Cees Schroevers has been one of the leading names in Zeeland for over 30 years, and he has been quite successful at national level as well. He became for instance 1st National Champion Middle Distance and 2nd National Champion Young Birds. He has been getting great results in the one day long distance and the middle distance every season, even though he is a fancier with a fairly small pigeon loft, which means he has a limited number of pigeons in his collection. His many top results have been won with the help of a group of outstanding breeders, which provide this team with a new generation of talented youngsters every season. We will be talking about these breeders in a minute but first we take a quick look at the championship prizes that have been won this season in Entente 7 and the province of Zeeland:
1st Middle Distance Champion Province Zeeland (6 prizes in 6 races) 2nd Middle Distance Champion Province Zeeland (5 prizes in 6 races) 5th One Day Long Distance Champion Province Zeeland 8th Sprint Champion Province Zeeland 9th General Champion Province Zeeland 1st, 8th and 9th Pigeon Champion Middle Distance Province Zeeland
Cees performed as follows in the Entente:
1st middle Distance Champion SS7 2nd Sprint Champion SS7 3rd Natour Champion SS7 3rd General Champion SS7 4th One Day Long Distance Champion SS7 7th YBs Sprints Champion SS7 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th and 7th Ace Pigeon Middle Distance SS7 5th and 6th Ace Pigeon General SS7
As we said, a small group of breeding pairs has played a defining role in the development of this successful pigeon breed from Arnemuiden:
NL08-3800515 Azelio x NL09-3900555 Drie Vijfjes BE10-6163775 Superboy 775 x NL09-3900547 Dream Lady / NL09-3900555 Drie Vijfjes NL11-3007083 Zoon Superboy x NL11-3007112 Alexia NL10-3006711 Darius x NL12-3202452 Lady Marleen / NL09-3900572 Lady Kim BE14-3155887 Zoon Rudy x NL12-3202464 Kyara
NL08-3800515 Azelio x NL09-3900555 Drie Vijfjes
Azelio and Drie Vijfjes has been one of the team’s longstanding breeding pairs. Azelio is related to a number of Koopman bloodlines (Ermerveen’s Hope, Annelies) from his father’s side, and his dam is NL04-0406596 Nadine, a 1st Provincial Ace Pigeon. Click here for the pedigree of Azelio. Drie Vijfjes is a daughter of BE01-6153820 Dikke Flor (Flor Engels & Son), paired to a daughter of Koen Minderhoud’s Jonge Bijter. Click here for the pedigree of Drie Vijfjes. Together this pair has bred:
1st Orleans 1,049 p. 1st Quievrain 1,585 p. 1st Quievrain 1,606 p. 1st Breuil l. V. 1,037 p. 1st Breuil l. V. 1,144 p. 1st Morlincourt 636 p. 1st Wolvertem 615 p. 2nd Argenton 724 p. 3rd Pommeroeul 1,709 p. 3rd Sens 1,412 p. 4th Mantes l. J. 6,554 p. etc. etc.
One of the most important youngsters of Azelio x Drie Vijfjes is Alexia. She won quite a number of first prizes before developing into one of the top breeders of this loft; she is for instance the dam of top racing bird Kyara.
BE10-6163775 Superboy 775 x NL09-3900547 Dream Lady
One of the team’s very best breeders is Superboy 775. He was an excellent racing bird, winning a title of 6th National Ace Pigeon TBOTB. He comes from a grandson of the renowned Kaasboer of Gaston Van De Wouwer and from the 253 Vichy hen of Van Eynde-Goovaerts. Click here for the impressive pedigree of Superboy 775. Despite his age Superboy 775 is already the sire and grandfather of several successful racing birds here in Arnemuiden. Superboy 775 has been paired to Dream Lady, and together they are the parents of Son Superboy, which is in turn the sire of the outstanding Kyara.
Like we said, Dream Lady became the grandmother of Kyara when she was paired to Superboy 775. Dream Lady comes from a son of Zachte Bijter of Koen Minderhoud. Click here for her pedigree. She won herself a 1st Mantes-la-Jolie (1,481 p.), a 1st Argenton (724 p.) and a 1st Châteauroux (214 p.). She is now the dam of several successful racing birds.
NL10-3006711 Darius x NL09-3900572 Lady Kim
Darius has been paired to Lady Kim, which is depicted above. Darius is a grandson of the renowned 666 of Henk Melis paired to a daughter of that same 666, who won a Provincial Ace Pigeon title one day long distance, as well as a 2nd NPO Ruffec (3,201 p.) and a 4th NPO Tours (5,756 p.). Lady Kim’s palmares includes a 1st NPO Tours (5,334 p.) and a 4th NPO Tours (5,482 p.). Lady Kim is a granddaughter of super class breeder Flor 272 (Flor Engels) and James Bond (Gaby Vandenabeele). This pair has bred several champions as well, including Daughter Lady Kim (NL13-332), winner of a 12th NPO La Souterraine (2,119 p.), a 3rd Morlincourt (1,170 p.) and a 2nd Peronne (1,547 p.).
BE14-3155887 Zoon Rudy x NL12-3202464 Kyara
One of the eye-catchers in Cees’s pigeon lofts is without doubt Kyara, which won the following titles in 2013:
General Pigeon Champion P.V. de Voorwaarts Pigeon Champion Middle Distance Entente 7 Province Zeeland '96 2nd General Pigeon Champion in Entente 7 Province Zeeland ’96 Pigeon Champion middle distance Province Zeeland ’96.
Kyara had a fantastic racing season in 2014 as well, winning no less than three first prizes in the Entente, along with the following titles:
1st General PIgeon Champion P.V. de Voorwaarts. Pigeon Champion Marathon Zeeland.
Kyara is a granddaughter of four top class breeding birds that form the backbone of the current generation of pigeons of Cees Schroevers. Those four are the aforementioned Superboy 775, Dream Lady, Azelio, and Drie Vijfjes. Click here for Kyara's excellent pedigree. The cock in this promising breeding pair is Son Rudy, a 100% Gaby Vandenabeele bird. His sire Rudy is also the sire of Super Romeo (1st Nat. Ace Pigeon YLs) and New Bliksem (1st Nat. Tulle 5,731 p.) for Gaby. The dam of Son Rudy is Lizzy, and she is a full sister of Verona (1st Nat. Gueret 14,262 p.). Several descendants of this pair, including Kendra and her sister De 265, have made it obvious that we can expect a lot to come from this young breeding pair. Besides the many top results of the two sisters Kendra is also the dam of an 8th Ace Pigeon Province Zeeland '96.
NL14-3406418 Blauwe 418
Foto NL14-3406418
The last pigeon that deserves a special mention is Blauwe 418. This Blauwe 418 was one of the most successful racing birds in Cees's collection in recent years, having won:
2nd Pontoise 4,861 p. 6th Pont st. Max. 10,043 p. 1st Peronne 763 p. 1st Fontenay 216 p. 1st Peronne 497 p. 2nd Menen 576 p. 2nd Chevrainville 661 p. 4th Roye 796 p.
This pigeon is well on his way to becoming an excellent breeding bird later on as well. This is no surprise, if you take a look at his pedigree: he is a son of Superboy 775 x Drie Vijfjes. Click here for the full pedigree. The youngsters of Blauwe 418 have won the following prizes this year:
NL17-848 : 1st Peronne 1,527 p.
NL17-849 : 1st Fontenay 676 p.
NL17-890 : 7th Niergnies 2,134 p.
: 7th Pont st. Max. 996 p.
NL17-889 : 7th Niergnies 524 p.
Champions breed champions
Cees is not the first fancier to prove that pigeons who excel in the racing loft will eventually become excellent breeding birds as well. Kyara, blessed with the genes of four outstanding birds, is no exception. Blauwe 418 illustrates this theory as well. Becoming a top level player is quite a challenging task but it is even harder to maintain your place at the top. Cees has a group of top quality breeding birds in his collection, which should enable him to have many more successful seasons in the future.