Top performances in tough conditions
It seems to be a Joël Verschoot trademark. Joël has always worked hard...working day and night to sustain his family, spending time with family and still running a successful colony. This is also what he expects from his pigeons. Working, flying and above all performing...the pigeons that can't handle this tough scheme, wouldn't last long in Ingelmunster. Many races, performing and a tough selection. This is how Joël Verschoot built up his stock around real quality pigeons. Cracks that can take a punch, pigeons that don't break and continue no matter what. No one would be surprised if the Verschoot pigeons would hit hard on a national race under tough conditions. The spectacular result on Angoulême 2018 (held in hot summer weather of 35 degrees Celsius and above) is still in many people's memory, as it was a breakthrough for Joël and his racing team. That day, Armando was unleashed, and became world-famous as 1st Nat. Angoulême Old birds, followed a minute later by the other star racer Contador, taking 3rd National. Het most striking about his success story is that they were both preceded with 10 minutes by yearling Baziel, winning 2nd Nat. Angoulême Yearlings (only to be beat by the phenomenal Angoulême Vooruit of Norbert and Stefan Ally). This sensational result from 2018 forms the base to the story of the National victory on Valence.
The conditions were near identical. Clear skies, but soaring temperatures of 38°C and higher in France and up to 35-36°C in Belgium. Where many pigeons break or stop, the Verschoot pigeons continue. This led to a new fantastic stunt with the 1st and 4th National Valence against 6,056 pigeons. The fifth 1st National victory in 9 years time, always in tough racing conditions. An overview:
1st Nat. Valence 6,056 Old birds ’22 with Bisty
1st Nat. Angoulême 4,564 Old birds ’18 with Armando
1st Nat. Pau 1,661 Old birds ’16 with Suzanne
1st Nat. Agen 5,313 Old birds ’13 with Agen
1st Nat. Brive 8,337 Old birds ’13 with Cees
1st and 4th Nat Valence, after spectacular Limoges
The national victory on Valence doesn't come out of the blue. National Argenton (500km) which was flown on the same day, was also a tough race. Here too, the Verschoot pigeons showed themselves with impressive prizes on a national level as well as a strong series:
18/6 Valence National 6,056 pigeons: 1-4 (2/4)
18/6 Argenton II Club 284 Old birds: 4-12-13-15-22-23-25-31-36-48-54-65 (12/23)
Prov. 2,387 Old birds: 24-85-86-117-152-157-180-228… (8 prizes 1:10 and total of 12/23)
Nat. 10,634 Old birds: 90-282-285-378-492-534-609-769-933 (9 prizes 1:10 and a total of 12/23)
18/6 Argenton II Club 452 YL: 2-3-14-25-28-46-51-54-58-66-68-72-86… (17/27)
Prov. 3,148 YL: 6-7-110-189-217-364-395-397-404-421-447-462… (18/27)
Nat. 12,936 YL: 21-24-348-597-665-1061-1152-1163-1191-1257… (10 prizes 1:10 and a total of 17/27)
A week earlier, the Verschoot pigeons showed they were in peak condition on Limoges. The first 3 pigeons clocked were also the 3rd-1st-2nd nominated (in that order), which made the race a success in terms of results but also in terms of winnings from the club level to the national level:
11/6 Limoges Nat. 17,356 Old birds: 65-176-178-495-505-824-1149-1227-1262-1411-1724…(11 prizes 1:10 and a total of 14/16)
The weeks prior, the Verschoot pigeons already showed their class:
04/6 Argenton I Nat. 20,467 Old birds: 17-38-442-738-814-1055-1060-1257… (8 prizes 1:10 and a total of 19/28)
04/6 Argenton I Nat. 18,763 YL: 146-178-322-323-417-626-861-1504-1543-1611-1753… (11 prizes 1:10 and a total of 22/31)
28/5 Bourges Nat. Zone 4.566 Old birds: 3-78-112-177-262-271-323… (18/29)
28/5 Bourges Nat. Zone 2.996 YL: 33-112-149-223-244-345-352-507-516-714-716 (9/14)
Bisty ensures National victory on Valence
That Bisty takes the national victory on Valance is no luck. After top results on the hot editions of Angoulême in 2018 and Aurillac in 2019 (both Top 100 national) he now manages - under near identical conditions - to leave the whole field behind him on Valence and deliver Joël Verschoot his fifth national victory in 9 years time. His palmares:
-Bisty BE17-3031152
1st Nat. Valence 6,056 p. ’22
72nd Nat. Angoulême 5,030 p. ’18
72nd Prov. Argenton 2,898 p. ’21
83rd Prov. Tours 4,880 p. ’19
85th Nat. Aurillac 3,886 p. ’19
109th Prov. Chateauroux 4,688 p. ’21
201th Prov. Chateauroux 3,231 p. ’19
217th Nat. Cahors 3,651 p. ’21
268th Prov. Blois 3,583 p. ’19
8th Arras 260 p. ’18
10th Clermont 467 p. etc…
Father: As 1 BE09-3135331
One of the star breeders from the old stock, also father of the 4th Nat. 7.046 p. and 45th Nat. 22,384 p… Son of stock pigeon As BE04-3176837.
Mother: Jabba BE12-3041978
Daughter of Apollo Rik BE11-3172350 Chris Debacker (grandson Bliksem Gaby Vandenabeele) x Saerke 06 BE06-3125852 (direct Rudi De Saer)
As mentioned earlier, Bisty comes from a family of powerhouses. His full brother is Baziel.
-Baziel BE17-3031084
2nd Nat. Angoulême 5,030 p. ’18
33rd Nat. Montauban 5,408 p. ’19
92nd Intprov. Tours 5,864 p. ’19
148th Nat. Jarnac 4,940 p. ’18
163rd Intprov. Blois 4,845 p. ’19
208th Prov. Vierzon 3,085 p. ’19
385th Nat. Argenton 19,859 p. ’18
424th Nat. Aurillac 3,886 p. ’19
883rd Nat. Bourges 19,133 p. ’18
Lastly, the star that took the 4th National on Valence, is Alibaba. This top result on Valence wasn't her only achievement. In 2020, she had previously won 1st Provincial Montélimar. A quick look at her results:
-Alibaba BE17-3031071
4th Nat. Valence 6,061 p. ’22
73rd Nat. Montélimar 3,778 p. ’20 – 1st Prov. 153 p.
144th Nat. Angoulême 5,030 p. ’18
148th Prov. Vierzon 3,085 p. ’19
151st Nat. Bourges 34,311 p. ’21
244th Nat. Montélimar 4,736 p. ’21 – 5th Prov. 222 p.
Etc…
Alibaba is a descendant from the old stock of Joël Verschoot crossed with the best of Gaby Vandenabeele.
Father: Profeet BE12-3041843
Full brother of Prof: winner 1st Prov. Tours… and a half brother of superstar Contador (same vader), son of star breeder Deprez BE05-3088024 x Shakira BE09-3127246 (the golden stock hen at Joël Verschoot).
Moeder: Claudia BE15-3006196
A 100% Gaby Vandenabeele hen, via friend Johan De Schryver from Eeklo.
This power display on Valence was reason enough to pop some champagne bottles in Ingelmunster. Well deserved, for someone who became world-famous thanks to sublime results, won by true cracks, pigeons with an endless palmares, powerhouses and superior winners. A huge congratulations to Joël, his wife Annie, son Dieter and the rest of the Verschoot family!