Jef Van Winkel, Tielt-Winge achieves the 3°national victory of his career by winning the 1° National Argenton Youngsters!

National winners by the old birds Jacques & Freddy Vandenheede and national winner youngsters Vanwinkel Jef

Many asked themselves why those responsible at the Cureghem Centre didn’t liberate on the Saturday…since it was quite good weather in Argenton, and all the other middle distance races were also liberated early and had a smooth course. It is not our intention to start a polemic about this… because it is easier to know best afterwards… when you see that the small middle distance, the provincial Orleans and Tours races were a piece of cake, and finished within half an hour… one can indeed ask one’s self, why Argenton wasn’t liberated! It is talking about nothing… because it is easy to make comments… when one knows the results of the other races. The people at Cureghem have to make the decision at 8 o’clock in the morning… not at 2 o’clock in the afternoon when the results of the other races are known! Has anyone ever asked themselves this question? Probably not… because there was a passage of rain predicted for the Saturday… and it came as well… at around 13h30 the entire West-Flanders was covered in rain… at 14h30 it was also raining cats and dogs in East-Flanders… no, not just a shower, but more than two hours of interrupted heavy rain.
Imagine if Cureghem had liberated, and the pigeons weren’t able to reach their loft before the rain started, what then?
Then those who are criticizing now, would probably be the first to load these people with criticism… and I think that the people at Cureghem don’t need this after the debacle from Barcelona and Soustons. When ideal racing conditions for ‘all’ the participants over the entire route couldn’t be guaranteed… then the decision to postpone was entirely ‘correct’! Idem ditto on Sunday. On Monday everything seemed fine and everything could be liberated for an Argenton as ‘of old’… with national victories in West- and East-Flanders and ‘early pigeons’ everywhere at national level… it couldn’t have been better, could it? The only marginal comment we received was that the pigeons were quite ‘thirsty’ when they arrived home. This is possibly a problem which arises after 2 extra days in a basket containing 22 pigeons… in principal too many for 4 nights in the basket. Especially when you see that for national races where the pigeons are basketted on Wednesday (and 3 nights in the basket) there are only 18 pigeons allowed in the basket… that is 20% less! But maybe that is food for the coming winter for the National Sport committee… to look for a ‘concession’?

‘V-Power’
That’s what we could call it when we see the national winners from Argenton with Vandenheede by the old birds, Vandenabeele by the yearlings and… Van Winkel by the youngsters… all ‘big names’ within the annals of our current pigeon sport (and all starting with the letter ‘V’). Once again, it was a millimetre sprint for the national victory by the youngsters… which finally went to Jef Van Winkel who clocked his pigeon at 15h00’05” from a distance of 543,640 Km which gave a velocity of 1342,04 m/min… the highest velocity of the entire Argenton convoy of 35.867 participating pigeons!  He just beat Patrick Lismont from Bekkevoort who ended in 2nd place with 1341,85 m /min…  Jespers-Vd Wegen from Holsbeek in 3rd (1341,14 m), Joost De Smeyter-Restiaen from Melden in 4th (1339,34 m) and Marc van Vanonckelen from Halen in 5th (with 1336,9 m).

It was then pigeon specialist Jef Van Winkel who could add 1° National Argenton 22.721 youngsters to his name… the 3° national victory of his career (after 1° Nat Bordeaux 7.524 p. in ’93 and 1° Nat Vichy 11.022 youngsters in ’05). Last year Jef was still the ‘poulidor’ of the year when he always ended up in 2° place national against 23.900 youngsters from Argenton and 2.635 old birds from Gueret! It is from this same Argenton that Jef has now also won 1° Provincial and probably 3° national by the yearlings… which makes the Argenton success complete. Every year Jef rings more than 250 youngsters for own use… wherefrom the most cocks are simply sold. Jef is namely a master in the ‘game’ with the hens. The youngsters are darkened until the middle of June, after which lighting is used … starting with the longest day until after the national Gueret! In the first few months after weaning, his youngsters don’t go outside, but remain all day in the open aviary… until around the beginning of March. Only then do they have their first encounter with the ‘open skies’… but, says Jef, they are so fat and lazy that they can hardly even fly around the loft. That’s why the losses are minimal at that moment. Only when they really start flying… and leave for about half an hour, is it time to get the training box out. After 2 or 3 short trainings races they are ready for the first ‘big step’ with the ‘masses of pigeons of the society. After this they are basketted every week and race the national races for youngsters… in between the nationals, they are usually given a middle distance race of  350 Km. The youngsters are then raced with the sliding door. Before leaving, they are put together for 2 hours… by homecoming they stay together until the next morning… that’s it. Pigeon sport without any frills! Due to the fact that the pigeons are also in ‘open air ’ in the rens during the day, Jef hardly ever has any problems with the airways… only ‘trichomonaisis’ has to be kept under control. Jef describes it so:
Preventive cures, I don’t know why I should bother. Since the actual start (1995) I have kept to my system which means that the pigeons in my lofts have also built up a natural immunity. I have of course sometimes sick youngsters. I remove them from the loft and they are given three days to recuperate. Mother nature can do her work. Pigeons which are constantly sick have to be got rid of. You can’t win any prizes with them and you have to repeatedly go and collect them. I have better things to do with my time. It begins and ends with strong pigeons. I would like to emphasise that the soundness of the loft plays an important role. All the champions I know have good lofts. My lofts are arranged according to the principle… ‘A lot of light and room’! I keep my pigeons as close as possible to nature. The open aviaries in front of the actual lofts give me the best guarantee that my pigeons remain clear in the head.
The so called ‘knowledge’ of pigeons doesn’t interest Jef… outward appearances such as wings, eyes, muscles… don’t do much for him. The only thing that Jef judges them on… is the ‘basket’! He explains why:

Why then do the people who deem themselves to be ‘experts’ keep so many breeding pigeons?. Because 70 % of the youngsters that fanciers breed are not worthy of keeping hold of. I can testify that it is better to breed from top racers. Everyone has prize racers, yet pigeons which have can be found at the top of the results several times per season, and this over a number of years, are given a permanent place in my breeding loft. That’s why only a very few of my top hens are sold. From my own loft experience I know that almost 85% of the good racing hens also achieve a high level as a breeder whilst 75% of good cocks are insufficient when it comes to breeding. Winning originates from the hens and not the cocks, says Jef Van Winkel!
Own experience is always the best teacher… also by Jef Van Winkel, who doesn’t hesitate in speaking his mind… and says it as he finds it!

‘Queeny’ B10-2044286
Is the name that Jef has given his brand new winner of Argenton. It is a youngster from the 3° round which is raced with the sliding door. She previously won:
14° Blois 179 p. and 127° Prov against 2.413p.
52° Soissons  982 p.
106° Soissons 1.072 p.
In her pedigree we find the bloodline of stock bear ‘Witten Engels’ both on father’s and mother’s side!
Father: ‘Son Olympic Queen’ B09-2223713… son of Olympiad pigeon Belgium Cat C, 1° Prov Ace pigeon ‘Olympic Queen’ B07-2222206… coupled with the cock B03-2307842 (line of stock pigeons Witten Engels x Hollander).
Mother: ‘Lucky Blue’ B05-2202096… winner 2° Nat Ace pigeon Ave Regina 2005, 1° Orleans 190 p... etc. (out a son ‘Witten Engels’ x ‘524-Hen’).
Top pigeons coupled with top pigeons… the breeding strategy by Jef Van Winkel. Though he follows the principle of  ‘free coupling’… but then with the ‘real toppers!

The nationals from Argenton and Gueret are the races that hold preference for Jef, as for his pigeons... who have written a great deal of pigeon history in these races. Maybe it’s my system, says Jef… but Bourges seems to be to ‘early’ form y pigeons. I saw that they weren’t ready this year either, so I sent them to Soissons on the day of Bourges. It was a terrible race… with a bad course. The weekend before Argenton they raced Blois… and during the week 2 small flights of around 50 Km. They were ‘convex’ and seemed to be ‘ready’!
With the well-known result! Jef does it his way… with a somewhat different approach… but one that pays off! Indeed, many roads lead to Rome…
Congratulations Jef… and now for the next ‘Van Winkel exploit’! Bet that we don’t have to wait long!