David and Goliath
The fanciers of Gevaert-Lannoo enjoyed international renown for the first time in 2008, winning a 2nd National Bourges against 19,084 old birds. The bloodlines of stock breeders Chateauke and Het Kaafje turned Gevaert-Lannoo into an internationally regarded pigeon loft.
This invaluable bloodline, combined with the line of Gaby Vandenabeele's Bliksem, have enabled Paul and Carlos to achieve exceptional achievements on a yearly basis, with a fairly limited number of racing birds. They have won numerous first prizes at provincial level and in the zone, as well as many prestigious provincial and national championship and ace pigeon titles KBDB. And they continued to achieve great results in 2016, with 3 provincial first prizes and 3 provincial second prizes in a single month. There is nothing quite as impressive as winning so many great results with such a small team of racing birds.
Trying to match your results from last season can be quite a challenge for such a successful team, especially if you have a racing team of no more than 12 pairs raced in total widowhood, and 25 to 30 young birds. If you have a limited number of pigeons you can only hope that everything goes according to plan. Nevertheless, Paul and Carlos have shown that you can become a world-class team even with a small pigeon collection.
Their biggest asset is in fact their small racing team. There is no place for mediocre pigeons or racing birds of average quality. The limited amount of space forces them to keep only their very best pigeons, and the result is a small loft packed with highly talented racing birds capable of winning early prizes almost every single week.
Overwhelmingly strong in 2015 and 2016
Their palmares speaks for itself. You have to be able to peform well on a weekly basis in order to be successful in the provincial and national championships and ace pigeon championships. If you want to be the best in your province, you have to beat your opponents in every race, and that is what Gevaert-Lannoo did in 2015 and 2016. THey won the following championship and ace pigeon titles in 2015:
1st Prov. Champion long distance YBs KBDB East Flanders 2015 (1+2 nominated) 1st Prov. Ace Pigeon middle distance YBs KBDB East-Flanders 2015 (with Platina) 2nd General Provincial Champion KBDB East Flanders 2015 3rd Best young bird of Belgium PIPA ranking 5 national races (Prince 26) 4th National Champion YBs KBDB 2015 (national races) 5th Nat. Ace Pigeon shorter middle distance YBs KBDB 2015 (with Platina) 5th Prov. Ace Pigeon long distance YBs KBDB East Flanders 2015 (with Prince 26) 6th Nat. Ace Pigeon longer middle distance YBs KBDB 2015 (with Prince 26) 7th Prov. Champion middle distance YBs KBDB East Flanders 2015 (1 + 2 nominated) 13th Nat. Champion longer middle distance YLs KBDB 2015
Trying to do even better in 2016 has been quite a challenge for them, as you can imagine, especially when keeping in mind the difficult weather conditions this season. But it appears the racing birds of Gevaert-Lannoo did not really mind the weather; they will always do what it takes to win early prizes. The team maintained their status as best middle distance breed of East Flanders, and they were again one of the five best lofts in Belgium, as you can tell from this year's championship titles:
1st Prov. Ace Pigeon middle distance old birds + YL KBDB East Flanders 2016 (with Princess 95) 1st Prov. Champion middle distance old birds + YL KBDB East Flanders 2016 (1st + 2nd nominated) 1st Prov. Bourges 1,963 YLs in 2016 (met Princess 95) 1st Prov. Bourges 1,259 old birds in 2016 (fastest of 5,861 pigeons with Rambo Junior) 1st Prov. Chateauroux III 351 olds ’16 (with Perle) 2nd General Provincial Champion KBDB East Flanders 2016 3rd Nat. Champion longer middle distance YLs KBDB 2016 5th Nat. Champion longer middle distance olds KBDB 2016 7th Prov. Ace Pigeon middle distance Ybs KBDB 2016
The fanciers of Gevaert-Lannoo have shown that a talented team that is in great shape can do almost anything. The invaluable combination of a talented pigeon breed and two experienced fanciers are a sure way to achieve great results in pigeon racing.
Chateauke, an invaluable stock dam
It takes an exceptional group of pigeons to become a nationally renowned pigeon loft. You need pigeons that can break away from the main group, and that are not afraid to try and find their loft on their own. This is often an innate ability. If some of your pigeons can also pass on this ability to their descendants, you have a bright future ahead as a fancier. This is what we define as a stock breeder.
The Gevaert-Lannoo stock breeder Chateauke was clearly a pigeon with this innate ability: her descendants allowed the Gevaert-Lannoo loft to develop into one of Belgium's strongest pigeon families, as you can tell from the numerous championship titles on their palmares.
The pigeon family became even stronger when the Chateauke bloodline was combined with other exceptional lines, including the illustrious Bliksem of Gaby Vandenabeele (either direct or through Rik Cools, BDS-team, Patrick Houfflijn, etc.) and pigeons of Willy Vanhoutte, Marc De Cock and Benny Steveninck.
Chateauke BE05-3202164
The golden stock dam Daughter of Chateauke Cools-Blancke: 1st Prov. Chateauroux 7,347 p. Dam of 7 x 1st prize winners Dam of 1st Ace Pigeon middle distance East & West Flanders 2009 Dam of 2nd Ace Pigeon Master Award middle distance Versele-Laga Dam of 2nd Nat. Bourges 19,084 p. Dam of 3rd Nat. La Souterraine 4,460 p. Dam of 8th Nat. Bourges 16,771 p. Dam of 2nd Prov. Blois 2,710 p. Dam of 2nd Prov. Blois 2,352 p. Grandmother 1st Prov & 2nd Nat. Ace Pigeon middle distance KBDB 2010 Grandmother 1st Prov. Gueret 3,103 p. and 4th Nat. 14,362 p. etc…
She is an exceptional pigeon with exceptional breeding value, having bred up to four generations of first prize winners and ace pigeons. Her most famous daughter is without doubt Kaatje, which played a crucial role in this success story.
Click here for the palmares of Kaafje
The four stars of the 2016 racing season are all direct descendants of stock breeder Chateauke; we will take a closer look at each of them:
-Princess 95 BE15-4146095
1st Prov. Ace Pigeon middle distance KBDB 2016 1st Prov. Bourges 1,963 p. 2nd Prov. Chateauroux 1,943 p. 2nd Prov. Orleans 2,083 p. 2nd Prov. Orleans 1,582 p. 2nd N.Zone Bourges 1,890 p.
Click here for the full palmares of Princess 95
Sire: King Gaby BE07-3034700
A direct Gaby Vandenabeele. A half brother of Gloria, 2nd Nat. Ace Pigeon long distance KBDB '13. He is a son of King BE99-6064516 (2nd Prov. Ace Pigeon KBDB 2000, 3rd Prov. Ace Pigeon KBDB 2001) x Mona BE04-3069721. Mona is the dam of Gloria, and a daughter of the iconic Bliksem BE98-3158062 x Frieda BE99-3103770 Cools-Blancke. She is the dam of Mona and of Chateauke Cools-Blancke 1st Prov. Chateauroux 7,347 p.
Dam: Sister 05 Kaafje BE09-4338105
A full sister of Kaafje and a daughter of Dikke Antoon BE05-4325774 x stock dam Chateauke BE05-3202164
Click here for the full pedigree of Princess 95
-Prince 26 BE15-4146026
6th Nat. Ace Pigeon longer middle distance KBDB 2015 3rd Best YB of Belgium 2015 over 5 national races – PIPA ranking 33rd N.Zone Chateauroux 3,661 p. ’15 49th Prov. Bourges 1,765 p. ’16 65th Prov. Chateauroux 7,617 p. ’16 74th Nat. La Souterraine 9,760 p. ’15 88th Nat. Issoudun 11,584 p. ’15
Click here for the palmares of Prince 26.
He also originates from top pair King Gaby x Sister 05 Kaafje.
Click here for his full pedigree
And there is more. This new top pair bred another highly talented racing bird in 2016:
-Prince 005 BE16-4070005 (full brother of Princess 95 and Prince 26)
7th Prov. Ace Pigeon middle distance KBDB 2016 8th Prov. Blois 3,800 p. 11th Nat. Zone Argenton 7,081 p.
Princess 95 claimed a provincial first prize from Bourges, and Rambo Junior showed his potential on the very same day, finishing five minutes before Princess 95 as the fastest of 5,861 pigeons in the province. It resulted in not one but two provincial first prizes for Gevaert-Lannoo.
-Rambo Junior BE14-4032089
3 top prizes from Bourges: 1st Prov. Bourges 1,259 p. ’16 (fastest of 5,861 p.) 6th N.Zone Bourges II 1,380 p. ’16 (1st Club 247 p.) 23rd Prov. Bourges 2,124 p. ’15
Sire: Duc Gaby BE12-3127586
A direct Gaby Vandeabeele. He is a son of Rambo II BE02-3255937, which is a half brother of Rudy (a direct son of Bliksem BE98-3158062 x Bieke BE00-3195029, winner of 7 first prizes). The dam is Maggie BE09-3188072; she is a daughter of James Bond BE01-3031007 (1st Nat. Bourges 13,166 p.) x Witpen Marcel BE06-4044497, a daughter of Bak 17 M. Aelbrecht.
Dam: New Marieke BE12-4175154
A daughter of Bliksem Rik BE11-3123594 (bred from Bliksem's son Schone Bliksem BE04-3001609 x Marieke BE08-3037512, 1st Prov. Ace Pigeon long distance YBs KBDB ’08 for Rik Cools).
Click here for the full pedigree of Rambo Junior
-Alonsa BE14-4032085
6th Prov. Vierzon 5,825 p. ’16 (1st Club 992 p.) 14th Nat. Argenton 13,629 p. ’16 (1st Club 745 p.) 50th Nat. Montluçon 9,462 p. ’16
Click here for the full palmares of alonsa.
Sire: Einstein BE08-4347342
The sire of Alonso (3 first prizes, 3rd Prov. Ace Pigeon middle distance KBDB ’10) and Alonsa. He is a son of Provinciaal Antoontje BE04-4329851 (1st Prov. Poitiers 738 p., 1st Orleans 814 p., 1st Argenton 115 p. and 25 prizes per ten) x stock dam Chateauke BE05-3202164.
Dam: Geronima BE08-4347396
She comes from Son Geronimo BE06-4142888, a direct Patrick & Dimitri Houfflijn (from stock breeder Geronimo BE00-4282486 x Perpignanduivin BE03-4238010) x Red National hen BE05-4126313, a direct Marc De Cock (a great breeder and the dam of Caraat, Tattoo, Mr Silver, Alonso, Alonsa, etc.).
Click here for the full pedigree of Alonsa
Chateauke is the golden key in the succesful performances and the domination till provincial and national level, with already three and more generations of exceptional and superb breeders, winners and ace-pigeons.
Click here for the flyer with the excellent top-breeders and winners
This pigeon breed consists of nothing but first prize winners, and provincial and national ace pigeons! This breed is founded on pigeons with great potential and with a proven record at national level. This is for sure one of Belgium's strongest lofts in the middle distance and the longer middle distance.
