I.F. Publicity
I.F. Hall Of Fame Old bird 2002
3rd place 75-150 lofts IF-01-CME-351 flown by Elmont Loft
2nd place 5-25 lofts IF-01-CME-351 flown by Elmont Loft

A top flyer recently asked this question: Why do winning lofts slip after just a few short years?
Every case is unique but there are some common mistakes. The first mistake is to sell off too many key birds. In an effort to build a reputation as a source for quality stock some lofts will ‘kill the goose that laid the golden egg’. There’s a reason why foundation birds are called foundation birds and once their gone their gone forever.

The second reason for a loft to decline is a change in personal circumstances. Couples divorce; partnerships break up; new and better jobs require more time and attention. In short, life happens.
And finally, success itself can cause somebody to lose the pigeon bug. That original thrill they got from winning simply stops.
This all brought us to a very different question: What one person has managed to avoid all these pitfalls and continued to win the most races over the longest period of time?
Here on Long Island the answer is pretty obvious. It’s Matt Reilly flying under Elmont Loft. Being consistently good over several decades requires a special kind of individual and Matt certainly fills that bill.

There are two things at the heart of Matt’s long-term success. The first is his unbridled love of racing pigeons. Many flyers that seem to love their birds are, in fact, mostly out for the gambling action, or their out to sell birds. For Matt, it’s all about the birds. Perhaps that’s why he was always unmatched as a liberator. He always cared more about the birds in the race than the race itself. The second is a woman named Alice.

The team of Matt and Alice share a partnership with birds that’s beautiful to watch on race day. You can feel the magic in the air as they await each and every bird’s arrival.

To say that Matt’s flying methods are a bit unorthodox is an understatement. In the sport of racing pigeons there are only a handful of rules that MUST be followed and Matt has successfully violated every one of them! In a sport where most participants play ‘follow the leader,’ Matt Rielly is content to simply go his own way and win.

An obvious example of Matt’s independent streak is in how he settles his young bird team. Everyone know that young birds have to be settled within the first month of leaving the nest, right? Wrong. Matt waits until after the old bird season is over to settle the young bird team. This technique began years ago when Matt was forced to move his loft before the start of young birds. Rather than settle the birds and then re-settle them, he decided to lock them up in a section and let them mature. When it came time to move the birds to their new home, Matt allowed them out in a settling cage for three days with their rations cut in half. This caught the team’s attention and allowed him to settle birds when others said it couldn’t be done. Matt found this method successful enough to repeat every year since. For those flyers who find themselves plagued by hawks in the spring, this might be a wise alternative. And it has the advantage of permitting flyers to better focus on old birds during the spring.

Loft cleaning is another area where Matt Reilly differs from most flyers. “You can clean your loft once a day or once a season, everything in-between causes trouble.”
For Matt, a bone dry, well ventilated, loft that uses a deep litter system provides the birds with a healthier environment.
Of course, when it comes to training young birds, Matt has very independent ideas. Matt Reilly feels that there is nothing to be gained by allowing a young bird team to go routing. “There are no valuable lessons to be learned from routing and when the birds are ready to route, they should already be down the road.”

There are many inherent risks to flaunting popular convention, but Elmont Loft has won every major futurity on Long Island and proves every year that you can win by not following the crowd.
Matt Reilly is considered one of the few masters of the widowhood system. So, how did this contrarian fly old birds? Naturally, he flew the natural system. Without missing a beat, Elmont Loft won I.F. Hall of Fame honors with a most consistent blue check Janssen hen. I.F. 01 CME 351 comes down from Matt’s Green Band winner (L.I.’s $ 50. band race) from just a couple of year’s back. Mark and Son bred this hen’s mother from the Green Band winner. The bloodline is down from Merkx with heavy influence from the Aristona Cock and the Schalle Hen. This yearling, who has not been retired to the breeding loft, was a late hatch that was flown lightly before the start of old birds. But she more than earned her perch this year by flying in 8 races in 3 different combines before ending the season after a very tough 400 miler.

This past old bird season Matt took 20 pair of race birds and allowed them to come down on eggs, but not raise any youngsters. Matt believes that once a pair lays it should be good for 3 weekends of races. Although Matt didn’t allow any of this year’s old bird team to raise any youngsters, he has seen it done with great success. The trick, he advises, is to take away the hen as the lone baby reaches that week old stage. The cock becomes super motivated.

Never one to rest on his laurels, Matt is considering taking his entire old bird team and going back on widowhood for this year’s old bird season. For those flyers who avoid widowhood believing it’s too much work, Matt says they’re being misled. When widowhood is done right it takes less time and less work and has the potential of reaping huge rewards.

By Pat Broderick
I.F. Publicity