We went to Putte (Holland) somewhere halfway October. Putte is located about 1 km passed the border where Putte-Kapellen borders on Holland. Putte-Kapellen is well enough known in the cycling world because every year, the professional cycling season is concluded here on Belgian soil. We were two days early to see the race but, in the end, we hadn't come to Putte to see the race. We crossed the border and visited the Dutch pigeon expert' and the wonder loft' of Ludo Claessens, who is maybe the best middle distance racer in the world' at present.
2006 was one of his best, if not thé best season of his entire pigeon career... about time we went and checked how things in this wonder colony' are at the moment. We were also eager to get to know the man who is behind all these top successes. People say he is not just anyone' in pigeon sport. Ludo immediately made clear that he's indeed not just anyone: he wasn't interested in a commercial report. He cares a great deal about his privacy... pigeon gazettes, pigeon books or websites can publish reports about him but solely if they are related to his performances in pigeon sport. He is not interested at all in commercial publications. He doesn't care about luring customers (i.e. buyers) with a facsimile, a website (both of which he doesn't have) or any other way of publicity... he is solely interested in telling the world about his pigeons and their performances... Only real pigeon sport' counts... which is exactly the reason why we went to Putte, Holland.
We had a 3-hour chat and Ludo (who is by the way a Dutch Belgian) did not mince his words. He gave us an honest explanation to everything and was able to confirm every quote with results which he promptly put on the table'. No nonsense, no beating around the bush, but straightforward... and that's exactly how we like it.
I can do everything with 60 pigeons...
Ludo Claessens's motto is quite right indeed. And he's been proving that fact for many years in a row. Ludo simply wants to enjoy the game' pigeon sport. But keeping pigeons implies a certain daily grind and work and he isn't prepared to deal with that...! He likes to control things closely. Ludo forms a team with his best friend Rik Kerstens who lives about 100 metres away from Ludo and they only participate in speed races as the team Kerstens-Claessens'. Rik and Ludo have one thing in common... they prefer to keep pigeons in small numbers... and they both like winners! Rik keeps about 9 speed racing pigeons while Ludo focuses on middle distance races. He specialises in distances of 100-400 km and enters for one long distance race at the end of the season. He races 20 widowers at most and has about 10 breeding couples but considers the latter to be a bit of a burden lately, because they simply sit around and do nothing. He gives an example: this spring (i.e. 2006), they only raised one round of youngsters... Ludo wonders why he is providing them with board and lodging all year through? As we mentioned above: raising youngsters in order to sell them doesn't interest Ludo at all... hence the magical number 60': 60 pigeons get the opportunity to winter in his loft! Who dares to argue with a phenomenon' such as Ludo Claessens? The incredible results he achieves year after year prove that he's right. Are we exaggerating? Not at all... in our opinion, we're expressing it mildly: let's take a look at the list of achievements of the past season of 2006, which was maybe even the best season' ever in Ludo Claessens's 30-year career. He's rarely missed a 1st prize on local level... so he sure is entitled to speak.
(by way of illustration: the number of prizes won / number of basketed pigeons are mentioned between brackets, then there's the number of prizes won per 10. As far as speed races are concerned: prizes of the loft of Ludo Claessens and the team of Kerstens-Claessens are joined together)
Are you convinced? You're probably wondering whether top quality, or rather: the top quality of the loft of Ludo Claessens is natural? Probably not when you consider the common pigeon fancier... but this top quality is apparently self-evident at Ludo Claessens's loft. Ludo has been handling top pigeons' for over 30 years now. After all this time, top quality has become common practice. Ludo's pigeons have to pass a severe selection procedure every year and thanks to that, his colony has become a true pigeon family!
Does he ever reinforce his colony by crossbreeding other pigeons with his main breed'? Ludo says: During the last 10 years, only an extra ten pigeons were acquired. The latest acquisition is Mr. TOURS', winner of 1st National Tours NPO.' In a report that had been published about this pigeon, Ludo read about 2 different fanciers: each of them had obtained an egg from Mr Tours'. Both of these young pigeons became top racers... He concluded that Mr Tours' had to be a real top breeder'. Mr Tours' immediately appealed to Ludo so he went to take a look at this pigeon and as you might have guessed: he took Mr Tours' along with him to Putte! But we slightly deviated from the posing. In our opinion however, the answer is pretty easy.
The super breed Ludo Claessens'
For many years now, Ludo Claessens has been racing pigeons on a very high level. If you'd check the individual lists of achievements of the Claessens pigeons, you'd have to conclude that they are way ahead of the competition. Ludo simply gets a kick' out of 1st prizes: a weekend without winning a 1st prize is a lost weekend' to him and he considers it to be a failure! He is not interested in ace pigeons and so on, only the individual achievements of a pigeon matter. Ludo explains why... A pigeon of Ludo's friend and fellow villager became 6th National Ace Pigeon Middle Distance this season. Ludo confronts us with the results of this pigeon in the races of 2006 without spoiling the effect of these achievements of fancier and pigeon (who is by the way a real crack)... To all' results that were taken into account to win this title of 6th National Ace Pigeon, Ludo Claessens simply had at least 5 pigeons ahead! Quite a feat!
Ludo Claessens is selecting very severely which is pretty obvious, otherwise, he wouldn't have gotten this far and maintain that position. However, Ludo isn't really looking for real breeding couples'? He prefers to put his faith in dominant pigeons that succeed in transmitting their excellent qualities to their offspring'! Pigeons that have only produced 1 crack soon disappear from the loft. After a 1st crack pigeon a 2nd crack has to follow... Such pigeons get you somewhere: you can built up a breed, conquer the world! Ludo states: pigeon sport hasn't got that much to do with coincidence you know!' Real super breeders from the past, pigeons that created the Claessens colony, the dominant pigeons that passed on their qualities', were: Fokstier'
Blauw Witpen Orleans'
Donker 03'
Voske 54'
Dik Licht 56'... Late Donkere'... and I should also add Supercrack 69', although -on second thought- this pigeon is a pure inbreeding product of the main pigeons mentioned above. Other pigeons that have successfully contributed were Oud Blauw Slaets'... Blauw Verheyen'... Blauwe 01' and Bliksem' ... Lange Nek Zav' and finally Mr. Tours', who is trying to prove what he's worth at the moment.
How does he do it?
We tried to figure out the whys and the wherefores. Ludo does not have a fixed system for taking care of the pigeons. He states that every season is different so you have to go along with those changes every year. Changes sometimes imply some adjustments as to feed and support of the pigeons, hence the lack of an established pattern or ritual. The pigeons normally fly 7 or 8 provincial middle distance races per year.
We asked him right away whether the birds sometimes get a week of rest? Normally they don't but Ludo immediately adds that a week of rest can sometimes be an enormous boost', a real explosion of shape'! So maybe he will be considering this in the future. Remark noted!
Early breeding is lost on Ludo Claessens. In 2006, the pigeons (racers as well as breeders) were coupled mid February... and they raised a round of youngsters. The breeders were coupled one more time. These youngsters are considered as a reserve for the future and they aren't usually trained. The very best pigeons in Ludo's loft (Favoriet 65', Blauwe 84', Vale 22', Yeti' and Grote Blauwe 96') produced some real nice summer youngsters. We were eager to know Ludo's answer to the question how he's keeping his pigeons healthy? During the season, the vet (Mr Mariën) pays a visit every 4 weeks to examine the pigeons. His advice is followed very accurately but the man rarely finds something. Ludo tries to keep his pigeons healthy in a natural way. He doesn't like medication at all and sees them as a necessary evil. Ludo confirms his answer with a striking example from 2006. His young pigeons returned from Chantilly (a race in which -by the way- he scored 1,4,6,7,8
etc) and they were tired and thirsty. Ludo immediately thought of an infection that was coming on and he contacted the vet, Mr Mariën, who advised him not to do anything. However, Ludo decided to give his young birds a 3-day-treatment with Ridsol, because it had been a while... According to Ludo, he obtained the worst' result of 2006 in the following race (Pithiviers).
Well, bad? I don't know many who would say no' to such a result: local 1,2,7,10,11
but on a provincial level tough, he just (!?) obtained 7,17,28,53,58,79,167
against 3.402 young birds (and yet he had 15 out of 20)! If you go by the name of Ludo Claessens this might be called a somewhat less good performance because there's only 1 real top 10' pigeon... However, the moral of this story is: Ludo realised that a simple, apparently harmless cure, can influence the shape of his pigeons for a couple of days... and a top champion like Ludo is clearly annoyed about something like that. By the way, when the pigeons were basketed for this race (Pithiviers) nearly all the fanciers were complaining about the fact that their pigeons returned home from Chantilly very thirsty and completely exhausted. Ludo realised that there was probably nothing wrong with his pigeons but that this fault was caused by the fact that the pigeons were treated less good while they were in the basket... so he worried over nothing! But this is without any doubt a typical feature of very great champions' such as Ludo Claessens: a sharp eye for every detail... They immediately spot the smallest defect or difference and act on it. Maybe that's the big difference between a super champion' and an average fancier'? We'll have to think about that one!
Who does better?
The trademark of Ludo Claessens is of course his colony of phenomenal super pigeons'. The results are the best proof. Ludo gives an appropriate remark on the many reports that appear in newspapers and magazines. Pretty much all of the fanciers talk about their best results per year, so they only mention some results' and not all results'! If you want to be worthy of the name of great champion', you should have the nerve to mention ALL' results of an entire season and above all: have the nerve to publish' good as well as bad results! If you do that as a fancier, the reader will be able to rate the colony at its true value. Ludo suits the action to the word and gives us an overview of ALL THE MATCHES THAT WERE RACED (the good ones as well as the less good) + the RESULTS of the past 3 seasons. As far as 2006 is concerned, the final conclusion is: 132 nominated pigeons with 109 prizes (per 4), 94 per 10, 38 per 100 and at least the 1st prize on local level every week. Ludo Claessens is most certainly part of the very greatest' of our sport!
What's more, please take a look at the final result of the last 3 seasons (period 2004-2006): a total of 356 nominated pigeons, of which 285 prizes per 4 (or 80% of the prizes), 232 per 10 (or 65%) and no less than 92 per 100 (or almost 26%). So I'm asking myself the question: has anyone on this planet ever performed better than Ludo Claessens? I'll give you the answer... NO-ONE has!!! No-one can present results similar to the results Ludo Claessens has achieved during the latest seasons. The calculation was made considering ALL the results he achieved in middle distance races on provincial level! Simply phenomenal... We can state without blushing that we paid a visit to the best middle distance racer in the world' at the moment! Or to repeat the words of the introduction: Ludo Claessens is not just anyone...
Figures that are really something!
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| Bask | prize | 1:10 | 1:100 |
| prize | 1:10 | 1:100 |
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| 2006 |
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| Pithiviers | 31 | 25 | 21 | 6 |
| 80,65% | 67,74% | 19,35% |
| Creil | 20 | 18 | 14 | 6 |
| 90,00% | 70,00% | 30,00% |
| Sens | 23 | 20 | 18 | 10 |
| 86,96% | 78,26% | 43,48% |
| Chantilly | 24 | 19 | 15 | 7 |
| 79,17% | 62,50% | 29,17% |
| Pithiviers | 20 | 17 | 16 | 5 |
| 85,00% | 80,00% | 25,00% |
| Sens | 14 | 10 | 10 | 4 |
| 71,43% | 71,43% | 28,57% |
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| TOT 2006 | 132 | 109 | 94 | 38 |
| 82,58% | 71,21% | 28,79% |
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| 2005 |
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| Etampes | 22 | 12 | 6 | 0 |
| 54,55% | 27,27% | 0,00% |
| Creil | 14 | 14 | 9 | 4 |
| 100,00% | 64,29% | 28,57% |
| Sens | 20 | 15 | 11 | 4 |
| 75,00% | 55,00% | 20,00% |
| Creil | 16 | 14 | 12 | 4 |
| 87,50% | 75,00% | 25,00% |
| Etampes | 11 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| 36,36% | 18,18% | 18,18% |
| Chantilly | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 |
| 100,00% | 100,00% | 60,00% |
| Orleans | 18 | 10 | 9 | 2 |
| 55,56% | 50,00% | 11,11% |
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| TOT 2005 | 106 | 74 | 54 | 19 |
| 69,81% | 50,94% | 17,92% |
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| 2004 |
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| Creil | 19 | 19 | 18 | 9 |
| 100,00% | 94,74% | 47,37% |
| Creil | 19 | 19 | 17 | 5 |
| 100,00% | 89,47% | 26,32% |
| Creil | 15 | 11 | 4 | 0 |
| 73,33% | 26,67% | 0,00% |
| Etampes | 15 | 13 | 12 | 7 |
| 86,67% | 80,00% | 46,67% |
| Creil | 12 | 11 | 11 | 8 |
| 91,67% | 91,67% | 66,67% |
| Etampes | 16 | 13 | 11 | 4 |
| 81,25% | 68,75% | 25,00% |
| Chantilly | 12 | 9 | 7 | 0 |
| 75,00% | 58,33% | 0,00% |
| Orleans | 10 | 7 | 4 | 2 |
| 70,00% | 40,00% | 20,00% |
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| Unit 2004 | 118 | 102 | 84 | 35 |
| 86,44% | 71,19% | 29,66% |
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| TOTAL | 356 | 285 | 232 | 92 |
| 80,06% | 65,17% | 25,84% |
The Stunt team' of Putte in the year 2006
The results Ludo Claessens obtains each year with just 20 widowers and 40 bred young pigeons, are pretty much unbelievable to many pigeon fans. Nearly every old pigeon in the racing loft is a superior 1st prize racer or an exceptional crack pigeon' and that is -by the way- an essential condition to overwinter in Putte. Making a very severe selection every year must be a dream' to many fellow fanciers... yet, in Putte, that's just the way things are. And Ludo does not budge an inch from his philosophy... 60 pigeons get to overwinter in his lofts. The better they are, the more severe you have to be... and putting together new lofts is not an option! Let's illustrate this by taking a look at the present generation of super pigeons' that populate the racing and breeding lofts. (By way of illustration: 1st prizes marked with a *' are equal first' which means that only a loft mate preceded the pigeon; which is the same as winning a 1st prize against the competition!).
- As an opener of this magnificent list of super pigeons, let's start with the actual progenitor of the colony, the meanwhile world famous SUPERCRACK 69' ring NL94-9410369. A real dominant pigeon who manages to pass on its qualities. This pigeon has really left its mark on the current generation of super pigeons that is flying around in Putte. Take a look at his powerful list of achievements, it speaks volumes:
Many would jump at the chance to breed with such pigeons like SUPERCRACK 69', yet... there are only few of this calibre. Ludo had the chance to have such a wonder pigeon' in his lofts and he has naturally fully used its enormous breeding capacities and raised a generation of real super pigeons' yet unequalled!
- Blauw Witpen Bliksem' NL01-0132519: a half brother of YETI and a late youngster of 2001 which was naturally not raced in his year of birth. He was trained well as a yearling in 2002 and developed incredible racing capacities in the season of 2003. As from that year, he obtained a position in the Top-8' of the provincial races at least twice a year! Some wonderful results to illustrate:
Blauwe Witpen Bliksem' is the grandfather of the superior pigeon MAXX' or the 1st Nat Ace Pigeon Navluchten'* in 2004! The miraculous Bliksem breed' produced a youngster which won the 1st Nat. Orleans NPO against 8.322 pigeons in 2006 at the loft of A.Clarijs & Son. He preceded Ludo Claessens himself who won a 2nd+3rd+4th national. So this means that Ludo was knocked out only by his own kind or maybe we should state that the Claessens pigeons won no less than the first 4 National prizes!
- Kleintje 22' NL02-0271822: a phenomenal super crack which is also worth his weight in gold as far as his breeding capacities are concerned. The enormous perseverance of the pigeons of Ludo Claessens is perfectly illustrated by this bird. We made a selection of some of the high points of his immense list of achievements:
In 2003, Ludo had no way of knowing what Kleintje 22' was really worth because his parents didn't have to face him in 2003 and the spring of 2004. In the fall of 2004, Ludo decided to put this couple together again. The first youngsters of 2005 were the first to participate in races. These 2 were by the way super hens: 006/05' and 007/05' (see below). In 2006, another first brother of Kleintje 22' proved to know what top racing is: pigeon NL06-0725164 won the 1st St.Quentin 980 p (and was also the fastest pigeon against approx. 9.000 pigeons), 12th Prov RI Chantilly 4.148 p, 17th Prov RI Pithiviers 3.042 p
Neither should we have doubts about the breeding value of Kleintje 22'. Some excellent youngsters descended from this pigeon in 2003 and 2004. In 2005, however, he was coupled with Nestzus Kirsty' NL02-0271839 and they produced the following 2 top pigeons:
Klein Bont 94' NL05-0566494 who became 11th Prov RI Orleans 2.935 p and who became the mother of NL06-0751103 in 2006. The latter performed excellently: it won the 2nd Nat NPO Orleans 8.322 p and obtained an excellent 8 out of 9.
NL05-0566495 or the nest sister of the previous who is the mother of pigeon NL06-0751109. This one won the 3rd Nat NPO Orleans 8.322 p and obtained an excellent 9 out of 9.
In 2005, a summer youngster -pigeon NL05-0526015- that descended from Kleintje 22' was transferred to the racing team right away and it didn't disappoint his boss at all. He performed magnificently in the last 2 races of the season and obtained 7th Prov RI Montlucon 1.154 p, 34th Nat NPO Montlucon 5.084 p and 25th Prov RI Sens 1.890 p.
Finally, in 2006, Kleintje 22' was coupled with the best young pigeon of 2005, namely: Dochter Jonge Supercrack' NL05-0566492
A real dream pigeon, a favourite and preferred pigeon of the future of Ludo Claessens descends from this couple: NL06-0751110 and he immediately showed his cards: 1st Morlincourt 1.682 p (also the fastest out of 26.801 p), 1st Hensies 124 p (equal first), 19th Prov RI Chantilly 4.148 p and 28th Prov RI Pithiviers 3.042 p. This is clearly one of the success breeds of the Claessens' lofts and he's only just begun.
- Blauw 006' ring NL05-0526006, or a first sister of Kleintje 22'. Ludo wasn't normally planning on racing hens on widowhood in 2006 but because of the bird flu some of them were dug out and Ludo had its reasons. He did not want his team of widowers to fly the eastern racing route of the programme (which was set up as an alternative because of the bird flu). Wisely, he let his cocks fly Quiévrain each week as a training race. To enjoy participating in the game', he called in the hens and they performed absolutely brilliantly' as you might gather from the list of achievements of Blauw 006' which, later-on that season, proved to be not inferior to her male colleagues at all, on the contrary:
- And what about her nest sister Blauw 007' NL05-0526007. She was accidentally put in the basket without being trained ... yet, one day later, she won the 3rd prize! True super pigeons
The parents of Kleintje 22 had another
extremely talented bird in 2006: NL06-0725164
1* St. Quentin 980 p
1* fastest prov. RI + RII appr. 9000 p
12th Chantilly Prov. RI 4148 p
17th Pithiviers Prov. RI 3042 p
A true miraculous breeding line in the lofts of Ludo Claessens: Kleintje 22'!
- JONGE SUPERCRACK' NL03-0375941 or the real successor of the meantime world famous progenitor, Supercrack 69'! He proved what he was worth in the following races:
1st Prov RI Orleans 2.672 p (in 2004)
1st Prov RI Orleans 1.853 p (in 2003)
This pigeon is not inferior at all to his illustrious father when we consider his breeding qualities and he seems to be invaluable as well. Coupled to Kirsty', the winner of 1st Nat NPO Orleans 8.072 p
Jonge Supercrack' is the father of Bont Kirsty' NL04-0452314, a top hen which won the following prizes:
Bont Kirsty for her part is the mother
of 3 super pigeons:
NL05-0566497 1* Morlincourt 504 p
NL06-0751079 1st Peronne 855 p - Fastest approx. 5000 p
NL06-0751080 1* St. Quentin 427 p
Jonge Supercrack' was coupled with Laat Blauw 01' NL01-0132528 and they were the parents of pigeon NL05-0566492, which turned 1st Ace Pigeon FZN Prov RI with a.o. 7th Prov RI Orleans 2.935 p
and as we mentioned above, pigeon NL06-0751110 descends from this coupling as well: he is the absolute favourite of Ludo Claessens for the near future, this bird won 1st Morlincourt 1.682 p (fastest of 26.801 p as well), 1st Hensies 124 p (equal first), 19th Prov RI Chantilly 4.148 p, and 28th Prov RI Pithiviers 3.042 p
.
Jonge Supercrack' got a new hen in 2006: Klein Bont 94' NL05-0566494 (by the way: she is the daughter of the above mentioned Kleintje 22') and they became the parents of NL06-0751103 or the winner of 2nd Nat NPO Orleans 8.322 p. In short, this is a family of miraculous top pigeons. 
- we should of course also pay some attention to the actual wonder racer', the figure head' of the colony of Ludo Claessens and Number 1' of the racing team: the phenomenal crack pigeon SIMPLY THE BEST' NL04-0452342. His name says it all: this pigeon is very capable of putting up an excellent performance and his stunning list of achievements is the proof thereof, some of his top performances:
He already had a 1st Prov RI Orleans victory on his list as a young pigeon. As a yearling, he ended during the last 2 races with the 1st Prov RI Orleans 2.153 p, followed by the 1st Nat NPO Argenton 4.318 p which was raced in extremely tough circumstances (this is by the way the only long distance race in which Ludo participates every year, to close off the season). In 2006, he pulled off a similar stunt: once more, he obtained the 1st Prov RI Sens 1.890 p
Naturally, expectations for the long distance classic to close off the season (Montluçon in 2006) ran high. The sun was shining, the sky was steel blue and it was sizzling hot... and Simply the Best' feels on top of the world in such weather conditions. And yes indeed, the first pigeon that checked in was Simply the Best' together with an unfamiliar young pigeon. He flew his lap of honour and dived (in the company of the young pigeon) for a pond which is situated in front of the Claessens's lofts. Ludo thought that they were thirsty and hurried to the pond in order to guide his pigeon to its loft. Simply the Best' caused quite a stir when he suddenly bloated: both of his legs were broken. He flew to the ridge of the roof of a house across the street (the same roof where he sometimes comes across a foreign hen during the week when he trains). So he was on familiar ground... He lied there for 30 minutes before he stumbled in and obtained a pretty early prize. Double bad luck: Simply the best' broke his two legs but afterwards it appeared that he could have won the 1st National NPO Montluçon another time with flying colours and repeat his stunt of 2005. This would have been -without any doubt- a truly unique performance. In the meantime, the wonder pigeon' is back on its feet again but Ludo will have to wait and see whether this incident will be a heavy burden on the future sports career of this pigeon.
- maybe Ludo should focus on BLAUWE 506' NL05-0566506 next season, a first brother of Simply the Best'. He is clearly ready to follow in the footsteps of his illustrious brother, let's take a look at some top results' on his list of achievements:
Furthermore, he is the father of one the greatest talents' of the last few seasons, namely NL06-0725143 who has already won:
- Another simply sublime brother of Simply the Best' is SCHONE BROER' NL05-0566473, who is a true topper for both racing and breeding. Take a look at his achievements up until now:
Schone Broer is the father of NL06-0725161
1st St. Quentin 1752 p
1st fastest Prov. RI appr. 8000 p
1st Pithiviers 248 p
7th Pithiviers Prov. RI 3042 p
13th St. Quentin 980 p
- Another top racer which descends from a coupling of the basic breeds is Rode 35' NL-0526035, a son of VALE 22' (a half brother of the above mentioned BLAUWE WITPEN BLIKSEM) x SCHOON LAAT LATE DONKERE' (a first sister of Favoriet 65, Kirsty, Nestzus Kirsty etc ). Rode 35' also perfectly understands what is meant by winning 1st prizes and racing top:
- Finally, we would like to introduce to you the descendants of the latest acquisitions, just to prove that Ludo hit the nail on the head once more by buying Mr Tours'. Klein Blauw Tours' NL05-0566471, Ludo bred this youngster from Mr Tours' (1st Nat NPO Tours) x Kirsty' (1st Nat NPO Orleans), was remarked with the following first-class achievements and he also displayed his breeding capacities right away:
- top pigeon DONKER TOURS' NL05-0566475, which was bred from Mr Tours' x Donker Favorietje (first sister of Witte Asduif') achieved the following prizes:
His nest brother Klein Donker Tours 74 won
a.o. 16th Prov. RI Creil 5084 p and is father of
super promise NL06-0751109 with 9 out of 9
(7 x per 10) with a 3rd Nat NPO Orleans
NL05-0526031 is a first sister of pigeon '74 and pigeon '75 is living in the breeding loft of Comb. Roegiest & Visser in Philippine, Zeeland. In 2006, she became the mother of no less than three top pigeons:
1st Morlincourt against over 10.000 p
1st Bapaume against 1865 p
27th Nat. NPO Orleans 4145 p
After reading such wonderful lists of achievements I believe no-one still needs to be convinced of the enormous class, the great ability to perform and excellent breeding value of the pigeons of Ludo Claessens. Only a maximum of 60 pigeons get to opportunity to overwinter at his lofts: selection is very severe, even extremely severe... but fair. The strength of the Claessens colony lies without any doubt in this tough selection procedure and thanks to that, Ludo Claessens has been a tough competitor for over 30 years. Maybe he has developed into the best middle distance racer ever! Until others provide evidence to the contrary...
Author : Martin Martens
Edited : Martin Degrave