. Jimmy liked the look
of 11809 and asked Tom if he could borrow him to pair to his Gold Award winner
‘Flower of Scotland’. Tom said to Jimmy ‘I’ll give you a gift of 11809’, and the
rest is history. As 11809 became the sire of Mr & Mrs Smith’s second Gold
Award winner ‘SN578’. Jimmy Smith then paired 11809 back to his SN578 his
own daughter, and they in turn bred ‘Fortune Lady’. So, fanciers will see that
‘Fortune Lady’ was very inbred, but more about he a little later on in this story.
As I said earlier, the blue hen that won 4th open Rennes would become the
foundation hen in Tom McEwen’s loft as she turned out to be an extraordinary
breeder. Tom presented Jackie Mathieson of Dalkeith with a bird bred down from
the 4th open Rennes hen. When these pair of McEwen pigeon were paired
together, they bred a son who won 2nd open SNFC young bird national. Jackie
The Joe Murphy’s Column
Seven of the Best Part 2 (First Published in 2004)
Re-Typed February 2022
2
visited Tom to obtain more of this winning bloodline and Tom then gave Jackie
a direct daughter from the 4th open Rennes blue hen to pair to his 2nd open SNFC
winner, Jackie told Tom that he would receive the first youngster from this pairing
and the next year and Jackie was as good as his word, as he gave Tom back a blue
cock 05733. This turned out to be ‘Marlene’s Boy’ who won 1st open SNFC
Sartilly as a yearling. After a one-day holdover the national birds were liberated
on the Saturday morning at 06-00 hours. Tom had been working all day and didn’t
arrive home until 5-45pm when his wife Marlene started to make his evening
meal. Tom, like the rest of us on National nights, could not settle and he took the
clock down to the loft and gave it a quick clean out. As walked back up the garden
he heard someone shouting ‘There’s a bird Tom’. As he looked up his blue cock
05733 landed on the board and his tail was ‘shaking’. Tom timed him in a 05-
48pm after being 11 hours 48 minutes on the wing to win the National with a
velocity of 1241 ypm. If we study the breeding of ‘Marlene’s Boy’ you will see
his sire was 2nd open and his dam was a daughter of a 4th open Rennes blue hen.
His grandsire was 1st open SNFC young bird national winner ‘Blue Paul’ when
paired to another daughter of the blue hen that won 4th open Rennes. You would
think that it could not get any better than this, however the story continues.
‘Marlene’s Boy’ when paired to a direct daughter of ‘Lothian King’ and ‘Lothian
Queen’ bred a 4th open SNFC Nantes 602 miles winner for Tom. When
‘Marlene’s Boy’ was paired to a Charles Van Der Espt hen he bred a 4th open
SNFC Niort 673 miles winner. Talk about winners breeding winners, this is the
prime example of good quality pigeon passing down their winning genes.
However, the story continues; The same day that Tom won 4th open Nantes he
was also 14th open with an uncle of his Dewar Trophy winner. These two pigeons
won for Tom the E.R. Williamson Trophy for the best 2 bird average in the SNFC
from the Nantes race; which is the longest race in the club’s calendar. As a matter
of fact, the 14th open Nantes cock’s niece won 2nd open SNFC Rennes in 1996 for
Tom’s brother Matthew. The 4th open Nantes winner ‘0582’ was mated to the 14th
open Nantes winner ‘03764’ and they bred a chequer cock, which in turn was
mated back to his own mother, the ‘0582’. This pairing bred a chequer cock ‘213’
which I purchased at a charity sale and he is now in Kevin’s stock loft. I have
enclosed a photograph of him for this article, which show fanciers, if they look at
the other photographs, to see that he has the same characteristics as his fantastic
ancestors. In fact, if you look at Kardale Starmist you cannot help but see the
resemblance to ‘213’. Another interesting point is that ‘213’ is only four
generations away from ‘Lothian King’ and ‘Lothian Queen’ and five generations
away from the 4th open Rennes blue foundation hen. The 4th open Nantes winner
was mated to Tom’s SHU Dewar Trophy winner in 1994 and they bred an 8th
open Sartilly winner. The Dewar Trophy winner ‘0102’ won 5th open Beauvais,
The Joe Murphy’s Column
Seven of the Best Part 2 (First Published in 2004)
Re-Typed February 2022
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22nd open Sartilly, 54th open Sartilly and 125th open Rennes all with the SNFC.
His full sister won 16th open Sartilly and 81st open Beauvais the same race as her
brother won 5th open. The ‘Dewar Trophy’ winner was bred from a daughter of
‘Marlene’s Boy’ when paired to a son of Norman C Nelmes of Gloucestershire’s
‘Severn Prince’ who won 1st & 3rd open Lerwick. ‘The Dewar Trophy winner’
was paired to his own sister and they bed what Tom calls the ‘Inbred Cock’ which
has been a ‘Goldmine’ at stock. He is the sire of ‘Shari’ the blue hen who won 5th
open SNFC Portland and was entered into the Joe Murphy Sporting Challenge in
2002. Her full sister won 21st open SNFC Rennes in 2003. To go back to
‘Marlene’s Boy’, I said earlier he was paired to a seven-year-old hen full of ‘Van
Der Espt’ bloodlines and they bred the ‘Niort Cock’ who won 4th open SNFC
Niort 673 miles. His sister ‘0137’ was called ‘Penny’ and she won 32nd open
Sartilly;’ 47th open Sartilly, 193rd open Rennes and 86th open Sartilly all SNFC.
Unfortunately, ‘Penny’ was lost while going for her ‘Gold Award’. However,
when she was paired to ‘03764’, winner of 14th open Nantes, they bred ‘2778’
who won 173rd open Frome and 1st east section 3rd open SNFC Sartilly. ‘Penny’s
brother’ the ‘Niort Cock’ was also turned out to be a goldmine at stock. He was
paired to the sister of the sire of the ‘Dewar Trophy’ winner and they bred ‘The
Bib’ who also won 4 times in the SNFC. His positions were 20th open Newbury,
46th open Hastings, 40th open Rennes and 146th open Messac. A son from the
‘Niort Cock’ when he was paired to a granddaughter of the 4th open Nantes winner
bred a 65th open Reims winner in 2002. After my plea to fanciers for information
regarding my top seven pigeons, George Archibald of Bilston in Midlothian
wrote to say he has winning pigeons related to ‘Marlene’s Boy’ and ‘Fortune
Lady’. A daughter of ‘Marlene’s Boy’ ‘3347’ when paired to a son of ‘Fortune
Lady’ (his sire was also a grandson of ‘Flower of Scotland’ on the other side of
his pedigree). Bred a chequer hen that flew from Reims in 2002, then won 19th
federation 57th region, 130th east section 232nd open Reims in 2003. She was also
timed at 08-20pm on the day from the Clermont race of 2003. Another daughter
from a daughter of ‘Marlene’s Boy’ 3347 when she was paired to a son of
‘Fortune Lady’ (when she was paired to her own sire 11809) bred 88th section
SNFC Messac in 2000 for George Archibald. The daughter of ‘Marlene’s Boy’
3347 was also paired to a Tommy Gilbertson of Carlisle bloodlines cock. They
bred a dark chequer hen who won 3rd club 91st federation Leicester open 2002,
then 6th federation 43rd region 87th east section 96th open Clermont in 2003.
Another fancier who contacted me with details of winning pigeons was Derek
Hay of Kirkintilloch, near Glasgow. Derek purchased a bird donated by Tom
McEwen at Allanton quiz night and received a lovely red cock in July 2000 direct
from Tom’s 4th open Niort cock. In 2001 Derek took a couple of youngsters from
him and a blue pied hen that was related to George Rankin & son Gareth stock.
The Joe Murphy’s Column
Seven of the Best Part 2 (First Published in 2004)
Re-Typed February 2022
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One of these youngsters was presented to Slamanon young bird sale and was
purchased by John McLuckie of Limeriggs. He informed Derek that the
youngster had topped the Midland Federation and had gone on to be a very good
racer for him. In 2002 Derek paired the red cock to his Liege west section winner.
She had bred some very good birds previously so Derek was very optimistic about
this pairing – and he has not been disappointed. Every young bird from this
pairing has either won a 1st prize or other positions in the club including; 1st Kelso;
1
st Tow Law; 1st Ripon; 1st Ripon; 1st 2xbird Wakefield; 1st 2 x bird Maidstone;
2
nd Maidstone; 2nd Wakefield etc. Last year 2—3 the grandchildren from this pair
started to win with a granddaughter scoring in the Young Bird National. My
thanks to both Derek and George for their contribution to this story. Tom
McEwen has always believed that you must have good stock pigeons and no
expense has been spared in obtaining the best long-distance winning lines in
Britain. These have been blended into the above continue to keep winning in
today’s competition. Fanciers will have noticed from the above shore story about
Tom McEwen’s pigeons that he continues to mass-produce exceptional stock
pigeon from this family of birds. To say this is a fantastic accomplishment is an
understatement and the Tom McEwen linage of pigeons continues in my next
choice of pigeon.!!!
Mr & Mrs Smith’s -----‘Fortune Lady’
My next choice of hen is the famous ‘Fortune Lady’, without doubt one of the
best hens in Scotland if not Europe in her day. She has left a line of pigeons that
continue to win in the SNFC right up to the present. I will be bold enough to say
that some of her offspring will win this year, too (2004). The partnership of Mr
& Mrs Smith of Elphinstone was formed in 1978. At that time Jimmy worked as
a miner in the local pit. One of his work mates had an uncle, Alec Pennycook,
who kept pigeon in Loanhead. These were the old Barker strain from a fancier in
Blackpool area. Mr Pennycook told his nephew to ask Jimmy for 10 rings and he
would breed him a round of youngsters to start with. Of the 10 youngsters, Jimmy
was left with 2, one of them being a nice light chequer which he timed from
Nantes. The other a lovely dark chequer which would have won in the show pen.
She flew the channel nine times in total and appeared on seven SNFC results with
her best next condition being either sent on chipping eggs or on a small youngster.
She was named ‘Flower of Scotland’ and won the following positions in the
SNFC. 1975-64th east section 141st open Avranches; 1976-29th east section 52nd
open Rennes and 134th east section 216th open Avranches; 1977 -69th east section
131st open Rennes and 74th east section 108th open Avranches; 1978 - 85th east
section 163rd open Rennes and 31st east section 87th open Avranches winning a
SNFC Gold Award. As I mentioned in my Tom McEwen story Jimmy Smith was
gifted with the injured pied cock ‘11809’ which he then paired to ‘Flower of
The Joe Murphy’s Column
Seven of the Best Part 2 (First Published in 2004)
Re-Typed February 2022
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Scotland’ and they produced ‘SN578’. This hen continued to win just like her
mother and she won the following positions; 1979 - 27th east section 136th open
Falaise & 27th east section 29th open Avranches; 1980- 101st east section 106th
open Avranches; 1982 – 139th east section 231st open Rennes. In 1983 the SNFC
had no channel racing and she won 127th east section 159th open Dorchester (1).
Then in 1985 she won 86th east section 104th open Exeter winning 6 times in the
SNFC and a coveted SNFC Gold Award. ‘SN578’ best nest condition was sitting
15 days on eggs. So here we have Mr & Mrs Smith with two Gold Awards when
some fanciers never get their hands on one. The Tom McEwen injured pied cock
‘11809’ was then paired to his own daughter ‘578’and this pairing produced
‘SU84E05776’ ‘Champion Fortune Lady’. There have been very few truly great
pigeons, which warrant the prefix ‘Champion’ however ‘Fortune Lady’ is
certainly worthy of this title. She performed best when sitting six days on eggs at
the time of basketing but on both her Rennes wins she was sent sitting on a fourday-old-youngster. Some fanciers may not know or remember about this fantastic
racing pigeon so I would like you the reader of this story, to look closely at the
following performance in SNFC racing and marvel at this hen’s achievements.
1987; 47th east section 89th open Sartilly 499 miles, 1056 velocity 2358 birds.
1988; 14th east section 15th open Sartilly 499 miles, 926 velocity 1929 birds.
1988; 10th east section 19th open Rennes 542 miles, 855 velocity 3490 birds.
1989; 4th east section 6th open Sartilly 499 miles,1158 velocity 2989 birds.
1989; 6th east section 15th open Sartilly 499 miles,1342 velocity 2659 birds.
1990; 10th east section 20th open Sartilly 499 miles,1370 velocity 3310 birds.
1990; 83rd east section 186th open Sartilly 499 miles, 954 velocity 2912 birds.
1991; 50th east section 160th open Sartilly 499 miles, 921velocity 3180 birds.
1992; 18th east section 28th open Rennes 542 miles, 1118 velocity 4501 birds.
1994; 43rd east section 79th open Sartilly 499 miles, 895 velocity 2274 birds.
‘Fortune Lady’ flew the channel 13 times winning in 10 races and was 5 times in
the first 20 open positions in these races with total cash winnings of £5.964.03p.
She was a winner of the Scottish Homing Union Pigeon of the Year, winning the
prestigious Dewar Trophy in 1988, and was runner up for the same trophy in
1989. I have no doubt that she was the best 500-mile pigeon in Scotland and
Europe during her racing career. She won two Gold Awards in the SNFC;
winning 10 times in the SNFC in races from France, which is extraordinary. In
fact, she is the only pigeon in the history of the SNFC to achieve this wonderful
The Joe Murphy’s Column
Seven of the Best Part 2 (First Published in 2004)
Re-Typed February 2022
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accomplishment. (As I write this article in 2022, we have had another outstanding
pigeon achieve this accolade Kingdom Spirit, whom I will write about at the end
of this article Joe M) When you think that Fortune Lady was raced from France
13 times it makes her even more unique. There are not many people who have
been fortunate enough to possess outstanding pigeons of this calibre but Mr &
Mrs Smith have been lucky enough to have experienced such pleasure. In fact,
they were blessed with having three superb hens from the one family of pigeons
who have left generations of winners after they have gone. These three
magnificent hens won 4 Gold Awards for the Smith Family, winning 23 SNFC
diplomas between them from various distances between 360 miles to 542 miles.
I often think what these 3 hens would be worth today if they became available on
the market? Certain fanciers have continued to keep these winning genes alive.
Dale Newcombe is one who comes to mind, one of his highlights being his
success in achieving a Gold Award in 2002 with ‘Kardale Style’ whose positions
in the SNFC were as follows; 113th open Rennes; 26th open Sartilly; 84th open
Sartilly; 15th open Liege and 55th open Reims. His total winnings were £8.881 in
national and in the £100 side bet in the Lothian area. Now let’s have a look at the
breeding of ‘Kardale Style’. His sire ‘11901’ was a direct son of ‘Fortune Lady’
and was bed by Mr & Mrs Smith of Elphinstone. The sire of ‘11901’ was bed
from a grandson of ‘Fortune Lady’ when paired to ‘Fortune Lady’ herself, so you
will see that ‘11901’ was again inbred to ‘Fortune Lady’. It is even more
remarkable when you think that ‘Kardale Style’ is the 4th generation of Gold
Award winners in the SNFC from this bounteous line of pigeons. The dam of
‘Kardale Style’ is a sister to ‘Lothian Lass’, so in fact was a direct daughter of
‘Lothian King’ and ‘Lothian Queen’. ‘Kardale Style’ has also continued the
winning genes by being the sire of 66th open Clermont when he was paired to
‘Regatta’, he is also the grandsire of a 12th open Clermont in 2003. Now for some
more pigeons containing the ‘Fortune Lady’ bloodlines that are winning in
Kardale Lofts in Macmerry. In the last inland SNFC race of 2001from Portland.
Dale timed in a yearling dark chequer hen now named ‘Kardale Focus’. To breed
her Dale took his number one stock cock the ‘Jamieson Cock’ up to Jimmy
Smith’s loft to pair him to ‘Fortune Lady’. Dale received two youngsters back
from this pairing. The cock of the pair is the sire of ‘Kardale Focus’. The dam of
‘Kardale Focus’ is a full sister to ‘Kardale Style’. Another full sister to ‘Focus’
won 75th open Clermont in 2003 and a brother of ‘Style’ bred a 132nd open
Clermont also in 2003. ‘Kardale Max’ won 15th open Sartilly in 1995, 16th open
Nantes 603 miles in 1997 and then three weeks later won 93rd open Sartilly. His
sire was a son of ‘Fortune Lady’ when paired to a mealy hen that was bred from
a son of ‘De Lorna’ winner of 1st open SNFC Rennes, when paired to a daughter
of ‘Fortune Lady’. George Archibald, whom I mentioned earlier with winners
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Seven of the Best Part 2 (First Published in 2004)
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from ‘Marlene’s Boy’ and ‘Fortune Lady’, had a daughter 7318, a direct daughter
of ‘Fortune Lady’ and she was paired to an un-rung Tommy Gilbertson of Carlisle
cock. This cock was a full brother to Tommy’s 1st federation 1st Combine Sartilly.
This pair bred a blue cock for George that won 1st federation 21st region 37th east
section 42
nd open Clermont 2003 and also flew Rennes in 2002. I (Joe Murphy)
purchased 2 eggs from Mr & Mrs Smith in 1989, direct from ‘Fortune Lady’ when
she was paired to her own sire ‘11809’. These eggs hatched and were rung
‘19447’ & ‘19454’. A son of ‘19447’was paired to a daughter of ‘19454’ and
bred F9717 a blue cock who won 133rd east section Rennes flying 557 miles. He
was therefore a double grandson of ‘Fortune Lady’ and was sold at my clearance
sale. I have heard that he bred some good pigeons for his new owners. However,
as I do not have the exact positions, I cannot report on them.
Now for the naming of ‘Fortune Lady’; many people think it was because she
won a fortune for her owners but nothing could be further from the truth. As I
said earlier, Tom McEwen and Jimmy Smith are great friends. While in
conversation about the chequer pied hen who at this time had only won three or
four times in the National. Jimmy remarked to Tom that he would have to start
thinking about a name for her. They went over a few permutations without any
success. Then one Saturday night Tom went to Powderhall greyhound track for a
night’s entertainment. On the race card in one of the races was ‘Fortune Lad’ and
in the later race was ‘Fortune Lady’. Tom spoke to the owner of the dogs and he
told him they were both bred from the same litter. Tom then decided to have a bet
on ‘Fortune Lad’ and he won, so when it came to ‘Fortune Lady’s’ race he put all
his winnings from her brother onto her!!! Low and behold she won the race and
a very happy Tom McEwen had a smile as he collected his money. The next day
Tom visited Jimmy’s home and said to him. ‘I have a name for your good hen-
‘Fortune Lady’. He then told Jimmy and his wife Agnes the story about his night
at the dog track and how he had won a small fortune on Fortune Lady. Jimmy
laughed and was happy to accept this name for his pigeon and they both joked
that she would win for Jimmy and his wife Agnes a fortune in her racing career.
So, this is how she obtained her name and little did they know at that time he
name would go down in the history books of the Scottish National Flying Club
as being the only double Gold Award winner ever in the club. (As I have stated
this was then in 2004).
I hope fanciers reading this story will have noticed that all the above bred birds
were mated to other prominent top winning lines, so in fact these pigeons were
bred in the purple. I have read many articles over the years on all the so called
‘top fanciers’ be it from the Continent or in the UK and believe me, they don’t
have a winning line of birds like these Smith pigeons. If they had we would have
The Joe Murphy’s Column
Seven of the Best Part 2 (First Published in 2004)
Re-Typed February 2022
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heard about it long before now. Maybe the ‘Supercrack’ family would be the only
one to compare with this family.
I often think we Scottish fanciers are too quiet for our own good and we should
be singing the praises of our great long-distance pigeons. I have tried to do this
over the year and at times feel that I am the only one interested as I don’t receive
feedback from certain fanciers about their birds. This is a pity as they are missing
out on obtaining publicity for their pigeons’ achievements. My next selection is
a prime example of this, as no matter how hard I have tried to obtain information
on the winning ancestry of this pigeon it has never been forthcoming. However,
he was a great pigeon belonged to a legend in the West of Scotland. You will
have to wait till next time to read the third and final part of my story.
Please continue to keep the news flowing; to Joe Murphy Mystical Rose Cottage 2 Flutorum
Avenue Thornton by Kirkcaldy KY1 4BD or phone 01592 770331 or Email to joejmurphy1@gmail.com REMEMBER THE J IN THE MIDDLE or you can also view online editions on: www.elimarpigeons.com www.fancierchat.co.uk www.pigeon-chat.co.uk - www.Pigeonbasics.com - Pigeon Racing the Basics! - thecanadianpigeoninternational.com www.internationalracingpigeon.com or HTTPS://SITES.GOOGLE.COM/SITE/INTERNATIONALRACINGPIGEON/
WHO WISH MY WEEKLY CONTRIBUTION PORTFOLIO ON PIGEON TOPICS FROM
SCOTLAND?
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