The Golden Barcelona - Gibb & Byrne

[willie reynolds]

The Golden Barcelona dominated the world's most prestigious race with performances of 6th, 23rd and 175th Belgian national Barcelona, winning the Golden Wing and second international ace pigeon over three years. His grandsire, Odyon Barcelona, was also a Golden Wing winner in 2008, having won 5th, 11th and 32nd national Barcelona. With this winning pedigree it is hardly surprising that the Golden Barcelona is now producing Barcelona national winners with amazing regularity.Consider the challenge faced by British pigeons racing from Barcelona, having flown around six hundred miles to reach the coastline of northern France, they must then face the sea and cross the English Channel before the final descent to home. Only the strongest racers succeed at this route and Golden Barcelona has now produced two British national Barcelona winners for Mark Gilbert, Southfield Hugo 2018 and Southfield Gold Lady 2020.The fantastic double national winner, Southfield Hugo, winner of 1st national Perpignan 2017 and 1st national Barcelona 2018, unsurprisingly currently resides in the breeding lofts of Hugo Batenburg, on a joint breeding programme. Hugo Batenburg is world renowned for his colony of Barcelona pigeons and was quick to recognize the potential of the bloodlines of the Golden Barcelona, and when Southfield Hugo produced his second win from Barcelona, also claiming 104th international, he was quickly moved to the Batenburg lofts.Southfield Gold Lady is the latest national winner to appear from the Golden Barcelona, when she produced an outstanding performance in one of the hardest Barcelona races of recent times. Gold Lady completed the 715 mile journey from Barcelona to win 1st national, 151st international, maintaining the exceptional performance of the Golden Barcelona bloodline. Like Southfield Hugo, Gold Lady is also a previous winner on the long distance, being a winner of 5th national Marseille 2019. Alongside Southfield Hugo (Golden Barcelona x Dtr New Laureaat) and Gold Lady (Golden Barcelona x Dtr Blauwe Benno / Romee) we can also find other notable descendants of Golden Barcelona. Southfield 888, winner of second national Agen 2020 is a daughter of Golden Barcelona (x Dtr Kleine Jade).The Golden Barcelona can also be seen to produce excellent breeding stock as seen in the performances of his grandchildren in the British national races of 2020, taking third open British grand national Pau, third national BBC Barcelona and seventh national BICC Poitiers. The Golden Barcelona is truly a champion racer and breeder, whose descendants are sure to light up the long distance racing scene for many years to come.Gibb and Byrne lofts now own the absolute cream of these wonderful pigeons . In the photo below we see a son and daughter to the legend that is the "Golden Baecelona " The cock on the left is "Barce" a direct son to this wonderful racing and breeding pigeon. "Barce's" dam is "Miss Gilbert" mother to 1st National Agen 2018 ,she is also daughter to "Golden Wing"1st National Barcelona 2013. The hen on the left is "Eileen" also direct daughter to "Golden Barcelona" but when paired on to Nl-2016-1163799 "The Ugly Hen" daughter to "Kleine Jade"1st International Barcelona 2014 . Have a look at the photo and you will see also more results of the sire of these two super pigeons and also information about the two mothers of these two pigeons. Try and imagine the gene pool that is in these pigeons .Over the coming weeks I will bring you more photos and information about the Mark Gilbert pigeons currently housed at the Gibb and Byrne lofts in Lisburn. I personally do not know of any pigeon fancier anywhere who would own a select collection of Mark Gilbert pigeons like what is housed in these lofts today . As I said I will over the coming weeks post up more photos and information . Anyone who is interested in these super bloodlines can contact Ian Gibb on 07793069014 or 00447793069014 from outside Northern Ireland.