Daniel & Mee-Hae.
Introduction
If the name of this partnership doesn't sound familiar to your ears, you must know that they are already used to be crowned as champions as they were 1st National Champion Sprint KBDB in 1998. At the time, they were racing in one of the strongest sprint areas of Belgium with hundreds of fanciers competiting each weekend against thousands of pigeons. The leading was localized in Hornu and it was at the time the biggest pigeon club of the Hainaut province. It was also the time of the hatching of several leading lofts of nowadays like, for example, Marc Capelle, Hugo Gorniak and of course the partnership Dehon-Demonseau.
The fanciers
This combination is formed by Daniel (49 years and working at Audi Brussels) and his wife Mee-Hae. Daniel is the real pigeon fancier as he started to race under his name back in 1991. He is coming from a pigeon family as his father was himself a fancier. As Daniel does the early & late shift at work, Mee-Hae started to be involved in the daily management of the loft of her husband. At the beginning, it was to help him but since then, she became a real member of the partnership as she cleans, trains and feed the pigeons when Daniel is working. It seems that the feminine touch made once again some wonders!
We can consider that this loft is specialized in the sprint races even if they sometimes basket a few pigeons in the middle distance competition. Last year, they were for example 8th National Ace Pigeon Shorter Middle Distance KBDB, a significative feat.
The racing team is composed of about thirty widowers and six breeding pairs. Most of the times, the best pigeons are moved to the breeding loft once their career is done.
The main basis is built around a few pigeons purchased at the late Maurice Casaert in 1997. Their descendants are still doing a great work in the lofts at Thulin. More recently, a hen coming from Deno-Herbots (granddaughter of the Blauwe Bliksem) was purchased and she has already given some satisfaction.
Inside the loft of the widowers.
The National Ace (BE13-9039279)
This chequered cock has been crowned as best old sprinter of the Belgian kingdom. It's a superb medium sized racing cock with a super soft plumage and a very supple wing. Like most of the sprinters, he has a very powerful chest who allows him to explode right from the beginning to take the advantage on his opponents. Despite the fact he is very calm when you hold him, he has a lot of vitality. With his coefficient of 1.5315% in 6 races, he has a very comfortable advance on his closest opponent, the pigeon of Stefan Mantels from Lummen (2.0170%) while the podium is completed by the 4 year old of Maurice Van Rillaer from Haact (2.0583%).
For the anecdote, the national ace improved his coefficient during the last weekend of the competition. In fact, he won the victory from Melun against 339 pigeons. Without this, he wouldn't have won the first place of the national ranking! It's of course the consecration of a successful season which also allowed them to be classified as 9th National Champion Sprint KBDB.
Performances of 2015:
11/04 Soissons - 217/1,043 p. 18/04 Nanteuil - 39/1,272 p. 02/05 Nanteuil - 2/1,412 p. (after loftmate) 09/05 La Ferté - 36/1,110 p. 16/05 Melun - 2/711 p. 23/05 Nanteuil - 13/617 p. 30/05 La Ferté - 2/572 p. 06/06 Nanteuil - 1/473 p. 13/06 Nanteuil - 148/456 p. 20/06 Nanteuil - 1/396 p. 27/06 Nanteuil - 3/386 p. 11/07 Nanteuil - 5/355 p. 18/07 Nanteuil - 33/304 p. 25/07 Nanteuil - 11/190 p. 01/08 Melun - 1/339 p. (4 min 30 ahead)
Performances of 2014:
1. Nanteuil - 372 p. 2. Jouy - 336 p. 4. Soissons - 780 p. 6. Nanteuil - 492 p. 9. St Quentin - 645 p.
Concerning his pedigree, his father is the nest brother of the 6th National Ace Pigeon Sprint Yearling KBDB 2007. Both were bred from a super racing cock who won the title of 1st Provincial Ace Pigeon Sprint KBDB in 2007.
His mother was already mother of the 8th National Ace Pigeon Shorter Middle Distance KBDB 2014. The grand-father of the mother is a direct Casaert M&G, a descendant of the first basic pigeons of Néchin such as the Borgne Dedeyne, the Bronzé and the Turbo, so the pigeons to be found in the pedigrees of the most famous pigeons such as Invincible Montauban, Nasdaq & Mistral. This is a true family of champions with numerous ace pigeons!
Final word
It's always very enjoyable to put small lofts under the spotlight. Concerning this colony, it is maybe a small one not seeking fame but the results booked over the last few years gave your a better taste about its potential. The national title is the right reward of a daily hard work lasting since many years. Everybody has to respect this performance. Congratulations to Daniel and Mee-Hae for this and enjoy it!
A part of the accomodations.