Kingdom Spirit By Joe Murphy East Lothian. Since 1994 she has been the only pigeon ever to achieve a Double Gold Award in the national. In 2008 the Scottish National introduced a Silver Award for a pigeons that won 3 times from France racing into Scotland and even this was very hard to win. The first Scottish National Flying Club race was flown in 1894 and during this time there have been some excellent pigeons that have covered themselves in glory. The National introduced a special Gold Award to a pigeon that won 5 section prizes racing from France into Scotland with the first time winner in 1975. Since this time many very good pigeons have been presented with Gold Awards. However 2 pigeons stand out in the annals of this great club s history. The first of these is a pigeon who won 10 times from Channel races into Scotland from Sartilly (499 miles) and Rennes (542 miles). This famous achievement was accomplished between the years of 1987 and 1994 by a chequer pied hen named Fortune Lady. She was raced by Mr & Mrs Smith of Elphinstone in George and Brian Hunter of Dumfermline. Nevertheless history is repeated 21 years later as we again have a very special pigeon that now wins a Double Gold Award. This
new superstar is a blue bar hen named Kingdom Spirt. She was later bred in 2008 with an old ring placed on her leg and is raced by George & Brian Hunter of Dunfermline from the Kingdom of Fife in Scotland. Her performances are as follows: Race Point Year Open Sect Miles Yards Velocity Members Birds Reims 2010 26 C7 567-704 1091.4 397 1187 913-139km Clermont 2010 30 C2 524-391 1031.97 311 1102 843-6538km Messac 2011 31 C2 573-1315 582.17 385 1159 923-356km Clermont 2011 69 C31 524-391 1220.67 356 1741 Alencon 2012 36 C4 547-1603 1291.03 389 1204 913-1418km Alencon 2013 22 C8 547-1603 979.02 431 1355 Clermont 2013 90 C41 524-391 607.7 343 1500 Alencon 2014 120 C18 547-1603 624.9 421 1427 Alencon 2015 58 C2 547-1603 820.85 400 1416 Clermont 2015 67 C28 524-391 1141.11 338 1547 Kingdom Spirt has won 2 x SNFC SILVER AWARDS (3 times a winner from France). Plus 2 x SNFC GOLD AWARDS (5 times a winner from France). She has also won the Scottish Homing Union DEWAR TROPHY in 2010 for Scotland s Pigeon of the Year and was runner up for this award in 2011. She correspondingly won 1st prize in the Joe Murphy One Bird Sporting Challenge from Alencon in 2012 when she was competed against a select band of quality pigeons to win the highest placed bird in the completion being 36th open Scottish National Flying Club. During this 21 year period the Scottish Homing Union have distributed a 1,000,000 rings to their membership and it is an incredible achievement for Kingdom Spirit as she now becomes a PIGEON IN A MILLION and must rank as one of the Best Racing Hens in Europe?
eggs. She is then allowed to go back to nest and receives 2 short training flights (40 minutes) and she is then entered into the SNFC Clermont race (843-6538km) sitting 4 day eggs. This year on return she returned to her eggs which is the first time she has done so in her racing career. Kingdom Spirit s normal preparation for the season is she is paired up in March and brings up 2 babies until they are 15 days old at which time she is taken away and prepared for the roundabout system and the cock finishes rearing the babies. Dam of Kingdom Spirit She normally has 3 races out to Leicester a distance of 257 miles (413-6014km) she is then repaired to her mate and entered into the SNFC Gold Cup race from Alencon (913-1418 km) sitting 10 days on eggs. On return she generally does not go back onto her Sire of Kingdom Spirit You will see from the above this magnificent hen has only ONCE been outside the top 100 in these 10 national races flying almost 5430 miles during this time and has been within the top 5% in these national races. Both parents were bred by R Cook of Chatsworth Lofts of Colchester Essex both containing the bloodlines of Geoff Kirkland 1st national winner The Pest. Fanciers throughout the world must admire this quality pigeon and many will wish they had a pigeon of her calibre in their lofts. I would like to congratulate George and Brian on their pigeon s brilliant racing achievements and wish her all the best in her retirement. Please see pedigrees of parents on following page.
Email to joejmurphy1@gmail.com REMEMBER THE J IN THE MIDDLE Compiled by Joe Murphy A PIGEON IN A MILLION Dam s pedigree
Sire s pedigree