Winand Nestor wins international Narbonne (2005)

 

Life can be beautiful. Winand, already racing pigeons for the main part of his life, wins international Narbonne, on the age of 82 years old.
Saturday 30th of July will probably stay in Winands memory for ever. Around
19h20 the ‘685’ arrived. Now he is called ‘Rick’. Few weeks after this victory i visited Winand…because immediately after the victory it was too busy…

Young boy
Before we talked about the succes of Narbonne, we first talked about the past, the first report was already written in 1957. Actually I never raced bad, Winand tells. I always won a good number of prizes with a high % of early pigeons. It was always like that up to now…The secret ? No secret ! In pigeon sport there are no secrets… You have the talent or you don’t have it. That’s it. When I was a young boy, people already asked to come and judge pigeons in exhibitions, etc…The most important I could learn from that : I handled many pigeons, good and bad ones…and in this way I got more and more experience. To select the good ones out of the bad ones, that was a challenge for me. Also when I enter a loft, I immediately see what’s wrong or right…I think it is just a feeling I have.

Braakhuis
One of the fanciers that had a lot of appreciation for Winand was Marcel Braakhuis, famous because of his ‘Black Murderers’. Winand says: ‘ the last years Marcel was still a pigeon racer, he asked me every year to come and select his pigeons. I always selected in my own way. After a few years Marcel had 100 % confidence in me for this selection process. Both of us were actually very satisfied, as well he as myself got very good pigeons because of this…

‘The secret of Rick’
Like already written before you have to have feeling to succeed in the pigeon sport. Winand proved on the international race of Narbonne that he had the right feeling to prepare Rick in a specific way. Rick could see his hen before basketting in another place than his own widowhood loft… He could be there for about 1h30 with his hen in his old box from 2004. The cock in the breedbox nextdoor was also taken way so Rick had more space. Another reason to do it in this way is that the other widowers are not disturbed. It motivates. If you see afterwards how much effort the widowers do to get in the loft where they saw their hen, then you understand. Something else that is very important for Winand is that he does not show the hen immediately after the cock arrivesohme. ‘ I only do it about 5 hours later. The cock is again relaxed then. When you show him the hen when he just arrived home, he is too tired to take care of the hen.

 

Preparation
Since many years Winand does the same preparation. It starts with a first coupling around 20-25th of February. The future widowers cannot bring up youngsters but can only sit on their eggs…If the pigeons runaway from their eggs, they are seperated again. ‘Everything is direct in such way that all widowers will be basketted the first time on widowhood on Bourges in the end of May. It is not necessary to bring the widowers earlier on widowhood, as they only need to have the condition for the real big races. Starting from the middle of june, the most beautiful long distance races start. They have to be in good shape then.
Winning the first international Narbonne is not the first big victory in 2005, he already won 3rd national on Marseille this year. They are both family from each other. They are also both related to the top pigeon on Mont de Marsan. It shows the exceptional class of the pigeons housing in the lofts of Winand van Engelshoven.

Frequently asked
An international victory is a hard time for a pigeon fancier. It takes up a lot of time and engery. Many telephone calls, and many letters, asking if Winand could donate a pigeon for a fundraising sale of a pigeon club, etc…
Pedigree
‘ Rick’ is a grandson ( father’s side ) of the main couple of the loft Engelshoven; that’s a combination of Braakhuis with a hen of Twan Kluten. On mother’s side the pigeon comes from the line of the 1st national Bordeaux 1992 , strain ‘Cobben x Janssen’ with the old ‘Tossens/Staelens-line’ and on mother’s side again the old Braakhuis-strain with the old strain of Winand himself.

Pedigree
‘ Rick’ is a grandson ( father’s side ) of the main couple of the loft Engelshoven; that’s a combination of Braakhuis with a hen of Twan Kluten. On mother’s side the pigeon comes from the line of the 1st national Bordeaux 1992 , strain ‘Cobben x Janssen’ with the old ‘Tossens/Staelens-line’ and on mother’s side again the old Braakhuis-strain with the old strain of Winand himself

Rick NL03-1547685
Father : NL96-1217948 kras
GV: NL85-2044599 ‘stamfather’ loft of Winand van Engelshoven out of NL84-315242 van Engelshoven x Smeets X NL84-315234 van Engelshoven x Braakhuis
GM: NL 95-5580487 out of B91-6135147 x B84-6620682
Mother : NL95-2501459 kras
GV: NL90-5008935 ‘The Bordeaux’ Jan Cobben 1e national en 15e int. nat. Bordeaux 1992 out of NL88-5871749 Cobben x Janssen X NL88-2522400 Tossens/Staelens
GM: NL91-1007676 van Engelshoven x Braakhuis out of NL90-1373679 ‘Old strain Braakhuis’ x NL88-2522361 van Engelshoven