By Duane Ranger (courtesy of Redcliffe Paceway)
Age is no barrier for dual-coded racing owner, and grandmother of five – Beverley Oberthur.
In fact, the 75-year-old Burpengary-East. pensioner was again on-course to watch her 4-year-old gelding, Darin, notch up his second victory in five Australian starts at Redcliffe Paceway on Sunday evening (April 28).
That easy 5.4 metre triumph came at 8.22pm. Then early the next morning, Mrs Oberthur diverted her attention from standardbreds to her champion Heremans-Ceuster pigeons.
“I’m sorry I was out tossing my pigeons when you rang this morning. I have a lot of young and inexperienced pigeons that I’m trying to get fit for our first homing pigeon race of the season in June. I’ve got 120 race-birds and two horses. My biggest win was by more than an hour,” Mrs Oberthur said.
“I actually tossed them up at Caloundra and I beat them home in my car by five minutes. That’s not bad considering they get to fly in a straight line. My biggest win was by over an hour when my bird was the only one to get home,” she added.
The distance from Caloundra to Burpengary East is 51.4km (38 minutes).
Mrs Oberthur, who is a member of the Deception Bay-based North Road Combine Racing Pigeon Club. said she had won numerous pigeon races in Queensland since her late husband Leslie (‘Obie’) introduced her to the sport in 1988.
Then six years later Mr Leslie (‘Obie’) bought his first standardbred from New Zealand.
Sadly, on July 12, 2017, Oberthur passed away aged 73. Their two sons, Mark and Brett, race motocross, while his ‘Mum’ has carried on the Oberthur racing pigeons and horses.
“Like Darin, the first horse we bought in 1994 was also from New Zealand. He was a Vance Hanover gelding named Bold Vance, who at the time had won two of his four starts for Mark Purdon. He then went on to win many races at Albion Park for us. Our next horse, Lynbar’s Rocket was also from New Zealand. He won four races there,” Mrs Oberthur said.
Bold Vance ended his career at Townsville on March 10, 2001, the winner of 19 races and $63,759, while Lynbar’s Rocket won 11 races and $26,130.
Mrs Oberthur said she bought 4-year-old Terror To Love gelding, via his trainer Darrel Graham, when he was in New Zealand.
“I’ve only known Darrel as my trainer for seven months, and I’ve always respected him as a trainer. I raced Sweet Lombo (nine wins) and Sporting Legend (one win from five starts) with other trainers, and they weren’t going so good, so I looked for a change of scenery, and asked Darrel if he would train them.
I liked the fact he paddocked his horses and he also has a pool. He’s yet to have a start with those two yet, but when he was in New Zealand I asked him to look for another horse for me. He suggested Darin, who won last start in Invercargill, so I bought him,” Mrs Oberthur said.
The Tom Kilkelly-bred and owned gelding was imported into Australia in December last year after one win and three placings from four Southland starts. He’s now had five Australian starts for two Redcliffe wins and a second for Mrs Oberthur.
“I actually thought he would win on Sunday because he’s been very unlucky in his last two races. He is a credit to Darrel. Brendan’s drive was also very good. I like the horse, he showed a lot of courage,” Mrs Oberthur said.
Darin drew seven in Sunday’s Wolf Signs Two-Win Pace. Barnes sat seventh and two-back on the outer before asking the son of Terror To Love for an effort at the 600m.
The duo then lopped the field three-wide and maintained a strong sprint past the line to win the 1,780m mobile by 5.2 metres with a personal best 1:59.5-mile rate.
“Darrel tends to think he will go better over the longer distance, so he will line him up again next week. He said he tends to get a bit lazy and has to be reminded what his job is. As for my other horse, I bought him at the recent Redcliffe Yearling Sale, and he’s being educated this week.”
Mrs Oberthur paid $26,000 to clients of Burwood Std for Lot 3 – The Storm Inside – In The Midnight Hour colt – pictured below.
“I hope he turns out to be our best yet. I think that mantle at the moment goes to Bold Vance, Sweet Lombo, or our family favourite – Ruhtrebo – who won six races. That Cammibest brown gelding is our surname spelt backwards,” said Mrs Oberthur.
When asked if she was a pigeon or horse girl first, Mrs Oberthur replied:
“it’s a close call. I love them both, but pigeon racing is a bit more exciting over a longer time I think. There’s nothing like seeing one of you homing pigeons come to their landing pad (timer), let alone win. Our birds can fly as far as Townsville and Bowen, and in Tasmania they race to New Zealand and to the Mainland.”
HOMING PIGEON FOOTNOTE:
Pigeon racing is the sport of releasing specially trained homing pigeons, which then return to their homes over a carefully measured distance. The time it takes the animal to cover the specified distance is measured and the bird’s rate of travel is calculated and compared with all of the other pigeons in the race to determine which animal returned at the highest speed.
They are trained and conditioned for races that vary in distance from approximately 100 kilometres (62 mi) to 1,000 kilometres (620 mi).
While there is no definite proof, there are compelling reasons to think the sport of racing pigeons may go back at least as far as 220 AD.
It is claimed the greatest long-distance flight recorded by a pigeon is one that started at Arras in France and ended in Saigon, Vietnam, back in 1931. The distance was 11,600km (7,200 miles) and took 24 days.
Heremans-Ceusters are considered unbeatable when it comes to their ability to orient quickly, via pure speed racing.
