Not true (14-02-24)
Not true
My attention was drawn to an article by N.
In neat Dutch, that was already something, and also fine in terms of content.
A breath of fresh air in a time with 'pieces of writers' whose language is just as crooked as their thought.
People with language skills that barely exceed the level of a six-year-old are not inferior, but they should not go public with their writings.
Professional deformity on my part? Worried about the image of the sport?
Possibly both.
The clever article was instructive, except for one thing. N advised beginners not to buy pigeons from people who raced well with youngsters.
Completely wrong. What a pity.
MISS
In the youngsters' game, according to him: too many factors other than quality would play a role. Such as craftsmanship and time of the fancier.
And admittedly, N is certainly not the only one who feels this way.
You often hear and read that the game with youngsters is a kind of art, in which the fancier is the artist and the quality of the pigeons is subordinate to his skills.
To be honest, I once felt the same way.
I had heard too many times before that everyone with youngsters could excel. That was before the time when the specialists of that time (L Claessens, C Bosua, writer of this article, Derwa, Henri van Doorn and then already W de Bruijn) were looked at with a skewed eye.
But I think differently now. Also to excel with youngsters you have to have good ones. So you can also get good ones from the specialists in that genre.
ANTWERP
Long time ago: A tough race for youngsters from Dourdan. Because of the heat and headwind, the birds stayed away for an awfully long time and you know how it goes then. Phones ringing off the hook.
Until... Yes, it is. The first redemptive notification. Van Dijck had clocked. Was that even possible? "Dirk had good birds, but flying that far ahead?" Doubts all around.
And indeed, as it soon turned out: It wasn't true. Or rather, only half true.
The pigeon was clocked at that 'impossibly early time' but was not from Dirk but from namesake Danny.
Later it turned out that his 09-6323112 was no less than 9 minutes ahead of the contingent of 1,245 pigeons. 'Never happened before', you heard everywhere.
112
Spectacle pigeon '112', would later be mentioned 'the Cannon'. His nest mate, the '111', was a bit less, but not much. And maybe some of you know how I feel about two pigeons from the same nest that perform extraordinarily. There is a good chance that they are or will become good breeders. Because several good pigeons in the family can be a decisive factor.
For example, I was once on the verge of buying a kind of 'miracle pigeon', but in the end I let it go. Not because of the price, but because it turned out that not one youngster from the same parents was worth anything. That exceptional racer ended up with a friend and that was the last I heard about the bird.
The young Dutchman Stef Bals also has his 709 and 710, also 2 of the same nest. They won a 1st and 2nd prize against more than 10,000 pigeons.
Gerard Rens from Herselt had the 2 fastest pigeons in the entire province of Antwerp in the first Middle Distance race in 2023 in tough weather. Two brothers.
They are going to give the buyer a lot of pleasure.
It doesn't surprise me that you can now regularly read about fantastic descendants of the 'Kanon 112' and ‘111.’ I rather find it normal.
COUNTLESS
There are countless number of good breeders who have performed very well as youngsters. Fanciers like Ludo Claessens, Leo Heremans, Kees Bosua, W de Bruijn, Rik Hermans, Albert Derwa, Cyriel Lambrechts, Gust Janssen, G v d Wouwer, Henri van Doorn, Falco Ebben, Janssen Bros are examples. These were all men who had youngsters that raced fantastically in order to become even better breeders later on.
Ebben and Albert Derwa only raced youngsters for years. They became champions with old birds. Icons such as Janssen Bros and Charles van der Espt took the youngsters' game very seriously.
Racing the long distance with youngsters was even the passion of the latter.
His well-performing youngsters became the later stock pigeons of many 'patriarchs' in the pigeon sport. His provincial winner Angoulême as a youngster would become the grandmother of the legendary 'Prins' from Hector Desmet.
Van de Espt was so convinced that he was right that after a while he hardly had any breeders who had not performed as youngsters. According to him, youngsters with performances were the future of every serious fancier.
WHITE RAVENS
De Bruijn has his 'Hurricane', 'Murphy's Law' and 'Uranus'.
As youngsters formidable racers, as old birds even better breeders.
Murphy's Law descends from my Ace Four.
Such as the National winner Chateauroux from Luc from Mechelen. And the irony of fate is sometimes crushing, the same day Bas Verkerk also won 1st Nationall Chateauroux in The Netherlands with a pigeon in which a touch of Ace Four blood. Such as breeding wonder Romario (for one loft races), Fleur, Den Ad, Bendner, Johnny Boy, Bubbels, the father of 2 National Ace pigeons for Verbree and, believe me, countless other super pigeons of my Ace Four stocks. Indeed, sometimes far fetched, but... without Ace Four, those pigeons would not have existed. This 145 and his nest sister the 144 became 1st and 2nd Champion pigeon in the Province, (against an average of 11.000 pigeons) as a YOUNGSTER.
AND MORE
Some had exceptionally good experiences with descendants of pigeons that had won a YOUNGSTERS classic. The 'Uno', a pigeon that made Bosua famous, is just one of the examples. So all respect to N, but absolutely disagree.
From magazine. Ace Four and Supertje. Brother and sister: 1st and 2nd provincial Ace against average 11,000 birds in the races. NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE.
Iconic pigeons such as Super Romario, Bubbels, Murphys Law, Den Ad, Fleur and many more are off spring.