Liliane Demely (Moorsele, BE) : racing at the top level again in 2020

In 2020, the pigeons of Liliane did what they have been doing for years: racing at a very high level week after week. They have racing for victory almost on a weekly basis, with a select group of racing birds that have been almost impossible to beat at club level. And they were incredibly strong at provincial level too, which amazed us even more. And despite the very unfavourable location of their pigeon loft, they even had quite a bit of success at national level as well. And many other fanciers have successfully introduced these bloodlines into their loft, which shows that this is a top quality pigeon family.

Several stars in their 2020 racing team

A racing team of this caliber has some great champions on board of course, the type of champions many fanciers can only dream of. It does look like team Demely has an easier time breeding new super class athletes compared to most of their colleagues, which is mainly the result of their selection strategy and setting a high bar. One of the eye-catchers recently was Miss Pontoise (BE18-3052860), the only West-Flemish pigeon that reached the Olympic Hope 2020 competition in category A. She had already been the best sprint pigeon of the province overall in 2019, and her brother Fast Hugo (BE16-3039678) was 2nd provincial ace pigeon KBDB in 2020. The sire of this brother and sister are the fantastic breeder Brother Draaier (BE07-3161845), an excellent stock breeder that has been invaluable to team Demely. This fantastic breeding bird is the sire/grandfather of 6 provincial first prize winners and an impressive 55 first prize winners for Demely! And we also saw another descendant win a 2nd National ace pigeon KBDB. This is quite the top quality bloodline.

Another hen that came to the fore in 2020 was Fast Girl (BE-19-3084982). She was racing in a league of her own in the sprint and middle distance, claiming victory in Clermont (twice) and Fontenay, and winning several top 100 spots. She originates from the bloodlines of Heremans, Vandenheede, Ally and Vlaeminck, and of course the Figo bloodline, which has been quite successful in the lofts in Moorsele.

But perhaps the biggest star of this corona season was Mister Chateauroux (BE17-3043801). This great racing bird won five first prizes in the club in his first six national races! This is the best ever longer middle distance racing bird for this team. He won a title of 1st provincial ace pigeon KBDB all-round and 3rd prov. ace pigeon KBDB longer middle distance in 2020, and he is the only West Flemish pigeon for the Olympic Hope KBDB category B. Mister Chateauroux even won a 1st ace pigeon title as a young bird in 2019, as well as a title of 8th provincial ace pigeon KBDB.

A breeding loft with several proven champions

We still vividly remember the achievements of perhaps the country's best racing bird: Mister Unique (BE16-3039664). This top performer managed to win a 1st national Limoges and 2nd national Brive in just two weeks' time, both in very difficult weather. Insiders quickly understood that this was the first pigeon to pull this off in the history of our sport. With a coefficient as low as 0.0353%, Mister Unique was also the clear winner of this prestigious PIPA Ranking. It is always a great idea to add this type of racing bird to your breeding loft, since he has already bred a fantastic daughter: Miss Issoudun (BE19-3084999) showed her many talents almost right away winning a first prize from Issoudun in the club with an impressive 10 minute lead against 338 pigeons, while also finishing in 4th provincial, against the odds.

The saying the apple does not fall far from the tree clearly applies to this pigeon. He was one step ahead of his opponents, being a grandson of Aelbrechtje (BE07-4138881). This breeding dam comes straight from Marcel Aelbrecht from Lebbeke, and she has bred quite a number of pigeons that have excelled in national long distance races, both in the lofts of team Demely and for many other fanciers as well.

Another son of Aelbrechtje, Mister Gueret (BE17-3043826) was destined to become a great racing bird too. He had been quite successful over the past seasons, and he was one of the leaders for 2020 as well, but due to the uncertainties surrounding this unusual racing season, they decided to put Mister Gueret in the breeding loft in May. He joins a select group of other renowned breeders, such as Mister Unique, Den Tulle (3 x top 6 national), Brother Draaier, which we already talked about, and some other very talented breeding birds.

Liliane Demely's son David is known to be a very ambitious, always looking for improvements. He visits the lofts of Antoon and Hilde Reynaert on a regular basis, to try and find new reinforcements. And they have done quite well with these bloodlines, judging from their achievements in recent years. They do not hesitate to introduce new bloodlines every now and then, since it is never a good idea to just rest on your laurels. These reinforcements also led to the discovery of a new dream pair in Moorsele, which is expected to play an important role in the next several years. De Roger (BE16-2172820) and Black Beauty (BE16-3039713) are the parents of some very strong racing birds. For instance, they bred racing cock Black Argenton (BE18-3052846), which did very well in the PIPA Rankings and in the ace pigeon championships KBDB, thanks to several top results and victories from Blois, Argenton, Chateauroux, etc. And a daughter of this breeding pair has been quite strong too: Miss Argenton (BE18-3052846) wins a 1st provincial and 4th national Argenton. These pigeons combine the Figo Bloodlines with the Roger Buvens pigeon family, and they are expected to add to the reputation of Demely in the coming years.

Plenty of references

Every season, Liliane and father & son Vanneste receive a long list of references. And 2020 was no different: many fanciers were very satisfied with their Demely descendants, with which they claimed numerous first prizes and other top results. Among the most recent references from a long list (which we discussed in an earlier article) are Delbaere-Sampers, Vandenberghe-Plets, J. Kok, Gebr. v/d Kooy, Joe Nemelka (USA), etc. In fact, American fancier Joe Nemelka has already won 150,000 dollar worth of prize money in one loft races across the globe, with the descendants of a direct Demely hen.

The Figo bloodline, de Tulle, Mister Unique, Aelbrechtje, Mister Chateauroux, Miss Pontoise,... This long list of top class pigeons has turned Demely into a nationally and internationally renowned pigeon breed, with an unprecedented group of top quality racing and breeding birds on board. Despite the somewhat unfavourable location of their loft, this team delivers on a regular basis, often racing with just a limited number of pigeons. It goes to show that this is a family of world class athletes.