Karel and Kas have been able to excel in their favourite races of up to 400km season after season. In their search for pigeons that are suited for this type of competition they came in contact with none other than Leo Heremans, back in 2007. That year, the first group of birds went from Vorselaar to Ootmarsum, and these pigeons are still at the forefront in today's racing team. One of these pigeons from 2007, which included many excellent breeders, was BE07-6379882 Juan Carlos. It was Juan Carlos in particular that bred several top quality racing birds. He is for sure one of the best Heremans breeders to have ever existed. To begin with, he was the sire of two first prize winners in 2008, namely NL08-603 (1st Strombeek, 1,184 p.) and NL08-604 (1st Maaseik, 2,144 p.). Twelve years later, this fantastic breeding bird is still part of the breeding team, and two of his youngsters have won a race just recently: NL20-636 in Quievrain (1st of 1,551 p.) and NL18-888 in Beek en Donk (1st of 3,470 p.).
You can tell from his pedigree that Juan Carlos is related to Olympiade (2nd National Ace Pigeon sprint KBDB 2002), which has played a role in many renowned lofts. Another big name in the pedigree of Juan Carlos is Platschijter (the sire of BE03-6192634 Den As, 1st Ace Pigeon middle distance Turnhout and 2nd National Ace Pigeon Ave Regina middle distance 2004).
Next up is an overview of the first prizes that were won with youngsters and grandchildren of Juan Carlos.
1st Venlo 1,342 p.
1st St. Quentin 189 p.
1st Quievrain 329 p.
1st Nijvel 4,411 p.
1st Peronne 214 p.
1st Strombeek 1,184 p.
1st Maaseik 2,144 p.
1st Laon 199 p.
1st Quievrain 124 p.
1st Nivelles 5,628 p.
1st Quievrain 1,551 p.
1st Beek en Donk 3,470 p.
1st Ace Pigeon Natour District 2 (2016)
1st Ace Pigeon Sprint CC (2013)
1st Ace Pigeon middle distance Prov. (2014)
The prize winners on 22nd of August
Like we already said, Kas and Karel won all three podium spots in the race from Beek and Donk. And their overall performance was quite impressive too, with a 90% prize percentage:
6x 1:100 30%
16x 1: 10 80%
18x 1: 4 90%
The first spot (and 2nd of 15,608 p.) goes to racing hen NL18-1554888, which is a direct daughter of Juan Carlos. And this is not her first important result, as you can tell from her list of achievements so far:
2nd Niergnies 715 p. (and 13th 6,941 p.)
6th Quievrain 1,068 p. (and 26th 10,492 p.)
6th Bierges 1,524 p.
11th Quievrain 621 p. (and 11th 3,189 p.)
27th Dizy Le Gros 2,018 p.
32nd Kerkrade 3,396 p.
37th Chalons 1,747 p.
26th Duffel 922 p. (and 47th 4,564 p.)
78th Entroeungt 3,392 p.
The second place (and 3rd of 15,608 p.) in Beek en Donk goes to NL19-1340758. This racing hen comes from a son of Olympic Pair (NL14-085 x BE15-377), which makes her a niece of Olympic Nicole.
The third place (and 5th of 15,608 p.) goes to another racing hen, NL19-1340732. And she too is related to some renowned Leo Heremans breeders such as Den Euro, Olympiade, Di Caprio, as well as to a direct hen of Gust Jansen (Beerse, BE): Daughter 908.
And the team not only claimed all three podium spots in Beek en Donk, they also won a 1st Quievrain of 1,551 pigeons (and 15th of 12,382 p.) that very same day. Their race winner in Quievrain was blue-white racing hen NL20-1177636, another hen with a fantastic pedigree. Her sire is once again Juan Carlos, and her dam is a sister of Olympic Nicole.
Quality in abundance
When he invested in pigeons of Leo Heremans in 20017, he laid the foundation for many great result in the future, which continue to come in 2020. In addition to these Heremans birds we also spotted renowned breeders of Gust Jansen, Marcel Wouters, Stefaan Lambrechts, Maegh-AS, as well as pigeons from a joint breeding with André & Bert Leideman, which provided him with many talented birds. Still, Juan Carlos shows time and time again to be a breeding bird in a league of his own.
