* * * * STEPHEN BISHOP RACING LOFT * * * *
Bishop Place Loft aka Stephen Bishop Racing Pigeon Loft originated in 1994. The original loft was a small 6' by 10' used to fly Birmingham Roller pigeons. The rollers were great spinners from Charlie Hubbs old Pensom line. While flying my rollers, I would see teams of racers fly overhead daily. On race day's I would occasionally see flocks of hundreds of racers barrelling east towards Nassau and Suffolk counties. After meeting a few racing fanciers and reading a few articles on the racing game, I gave up the rollers and dove headfirst into racing. I never kept more than 24 racers at one time, in that loft. But man, the birds I kept were some Ace top notch quality pigeons. They were the few, the proud,...you get the idea? Those Birds earned some very impressive diplomas when considering they were part of such a small team. Some of the positions those birds earned were:
5th vs., 900 Birds, 61 Lofts
6th vs., 976 Birds, 66 Lofts
6th vs., 955 Birds, 60 Lofts
9th vs., 558 Birds, 38 Lofts
11th vs., 2,113 Birds, 148 Lofts
14th vs., 437 Birds, 39 Lofts
15th vs., 1,962 Birds, 143 Lofts
15th vs., 1,750 Birds, 126 Lofts
17th vs., 509 Birds, 33 Lofts
19th vs., 1,750 Birds, 126 Lofts
28th vs., 631 Birds, 69 Lofts
33rd vs., 653 Birds, 45 Lofts
35th vs., 1,551, Birds, 148 Lofts
NOTE:
There are some pigeon fanciers I classify as pure sportsmen. They race with the single goal of winning. They would buy birds from anyone, anywhere, if they believe doing so would help them win. They are not overly concerned with bloodlines, who bred what, etc. their goal is to compete and win. Then there are the the gamblers who race solely to win money. Some of them do not even possess a great of love of pigeons. They love to gamble, be it with racing pigeons, dogs, horses, baseball games, you name it. Then there are the breeders whom breed pigeons to race or send them out to be raced, so as to test and improve their bloodlines. Money is often a secondary consideration. Most fanciers are a combination of all three, to varying degrees. I have never been interested in having large amounts of pigeons or continually buying new pigeons. I race to test my family of pigeons against other lofts. I guess I am a breeder at heart. I only race what I breed, and only breed from birds I successfully raced.
5th vs., 900 Birds, 61 Lofts
6th vs., 976 Birds, 66 Lofts
6th vs., 955 Birds, 60 Lofts
9th vs., 558 Birds, 38 Lofts
11th vs., 2,113 Birds, 148 Lofts
14th vs., 437 Birds, 39 Lofts
15th vs., 1,962 Birds, 143 Lofts
15th vs., 1,750 Birds, 126 Lofts
17th vs., 509 Birds, 33 Lofts
19th vs., 1,750 Birds, 126 Lofts
28th vs., 631 Birds, 69 Lofts
33rd vs., 653 Birds, 45 Lofts
35th vs., 1,551, Birds, 148 Lofts
NOTE:
There are some pigeon fanciers I classify as pure sportsmen. They race with the single goal of winning. They would buy birds from anyone, anywhere, if they believe doing so would help them win. They are not overly concerned with bloodlines, who bred what, etc. their goal is to compete and win. Then there are the the gamblers who race solely to win money. Some of them do not even possess a great of love of pigeons. They love to gamble, be it with racing pigeons, dogs, horses, baseball games, you name it. Then there are the breeders whom breed pigeons to race or send them out to be raced, so as to test and improve their bloodlines. Money is often a secondary consideration. Most fanciers are a combination of all three, to varying degrees. I have never been interested in having large amounts of pigeons or continually buying new pigeons. I race to test my family of pigeons against other lofts. I guess I am a breeder at heart. I only race what I breed, and only breed from birds I successfully raced.
In 1997, the only year I shipped all races, I was leading the LI combine for overall average speed up until the 500m race. I have never been any good preparing and feeding birds for 2-day hold over races. As such, I finished needing over an hour to win the 500m race and placed 4th Section B Average Speed. Following that season, I began a 12 year hiatus from the sport.
AU RCC 2296 "Sister Sue" and AU RCC 2300 "Miss Magnificent" were nestmate sisters bred down from Verbruggen bloodlines.
AU 95 RCC 2603 "Shake-N-Bake" cock was a grandson of Bob Koch's famous #3391. Koch's #3391 was 17-times top 10 in the Concourse and Twice AU HOF!
IF 95 JRC 1722 was a son of Miss Magnificent and a Verbruggen cock.
"Miss Magnificent" AU 94 RCC 2300 was a great little hen and won 3 diplomas. She was 1st in the clock at least half the times that I shipped her. I bred 3 diploma winners from her, each sired by a different cock. Had I been a better handler, I am certain she would have won many more diplomas.
On 5/18/97 Miss Magnificent took 2nd to her nestmate, "Sister Sue", versus 52 lofts, 802 birds at 286 miles. "Sister Sue" had a 1st and two 3rd place diploma's. They were two great little hens! They were bred out of Stan Culligan Verbruggens and were heavy in the Dikke Goris bloodlines.
Stan Culligan's Verbruggens were reknowned throughout the USA.