Good luck 2
Good luck (2)
Now that the Chinese in particular give so much money for especially proven racers, you sometimes hear talks like the following:
'I sold my good ones because I still have brothers from them.' Some people also console themselves when they lose a good one or when a good breeding cock no longer fertilizes. 'Then I'll mate the hen with a brother.’
So it's not that simple. And it certainly doesn't work that way.
ANDRE ROODHOOFT
An absolute topman in Belgium in the short long distance is Andre Roodhooft. Few do better. Andre is a kind of authority who you do not contradict.
Just like you don't contradict a Gommaar Verbruggen.
Yet I dare to make a remark where he claims to only tolerate pigeons in the breeding loft that are perfectly built. Nothing wrong with that, of course, on the contrary. But is a perfect physique also a must for breeding good pigeons? Not so, although pigeons with perfect physique are of course preferred.
HEREMANS AND THE OLYMPIAD
For example, I once handled an old rascal from Leo Heremans, I think a white flight, who is considered one of the stock fathers in his loft. The pigeon itself had, I believe, won 18 first prizes, but it was a disappointing junk 'in the hand'.
We are talking about a pigeon that was out of category both as a racer and breeder. His 'Olympiad', bred by Gust Janssen, was certainly not an athlete either. A bit angular and clumsy, more like a farmer's pigeon, something Leo himself agreed.
THE 230
I myself had my 230, brother of Ace Four and his nest sister (1st and 2nd 'Provincial' Ace pigeon in their year of birth against an average of more than 11,000 pigeons). Some years ago, Henk Simonsz devoted a series of articles in pigeon magazine De Duif to the famous descendants of him and his brother. As for the 230, I don't think anyone ever got their hands on it. Except for the helpers in the club when birds were basketed. They kept asking if I wasn't mistaken. Whether it was not a hen that was between the cocks. But I was not mistaken.
It was a little cock so unsightly that I was ashamed to show it to anyone.
The 230. Not pretty, not a good racer, but what a breeder he was!
ERIC LIMBOURG
Furthermore, I will not soon forget the visit to Eric Limbourg with W de Bruijn.
When we handled one of his birds we looked at each other. Was this really one of his very best breeding hens? Either we didn't know anything about pigeons or he wanted to fool us. But Eric was dead serious. Apparently he has a different taste, or he doesn't care what pigeons look like, or he is very talented.
Eric Limbourg has been a great champion all his life
BAELEMANS
That name will certainly mean little to foreigners, but Stan had a 'Quievrain racer' which could be compared to the famous 'Sprint' from Albert Marcelis. Hardly beatable. At that time I was subscribed to five pigeon newspapers (where have they gone) and then you couldn't ignore the performances of the 'Dark' from Baelemans.
He also became National Ace Pigeon at a time when there were still about 80,000 or more fanciers in Belgium. By then I had already started the hunt for good pigeons, so I went to Stan. First he showed me the parents of his dark one and that was scary. Neither the hen nor the cock looked any good.
'How could you decide to mate these pigeons?' I asked him. 'As a youngster, they were my two best', said Stan. So again: it can be that simple.
And again a proof that fanciers who do not breed from the racers are wrong!
Stan Baelemans with his dark
PAULA 5000
An iconic pigeon was certainly 'Paula 5000' from the much too early deceased Remi de Mey from Booischot. I have had it in my hands several times. What a trinket. There was really nothing good about that. And yet it is often described as the best pigeon ever. Four years in a row she was classified among the five best National Ace pigeons.
Now you should know that the KBDB was at odds with the organizers of the Olympiad at the time. The pigeons from the cradle of pigeon sport were blown away in the standard class every year by countries where pigeon sport was still in its infancy. Until it became such an embarrassing spectacle that people wanted change.
To defy them, 'Paula 5000' was entered for the Standard class and after the inspection there was great consternation in the pigeon world. The possibly best pigeon in the world was classified as the very last one. So the ugliest one. She scored worse on all points than the worst pigeon from any emerging pigeon country.