VAN – HOVE (UYTTERHOEVEN)
1st Semi National Argenton 2008
During the autumn of 2008 I had the pleasure of once again travelling over to Belgium to meet up with some exceptional fanciers with the help of Guy Van Der Auwera of Belgica De Weerd. Now one of the first ports of call was to the Putte area of Belgium to visit the lofts of the world famous Van Hove – Uytterhoeven partnership who need absolutely no introductions to the sport of pigeon racing, they are living legends who have just not won five 1st Nationals and seven new Motor Cars but have assisted many fanciers including many of the modern day European elite to were they are today with their fabulous family of pigeons, many will probably recall an article on the partnership which was published in the Masters of Breeding hard backed book which hit the shelves during the early 80’s where it highlighted at that stage the world wide fame that this team of pigeons were achieving with the assistance of the Old "Havenith" bloodlines.
The partnership is made up of Gust Van Hove his wonderful wife Mit who is in charge of all the Y/Birds and is often in the garden most mornings scrapping from 6.00am, also involved very highly in the partnership is son Geert who is a gentleman, also you have the silent but very influential Nabor Uytterhoeven who is an uncle of Gust who sits in the back ground and his years of experience is often called into play during any year of racing. I will go back to this partnership in another article but will before going on to my next port of call give you the story on a rather special pigeon owned by the Van Hove – Uytterhoeven partnership namely “Golden Boy”. I will return with a more detailed loft report during 2009 on this legendry partnership but for now to give you a taste of what the family of pigeons is about please read on.
The impresive racing lofts of the Van Hove Uytterhoeven team from Belgium.
The 1994 bred “Golden Boy”, what a pigeon. He is a Blue cock with 2 white feathers in one wing and in the other one white feather, and he has never raced in his life. Born by accident in fact as his Sire & Dam were both sold to Japan. This being the last pigeon bred from them before departure and what a world wide star he has become. Not simply by the results obtained by his children, but generation after generation all over the world fanciers are winning with the bloodlines of the “Golden Boy” of Van Hove (Uytterhoeven) with many Ace Pigeons and National winners attached to the bloodlines of the 1994 bred “Golden Boy”
I will go into a bit of the pedigree, rather than going into every single winning descendent that has come from this particular pigeon firstly the Sire of “Golden Boy” was a 1990 bred pigeon called “Woody” a pigeon that excelled when in the hamper, especially from Semi National or National Level. Some of his results that I have selected include 5th Provincial and 21st National Bourges 16,725 pigeons, from Argenton he finished 16th Provincial and 77th Semi National 2,979 Birds and from Vierzon 85th Provincial against 4083 Birds. Sire of “Woody” is none other than the 1981 bred “Mustang” now this pigeon I have come across in a few successful families winning on the Continent, he is a direct son of the “Millionaire pair” namely the 1976 bred “Late Flippe” when mated to 77 bred “Apollo” who got there name simply because descendents from them have won a combined Million BEF Prize money. If you check over all the history and family tree concerning “Mustang” you will come across scores of 1st Prize Winners at every level, one that I recall writing about not so long ago for a website in Europe was the 1991 bred “Argenton” who in fact was a G/Son of “Mustang” he won a catalogue of prizes in his career including 14th National Argenton with 27,499 birds competing re the name, he also won from Bourges in 1993 2nd Provincial with 3266 pigeons competing and 6th over-all in the National against 17,048 pigeons, before being sold once again like so many of the Van Hove pigeons to Japan he was to finish 2nd Provincial 2,465 pigeons and 2nd overall in the National from Bourges again with 10,156 pigeons competing. Now what has the family produced in the “Land of the Rising Sun” to much to mention in this article perhaps that can be part two of the Van Hove (Uytterhoeven) story. But I do know that such were the results obtained from children and G/Children from the “Argenton” and of the parents of the bird himself the “Golden Boy” that the pigeon market in the Far East has been a birth place for the Van Hove pigeons with many winners reported right out to 1000km. “Mustang” was mated to the 1988 bred “Benjo” who was in fact a full sister to Stan Raeymaeckers 1st National winner from Limoges to produce the Sire “Woody” of the pigeon in question “Golden Boy” Dam of “Golden Boy was the 1991 bred “Golden Girl” once again a very sound racing pigeon indeed for the Van Hove family with many top prizes including in 1991 winning 1st Provincial from Bourges with 9,962 pigeons competing and then going on to win 6th in the over all National with 51,950 pigeons competing and as mentioned at the start of this article she was sold to Japan. Her Sire was the pigeon that is considered by the Van Hove family to be the most famous pigeon within their lofts the 1986 bred “Jonge Bange II”. All children were raced from him up until the year 2000 to which he gave many very good pigeons for example one of the toughest National races ever remembered was a race from Gueret a distance of 586km the first two arrivals to the loft were direct from the “Jonge Bange II” before this excellent legend of a stock cock was retired he was himself a relatively consistent racer with positions such as 6th/294 birds; 6th/362 birds; 6th/148 birds; 13th 462 birds; 13th/1372 birds; 15th/371 birds; 31st/1301 birds; 39th/1355 birds; 45th/4417 birds; 57th/676 birds; 66th/4275 birds and 81st/1858 birds; and in the six important races in which he participated he finished from Blois (455km) 2nd Club and 5th Provincial; Bourges (471km) 46th Provincial and 337th National 11,200 pigeons; Orleans (410km) 1st Club, 2nd Provincial 3807 pigeons; Blois once again 1st Club, 3rd Provincial and Vierzon (466km) he finished 1st Club, 2nd Provincial and 2nd Semi National 1937 pigeons. In all in won 1st prizes on a varying amount of velocities from 1000 m/minute to 1600 m/minute on varying distances from 200km to 500km. Direct children from him included of course “Golden Girl” 1st Provincial Bourges (471km) 9962 pigeons; “Electric Blue” (super breeding hen), “Zitterke Bange”; “Princess Souterraine” 1st Provincial La Souterraine (584km) 1816 pigeons; and “Bourgeske Bange” a winner of 18th National Bourges 44,185 pigeons and also Dam to the ultra successful “Shinjisan” the National winner from Bourges in 2002 for Van Hove. Now for the 2nd generation coming from the lines of the masterful “Jonge Bange II” they include “Lambada” 1st Semi National Tours (499km) with 4588 pigeons competing; of course we have the “Golden Boy” (perhaps one of the best breeders in the world); “Mozart”; “Miss Brasil” a winner of 1st Ace Pigeon Antwerp Union Long Distance 1998, 2nd National Ace Pigeon BDS 1998, with race records that include 1st Club, 1st Provincial 1545 Birds in stifling heat and won the race by 10 mins. Also she was 3rd Club, 11th Provincial and 56th National Argenton with some 20,583 birds competing; 1st Club, 4th Provincial and 12th National La Souterraine with 13488 pigeons competing. “Miss Dream” 1st Ace Pigeon Kempische Fond Club 1999, 3rd Ace Pigeon Antwerp Union Long distance 1999, 7th National Ace Youngster in 1999, her most impressive results included 5th Club, 8th Provincial, 47th National 14,957 pigeons from La Souterraine (584km); 10th Club, 143rd Provincial 11,842 pigeons from Orleans; 55th Provincial and 166th National from Bourges with 44,185 pigeons competing; 5th and 76th Provincial Tours with birdage of 1093 and 2642 respectively; 34th National from Bourges with over 4,000 pigeons competing and 42nd National from La Souterraine once again with 1892 pigeons competing on that occasion. The “Jonge Bange II” was mated to the 1986 bred “Adona” to produce the “Golden Girl” who is Dam to the “Golden Boy” she won when racing 56th Provincial and 135th National from Bourges with 29,297 pigeons competing she is also Dam of “Miss Universe who was 1st Ace Pigeon Long Distance in the Antwerp Union in 1996.
Many super stock pigeons are housed in this find loft belong to the multiple National winning Van Hove family.
Now the basis for the story was to highlight the super breeder that is the “Golden Boy” in particular the direct children and grand-children in what they have achieved over the years, both on the road and in there respective stock lofts, as like all families and especially winning ones not all the information is fourth coming when fanciers have success with your pigeons, so I can only highlight the info that I have to hand. First pigeon on the podium is Belg 96/097 “Oude Tornado” he won a number of top prizes during a glittering spell in the basket they included 1st club Tory 618 birds; 19th club, 51st Provincial Chateauroux with 2465 pigeons competing; 2nd club, 8th Provincial and 20th National Bourges with 39,114 pigeons competing; 35th Semi National Montloucon 2008 birds; 9th club, 24th Provincial and 138th National Bourges 11396 pigeons; 321st National Limoges with over 12,000 pigeons competing and 88th Provincial Chateauroux 3198 pigeons competing. In the stock loft he was as equally dominant rearing the following prize winners :- “Miss Telex” 00/183 winner of 1st Pithiviers, also 48th and 206th Semi National Argenton with 7,613 and 3,243 pigeon respectively. “Miss Boulevard” 00/064 winner of 335th National 15,306 pigeons, also 193rd National Chateauroux with 4,619 pigeons competing and finally another race point to highlight Vierzon were “Miss Boulevard” finished 121st and 402nd Semi National with 5,047 and 13,825 pigeons competed respectively. “Miss Music” 98/055 She won as a Y/Bird in 1998 5th Ace Pigeon in the Antwerp Union in the long distance Category, also she finished 351st National Argenton 20,538 pigeons; 10th Provincial and 50th National La Souterraine with 13,488 pigeons competing and 141st National from the same race point with 7,419 pigeons competing. This all achieved from one of the sons from the “Golden Boy” 2nd up on the podium is “Napoli” 96/201 his direct children included “Real” 99/187 winner of 1st Toury 315 birds and 1st Sens 361 birds another direct daughter “Miss Turbo” 97/808 was a winner of 1st Ace Pigeon Fond Club Antwerpen; 2nd Ace Pigeon Antwerp Union Long distance 1997; 2nd Ace Pigeon BDS 1997 just behind the famous “Fieneke 5000” of Mr Flor Vervoort; her most outstanding performances included 7th provincial from La Souterraine with 1298 pigeons competing, 6th Provincial and 145th National Argenton 15,453 pigeons competing, 71st provincial Orleans with 10,194 pigeons competing, 81st Provincial 2017 pigeons competing from Vierzon and 2nd Club, 8th Provincial and 35th National Bourges with 38,169 pigeons competing. A Super Nest pair of Grandchildren from the “Napoli” included “Golden Oscar” 01/149 winner of 1st Ace Pigeon Flanders Cup 2001, 1st Ace Pigeon Antwerp Union 2001, 1st National Ace Pigeon BDS, 3rd Olympic middle Distance France with the following performances 3rd Provincial and 3rd Semi National Vierzon 3621 pigeons, 8th Provincial and 33rd National 3515 birds from Gueret, 10th Provincial and 10th National Argenton with 23,493 pigeons competing, 17th Provincial and 92nd National against 42,763 pigeons from Bourges; 1st Club Pithiviers 624 birds, 77th Inter Provincial and 131st Semi National 8142 pigeons and 65th National and 201st National from once again Bourges with birdage respectively of 4674 and 16,950. Her nest mate was a pigeon called “Concorde” 01/148 he was a winner from Pithiviers of 3rd/389 birds; 3rd/1017 birds, 7th/535 birds and 8th/1367 birds, from Marne he finished 5th against 747 birds; from Chateauroux 17th Provincial and 38th Semi National with 6,018 pigeons competing, from Argenton he was to finish 59th and 71st Semi National with 3589 and 8142 pigeons competing respectively.
The Van Hove Family pictured along with Ian Gibb of the Gibb & Byrne Stud Ireland and Adie McCormick Pigeon Scribe.
The third direct child from the “Golden Boy” onto the podium is the now Mr Lai of Taiwan owned “Zuster Miss Tornado” 97/008 her direct children include “Bourgeske Bange” 99/027 she won 2nd club Noyon with 873 pigeons competing, 19th Provincial Vierzon 1682 pigeons competing and finally 10th Provincial and 18th National with 44,185 pigeons competing from Bourges a distance to 471km to the Van Hove lofts in Putte, Belgium she is also Dam to the champion racer “Shinjisan” winner of the 2002 National from Bourges. Another of “Zuster Miss Tornado” off spring is the “Zitterke Bange” 00/146 An outstanding Racer and Breeder would have made a tremendous racer had she have shown more courage after finally reaching the racing loft many occasions opting to sit out, On her last two National races she won 17th Provincial and 115th National from La Souterraine with some 15000 + pigeons competing and from Gueret she was 2nd club, 3rd Provincial and 24th National with 9,277 pigeons competing. Yet another super hen worth a mention direct from “Miss Tornado” is “Princess Souterraine” 00/147 she won in the year 2000 1st Ace Pigeon Antwerp Union Long Distance, 3rd National Ace Pigeon Young birds BDS, 1st Club, 1st Provincial and 9th National La Souterraine against 15,306 pigeons, 4th Club, 7th Provincial and 44th National 9,277 pigeons, 156th Semi National and 466th National with 36,506 pigeons competing. Now we move onto the Grand-Children of the third of the children profiled from the “Golden Boy” “Miss Helena” 01/905 winner of 4th Club, 6th Provincial Tours 2066 pigeons, 306th Semi National Chateauroux, 99th National and 290th National Bourges 16,950 pigeons, 254th Semi National 10,767 pigeons, from Bourges she finished 4th Provincial, 18th Provincial and 20th Provincial averaging 1700 pigeons, another G/Child is “Shinji-San” 01/059 This the Van Hove National winner from Bourges in 2002 against 16,950 pigeons and the fastest bird record from the over-all convoy of 40,000 pigeons an offer of 50,000 was turned down for him he is also a winner of 1st Pithiviers 523 birds, 2nd Pithiviers 535 birds and 2nd Pithiviers 1367 birds on both occasions beaten by loft mates. Still we stay with yet another G/Child from “Zuster Miss Tornado” the 3rd child profiled from the “Golden Boy” this time we have “Miss Bacardi 1” Belg 00/082 yet another exceptional racer with only some of her highlights listed they include 2 x 1st prizes from Pithiviers a distance of 364km, 11th Provincial 5471 birds and over-all 16th National against 36,506 pigeons from Bourges, 20th Provincial and 39th National with 7613 pigeons on this occasion competing from Argenton, 21st Provincial and 113th National Bourges yet again with 16,119 pigeons to beat on this occasion and finally from Gueret she finished 26th Provincial and 136th National with over 9,000 pigeons competing. The fourth pigeon on the podium direct from the “golden Boy” is “Jonge Tornado 1” Belg 98/023 Probably the show pigeon of the loft, he can race and he can breed and also he can catch your eye on a visit to the Van Hove lofts by Mr Gaby Vandanabeele he picked this boy as one of his favourites. We only raced him for 3 years and some of his results are as follows 49th provincial and 136th Semi National from Vierzon with close to 17,000 pigeons competing, from Chateauroux a distance of 520km he was 3rd Provincial and 32nd Semi National 9,975 pigeons, from Chateauroux yet again he was 4th Provincial and 35th Semi National also back again to Vierzon he finished 26th provincial and 66th Semi National with over 6,000 pigeons competing on that occasion. Direct children from him include “Venus 1” Belg 01/037 winner of 2nd Club Sens 632 birds, also 1st Club and 2nd Provincial from Orleans with over 10,000 pigeons to beat on this occasion “Venus I” was beaten to first place by less than 1 second. Also nest mate to “Venus 1” is named “Venus II” was also to get in on the act specifically from a hard national race from Bourges she was our first arrival finishing 2nd Club, 2nd in the Antwerp Union, 5th Provincial, 15th Semi National, and 36th over – all in the National result with 42,763 pigeons competing. Fifth on the podium direct from the “Golden Boy” is “Jonge Tornado II” 98/024 nest mate to the previous pigeon this pigeon also was a very consistent racer as you would imagine winning 56th Provincial 151st Semi National against 16,828 pigeons and 31st Provincial and 71st Semi National on both occasions from Vierzon, from Argenton he recorded three performances namely 72nd, 88th and 75th Provincial finishing 174th, 205th and 338th National with the following birdages 4,740, 9,864 and 9,506. Sixth pigeon to be covered is the “Jonge Tornado III” Belg 98/119 a winner of 1st Toury (373km) and was the fastest of 4440 pigeons. Seventh to the Podium is the famous “Miss Tornado” Belg 99/047 What a pleasure this pigeon is, she was winner of 1st Ace Pigeon Antwerpen Fond Club in 1999, also 1st Ace Pigeon Antwerp Union Long Distance 1999, 2nd National Ace Pigeon Young Birds BDS, 4th Olympic pigeon Middle Distance (300 – 600km) 2001, wins included 1st Club, 5th Provincial 1682 pigeons, 3 times 1st Club from La Souterraine each time finishing 1st Provincial, 71st National 9,061 pigeons, 2nd provincial 26th National 14,957 pigeons and 2nd Provincial again this time finishing 13th National, also she recorded a good result from the Argenton National finishing 24th Provincial and 63rd in the National with over 21,000 + pigeons competing and not finished their she also scored from Orleans recording a 4th Club after three loft mates finishing 96th in the Provincial result with over 11,000+ pigeons competing. Direct children from her include “Miss Victoria 1” Belg 01/054 a winner of 1st Sens 1208 pigeons and the fastest recorded from 10,000 pigeons; 7th Provincial and 7th National from Argenton with 23,493 pigeons competing and the following one being 294th National from a liberation of 16,950 pigeon from Bourges, another direct daughter is “Miss Victoria II” Belg 01/223 a winner of 1st Pithiviers 446 pigeons, 2nd Pithiviers 386 pigeons, 17th Provincial and 26th Semi National 8,142 pigeons, 15th Provincial and 23rd National 9,308 pigeons from Chateauroux, also 7th Provincial and 17th National from Argenton beating 3,572 other pigeons, and again from Argenton 57th National with over 10,000 pigeons competing from Bourges a 13th place finish in the Provincial and a respectable 77th National with 42,763 pigeons competing. Also in 2002 a couple of super youngsters started to perform for the Van Hove loft and from the big National race from Bourges they were the two first pigeons to the loft finishing 95th and 98th National with 40,471 pigeons competing they were both from “Miss Tornado” and named “Miss Happy II” and “Miss Happy III” you may ask why not “Miss Birthday I” well she already was named after finishing 22nd Provincial and 153rd from La Souterraine a distance of 584km and for many this went down as one of the hardest races in recent years for the Belgium fanciers. I could continue to detail pigeon after pigeon coming down from what surely must be one of the most prolific breeders ever on the continent and the reason for this detailed report on such a super star, his descendents are still doing the business up to this present day as you will see from the next couple of pigeons, their I am sure well over 100 pigeons who are all multiple winners for the “Golden Boy” lines and I will do may best to cover as many as I can when I have the time to conclude on the day to day running of this very successful continental loft.
“Queen Gueret” Belg 06/047 is also a G/Daughter of the “Golden Boy” and she was the winner of 1st National Guéret in 2007 against 2,448 pigeons she also raced very well leading up to the national success including 107th Provincial Montluçon 1,913 pigeons, 166th Semi National Châteauroux 3,857 pigeons, 62nd Provincial Châteauroux 2.629 pigeons, 2nd Melun 916 pigeons, 52nd Noyon 552 pigeons, 18th Noyon 589 pigeons, and 9th Quiévrain 177 pigeons. As a youngster she was equally as prolific winning 62nd National La Souterraine 13,965 pigeons, 248th Provincial Salbris 2006 1,674 pigeons, 175th National Argenton 2006 14,534 pigeons, 5th St-Denis 2,826 pigeons, 48th Orléans 8,835 pigeons, 418th Melun 3,603 pigeons, 55th Pithiviers 2,061 pigeons and 211th Pithiviers 2,477 pigeons.
“Princes Gueret” Belg 06/144 is also a full sister of the “Queen Gueret” and finished 4th National the day her sister won the National she also has been consistent like so many of the “Golden Boy” descendants she has previously finished 4th National Guéret 2,448 pigeons, 134th Provincial Montluçon 1,913 pigeons, 24th Semi Nat Châteauroux 3,857 pigeons, 32nd Provincial Châteauroux 2,629 pigeons, 38th Noyon 555 pigeons, 19th Noyon 589 pigeons, 43rd Quiévrain 177 pigeons, 506th National Guéret 10,670 pigeons, 83rd National La Souterraine 13,965 pigeons, 111th Provincial Salbris 1,674 pigeons, 113th National Bourges 26,484 pigeons.
ALBERT & STEFAN STEENBERGEN
Winners of the Flanders Flying Cup in 2008.
The Best Middle Distance Loft in 2008.
My next port of call was to the lofts of the father and son team who are lighting up the skies of Belgium with their magical results in such a short space of time they are Albert & Stefan Steenbergen from the Herk-De-Stad area of Belgium. Already confirmed in 2008 as the leading loft of Middle Distance and also Top Prize winners in the Flanders Flying club by a resounding margin I might add ahead of the L & B & J Geerinckx team in second, when you are at the top of the Flanders list you can consider yourself something special on the list in 2008 you have the names of 1119 fanciers as you would imagine a lot of the big super stars are listed in their including Jef Van Winkel, Jespen Van Elsacker, Deno Herbots, Andre Roodhooft, Kris Cleirbaut, Romana Legiest, Wim De Troy, Guido Loockx, Jos Thone, Erik Limbourg just to name a few of the list of very prominent fanciers indeed so to placed number 1 is some achievement. In the last three years major achievements for the Steenbergen partnership I would like to mention include the two aforementioned awards in the title plus 1st Provincial KBDB, Yearling from Salbris in 2008, 1st National La Souteraine in 2007 with “Linda”, 1st Semi National KBDB Yearlings Berlin in 2007, 1st & 2nd National KBDB O/Birds, Zone La Souterraine 2007, 1st Championship Yearlings with 1st & 2nd KBDB LFC once again in 2007. Then in 2006 the loft of Albert & Stefan Steenbergen won 1st National KBDB Argenton also 1st National Yearlings Zone Argenton and 1st Ace Pigeon, Youngsters KBDB CFW.
Father Albert like so many of the father & son partnerships has had pigeons for quite a few years in fact some 26 years to be precise. Son Stefen was a contracted footballer for a number of years before doing 7 years of management before retiring from football in 2000 and joining his father in partnership to race pigeons commencing in 2001. How important those years of dietary control and exercise as a athletic footballer and coach were to help in his endeavours to formulate a successful system of management that he hoped would see them reach the dizzy heights of success and more importantly keep them their. Many weeks were spent assessing the approach that best suited what they were setting out to achieve, they visited countless successful fanciers, looked at various loft layouts, condition of pigeons, feeding methods etc. No stone was left unturned in their systematic approach. When looking around the lofts the pigeons couldn’t have it any better, the lofts are spotless, no smell of pigeons prompting perfect ventilation, no direct sun-light, this is something that I came across quite a bit in my trips around various lofts in Belgium they are all against direct sun-light hitting the birds this loft was similar to the lofts of Van Hove the windows were whitened with water based paint blocking out direct sun light, all the floors were fitted with grids and these are lifted once per week to be cleaned underneath. Fans are fitted which allows for added ventilation and also these are linked to a thermostat which ensures that the humidity within the lofts doesn’t exceed 70 degrees at any given time. The water troughs and food troughs are fitted to the outside of the section frontage which runs along the full length of the lofts, these are all changed twice daily and allows for easy access without going into the sections annoying the birds, also it educates them to eat and drink when in transportation if and when required. These also I might add are fitted at knee height.
This is the impressive racing loft of the 2008 Flanders Flying Club Champions Albert & Stefan Steenbergen.
Not surprisingly Stefen looks upon his racers as a football team all with a job and a certain level of responsible to each other, horses for courses so to speak, when a pigeon is winning well at a certain distance or race point it is kept for that, again it was a learning curve when selecting pigeons to purchase which were required for the different aspects of racing, Albert & Stefan both agreeing you need certain pigeons for certain races and certain weather forecasts and in particular wind conditions. Only through trail and error will you find out this, also something that Stefen knows all about is the break down of feeding and it wasn’t a surprise to find a number of different bags around the loft, and to which I already came to expect that he mix’s his own, once again based on mileage and prevailing wind conditions etc in the lead up to any said race. The section lay out within the lofts are very large with very little pigeons in each.
The Stock lofts belonging to the top middle Distance Loft in Belgium 2008 are that of A & S Steenbergen
They are exercised one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening and with a regimental attitude this task must be completed at the same time each day, when tossing which is anything up to 3 times per week mostly from a distance of 50km one of the partners always remains to see the pigeons returning, with many sections around most of the gardens spread out into a number of lofts all with tiled roofs Albert & Stefen have a number of options for varying systems they prefer to race the Cocks on Widowhood with the hens raced on a type of roundabout, now theoretically they try to give the hens especially one long race one week and bring them back to the shorter distance the following week, its plays with their mind and in the long term keeps them motivated and fresher as when they return from the shorter races they feel like a million dollars. As for the Widowhood cocks the Steenbergen system would be very similar to the system we use in the U.K with the pigeons fed in their own boxes, something I did pick up on is they never will have a 4 year old pigeon on widowhood, it is their belief after researching results over the years that only on two occasions has a 4 year old cock won a prize flying on Widowhood, so technically they have 2 years as a widowhood cock to prove they are good enough to be kept. With the Distance loft it is a different kettle of fish and they as the results have proved can continue to score highly in National competition right up to the tender age of 7 or 8, as they are not asked to compete each week and most are set up for specific favoured races or race points. Y/birds are as you would imagine raced on the Darkness system and trap through a sliding door and are often paired to o/birds for maximum motivation.
The Flanders Cup winners Stefan & Albert Steenbergen pictured with Guy Van Der Auwera of Belgic De Weerd and Ian Gibb of the Gibb & Byrne Stud Ireland.
You can have the best nutritionist at your disposal in Stefan but you still require a level of good base pigeons to start with, and when the father and son team set out in the year 2000 they spent an awesome amount of money in purchasing the pigeons that they thought best served their requirements they obtained pigeons from the following fanciers Maurice & Ivan Vandermissen from Rummen, The Engel Bros, Mauris-Voets of Kessel, from the loft of Herbots including a son of their famous “155” which has proved a very successful breeder, Franz Werner Reverman including many significant pigeons from the lines of “Magic” and the “Finneke” of the late Flor Vervot, and the rest is history for each years bring more and more success in the last 3 years well over 80 x 1st and I would imagine there and far bigger and better things to come for the Steenbergen partnership. Of the two in the partnership Albert loves the long distance events and enjoys waiting in the garden all day long for his competitors to arrive home, recently he sent just one to Narbonne which is a distance of 800km to the lofts in Herk-De-Stad, he has absolute faith in his pigeons and many have respect for the family of distance pigeons that he has now got about the loft, Alberts faith paid off and his arrival finished 6th National and only 1 away, over the last couple of years Dr Henk De Weerd of Las Palmos Lofts has supplied many good pigeons to the father and son team in fact last year Albert sent a couple of hens to Barcelona and finished 4th and 15th National Hens.
Stefan Steenbergen seen on the right presented The Cornish Connection Cup to the Hagan & Rowny Team from Portadown at the Annual Pigeonnetwork.com Quiz night of the Year.
Already Kings of the Flanders Club in such a short space of time, I have absolutely no doubt you will be reading more about this partnership of Albert & Stefan Steenbergen in the many successful seasons to come.
AGY & ARIEN PASCAL VERRECKT
2 x 1st NATIONAL 2008
2nd NATIONAL MIDDLE DISTANCE KBDB CHAMPION 2008
My third port of call while on my trip to Belgium was to the family home of Pascal & Agy Verreckt yet another team who are doing unbelievable things with racing pigeons in such a short space of time. They have a beautiful home in the Tessenderlo area of Belgium which they share with there two sons Milan & Ylian and have the pleasure of living close to the legendary Guido Loockx which keeps competition to the fore on race days.
My reason for calling was to handle some of the super pigeons that have seen success spiral at times out of control for the husband and wife team who are assisted with Pascals Grand Father 76 year old Fonske and Agy’s father 62 year old Robert Rutten in the day to day running of the substantial layout of lofts. Just have a look at the following results all achieved in 2008. 1st National Argenton 6,033 Pigeons, 1st Semi National Chateauroux 8,216 Pigeons, 1st Provincial Gien 5,843 Pigeons, 1st Provincial Chateuaroux 2,735 Pigeons, 1st & 3rd Provincial Montlucon 2,028 Pigeons, 1st & 5th Provincial Argenton 1,482 Pigeons, 1st, 3rd & 4th Provincial Argenton 952 Pigeons, 2nd National Montlucon 8,521 Pigeons, 2nd Provincial Bourges 1,643 Pigeons, 2nd Provincial Montlucon 1,796 Pigeons, 3rd National Montlucon 7,332 Pigeons, 3rd & 4th Provincial Bourges 1,133 Pigeons, 3rd & 4th Provincial Bourges 2,365 Pigeons, 5th Provincial Gien 3,131 Pigeons and 15th and 17th National Bourges 16,802 Pigeons, think you would agree for a relatively young husband and wife team these are impressive Pascal being 35 years of age, so much so that the Verreckt performances aren’t going un-noticed around the world even in the U.K with already a few prominent fanciers calling at their home to purchase pigeons. I do know that their order books are currently filled for 2009 and a good part of 2010 with many going to very prominent fanciers indeed around the continent and once again to the Far East. Pascal works as a full time production manager for Duracell which have their plant not to far from the Verreckt household with Pascal in charge of a work force numbering 700, this entails many long hours with many hours spent on return from work with the pigeons or doing the paper work associated with the pigeons, a lot of the day to day running is left to Agy who does a superb job around the lofts under the daily direction of Pascal.
The Verreckt owned "Den Dikke" & "Lang Lowet" Base Stock pair of the loft G/Sire & G/Dam to over 12 x 1st Provincial winners.
As a six year old boy Pascal always had an interest in pigeons and accompanied his Grand Father to his lofts as often as he was allowed, he continued to show an interest for many years even when departing for University to study for a Degree in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering and with his first pay packet upon qualifying and seeking employment he went out to purchase pigeons which to this day are still the base of the loft as are the old lines kept by his grandfather all those years ago, of course as time has went on so has the requirement to add new dimensions to the stock loft, pigeons have been sourced from a number of fanciers including Frans Stoces/Jan Aardens, Jan Tylan, Remi De May, Adrian Wouters, Jos Soontjen, the late Jef Vercammem, Jan Grondelaers, Jan Meulemans and Patricia Verhagen’s coming down from the famous “Jackpot” this particular line has done exceptionally well for Pascal over the last number of years and he has now got six direct children from “Jackpot” in his stock loft namely “Patricia”, “Nicole”, “Patricia Roger”, “Den 53”, “De Swa” and the “Den Dimi” it was also interesting to learn that Patricia Verhagens “Jackpot” has been mated to “The Kannibal” of Dirk Van Dijck on 6 occasions.
The Verreckt’s only race the roundabout system for the yearling birds with the cocks racing once a fortnight generally and the hens going every week, Pascal believes that hens have as much and on occasions maybe more to offer than cocks. In any given year the hens will have up to 20 races covering a distance of 7,500km that’s the smart ones that don’t make mistakes then added to that is the daily flying around the loft which is one hour, the cocks fly twice a day around the loft but as mentioned previously will race alternate weeks. The older pigeons are placed on the Widowhood system. All are tossed frequently, similar to a lot of the O/Bird systems now in place within the UK feed heavy and work heavy. Feeding is always given to the pigeons in the hallway of the loft and they can eat as much as the want before it is removed, generally for the vast majority of the races Pascal feeds at the beginning of the week a sports mixture going into a diet or depurative format in the middle of the week working back out to a Sport or widowhood mixture towards basketing for any given race, upon basketing they always have a pinch of small seeds. Pascal thinks it is a very rear occurrence for a Widowhood cock to stay on form for a full season with the maximum he has ever found for any one particular bird being 5 weeks some are a week longer or a week less but generally 5 weeks with many finding form at different stages of the racing programme. Something again that a lot of the fanciers I have visited abroad are doing in bathing the pigeons in hot water and massaging the muscles of their competitors, Pascal has tried this also but found very little difference in recovery of additional or continued form. Something I did notice when going around the maze of sections in the O/Bird lofts were that all individual nest box floors had heating underneath in one particular section I did ask Pascal if he found a difference he commented that it was still to early to say. The Mechanical and Electrical Engineering education playing its part here and will be interesting to see on my return visit in 2009 if it has been rolled out into all the sections.
Y/Birds are never pushed to hard in their first year at the Verreckt lofts, this is for a number of reasons mainly down to the amount of time required for the schooling, Pascal preferring to educate well around the house and toss them himself when he has time, space is also an issue as they can any year take up to 7 or 8 rounds from all the principle breeders in the stock lofts. The lofts are darkened from the beginning of March going right through to the second week in May from the hours of 8pm to 6am this is all the lofts including the O/Birds. All the youngsters are basket trained from an early age in the interests of drinking and feeding enhancing their education for the transporter when the time arrives. This is yet another loft in Belgium that I am more than sure you will be reading about for many more years to come.
PHOTO GALLERY
The A & S Steenbergen partnership won 1st National La Souteraine in 2007 with "Linda"
Albert & Stefan Steenbergen won the National from Argenton in 2006 with "Kim"
Verreckt pigeon "Moluca"
Verreckt pigeon "Argentina"
Verreckt pigeon "Goede Jaarling"
Verreckt pigeon "Lichten Dikke"
Verreckt pigeon "Galante"
Verreckt pigeon "Milan"
Verreckt pigeon "Armstrong"
Verreckt pigeon "Argenton Dikke"
Verreckt pigeon "Ylian"
Verreckt pigeon "Little Blue"
Verreckt pigeon "Diamond"
Verreckt pigeon "De Patter"
Verreckt pigeon "Nicola"
Verreckt pigeon "Miss Argenton"
Verreckt pigeon "Miss Bourges"
Verreckt pigeon "Erika"
Steenbergen pigeon "De Berlijn"
Steenbergen pigeon "Super Walter"
Steenbergen pigeon "Best Lady"
Steenbergen pigeon "Den Robert"
Steenbergen pigeon "Speedy"
Steenbergen pigeon "Stacey"
Steenbergen pigeon "Steffie"