Sint-Niklaas
Erik Samson got involved in the sport in 1983: Together with his father, he managed to outclass his opponents in the sprint competition in the races from Quiévrain and Noyon for over 15 years, racing from their loft in Sint-Niklaas. When his father Adolf passed away, the entire pigeon collection was sold, leaving Erik without pigeons. He started visiting other fanciers to see their pigeons arrive home but this is a lot different from seeing your very own pigeons come home from a race. Erik got to know his girlfriend Kristine Boye a few years later and they moved to a house in Mechelen, where they started keeping pigeons in 2005 under the name of Samson-Boye. They abandoned the sprint competition and they focused on the middle distance instead, where they managed to win tens of first prizes.
Mister Havik, stock sire and great breeder
The pigeon family is based on Mister Havik (BE03-3142096), a direct Mark Vandaele (Oostrozebeke, BE) that was purchased on PIPA in 2003. The sire of Mister Havik is Havik, 2nd Provincial Ace Pigeon Long Distance West Flanders 1997 and double provincial winner for Gaby Vandenabeele. Havik spent his last days in the loft of Mark Vandaele, where he could fertilize no more than two eggs, one of which was Mister Havik. His sire is Paulien (BE02-3117015). Click here for the full pedigree of Mister Havik.
Several descendants of this excellent cock have won countless first prizes in the past ten years. You can visit the website of Samson-Boye for an overview of his most successful descendants. It is worth noting that many of these great racing pigeons originate from the pairing of Mister Havik x Superke (BE01-2112992), a descendant of the line of Kannibaal of Dirk Van Dyck (Zandhoven, BE) via his grandfather and bred by current General Provincial Champion Flemish Brabant François Tobback (Zemst, BE). Erik often refers to this pair as his super pair. It is fair to say that the pigeon family of Samson-Boye is closely related to the Vandenabeele bloodlines, because many of their pigeons are descendants of Mister Havik.
Every cloud has a silver lining
Erik and Kristine started their partnership in 2005 with a team of 110 young birds. They started to win many prizes but suddenly suffered a setback five years later: there was an outbreak of fungal infection in their lofts in Mechelen, killing several young birds and a number of old birds as well. Erik and Kristine then bred over 200 young birds from their old breed to restore their pigeon family and 42 of them were given a place in the widowhood loft.
There was a positive side to this setback as well: the pigeons of Samson-Boye started to perform really well from 2012. Two of their 42 young birds from 2011 made it to the national top in the shorter middle distance yearlings, with Little Hawk (BE11-6070932) and Crack (BE11-6070820) claiming 5th and 8th National Ace Pigeon Shorter Middle Distance 2012 respectively. Ten of their 42 young birds, including Little Hawk and Crack, continued to be basketed and four other young birds were moved to the breeding loft. The remaining 28 birds were gotten rid of.
Stellar season
It proved an excellent choice to basket their national champions in 2013 as well, as Little Hawk and Crack confirmed their status as national top class pigeons. They were 11th and 12th National Ace Pigeon Shorter Middle Distance old birds respectively with the following achievements:
Little Hawk: 32 / 2,591 p. 1 / 1,603 p. 10 / 1,204 p. 2 / 1,279 p. 21 / 1,229 p. Crack: 13 / 1,204 p. 2 / 1,229 p. 2 / 921 p. 4 / 691 p. 28 / 1,279 p.
Little Hawk is a strong inbred to stock breeder Mister Havik. His grandfather on his father’s side is a son of super pair Mister Havik x Superke; his dam is inbred to Mister Havik x Daughter Mister Havik (also the line of Superke). Click here for the pedigree of Little Hawk.
Crack is related to the super pair via his father as well: his grandparents are Mister Havik and Superke. He is closely related to Pros Roosen via his mother, as a descendant of Châteauroux (BE92-6451510). Click here for the pedigree of Crack.
It goes without saying that the outstanding results of these two ace pigeons have played a key role in the national title of Samson-Boye. Erik and Kristine won the title of National Champion Shorter Middle Distance Old Birds 2013 thanks to the successes of their first and second nominated:
1st nom. 2nd nom. # pigeons 1 (Little Hawk) 46 (Crack) 1,603 10 (Little Hawk) 13 (Crack) 1,204 2 (Little Hawk) 28 (Crack) 1,279 2 (Crack) 21 (Little Hawk) 1,229 21 (Little Hawk) 4 (Crack) 691
These achievements resulted in an impressive coefficient of 12.6790, which proved impossible to match. In fact, the coefficient of the second in the ranking, Jean-Jacques Baleau from Moignelée, is almost twice as high (24.1051). Erik and Kristine can look back on a particularly successful 2013 season, which you can tell from their impressive list of achievements that season.
Sell out
2012 was a good season with two national ace pigeons in the shorter middle distance. They did even better in 2013: they had two ace pigeons in the shorter middle distance old birds (the same as 2012), while also winning the title of 1st National Champion Shorter Middle Distance Old Birds 2013, as well as two yearling ace pigeons: Duivel (11th National Ace Pigeon Shorter Middle Distance Yearlings) and Zorro (14th National Ace Pigeon Shorter Middle Distance Yearlings). 2014 was to be a promising season with four national ace pigeons in their loft but they decided to auction all pigeons, except for their 2013 young birds. Erik and Kristine are now waiting to see if their new generation will be just as successful as that of 2011. They will know the answer in a few weeks’ time, when the first middle distance races of 2014 take place.