The Vanneste-Demely family, Moorsele
The pigeon family of Liliane Demely from Moorsele, West-Flanders, surprised us again in 2019. This collection of top class birds is led by Filip and his son David Vanneste, with Liliane Demely doing her share of the work as well. The combination has set a high bar, which means only the best is good enough for them. The sprint, middle distance and long distance are the favourite competitions of these winners. They had already become quite a successful team over the years but their 2019 season was truly exceptional, especially when you take into account that this pigeon family is rather limited in size: they race with around 40 widowers and 20 hens, as well as about 60 youngsters. This is a team that favours quality over quantity!
This family is renowned for its excellent overall results in the sprint and middle distance, which shows that this is a high quality pigeon breed indeed. And they have been outstanding in the national competitions a well, claiming top prizes against many thousands of pigeons. Keep in mind that the Demely family tends to race with a small basket. The fanciers from Moorsele are always looking for possible reinforcements, which they will go to great lengths for. Their many investments, combined with a diligent selection procedure, has enabled them to develop a very successful breed.
National top results
And they did exceptionally well in the national races as well. Despite an often unfavourable location and a limited number of birds in the basket, team Demely has repeatedly managed to excel in different national races over the years, and we were particularly impressed with their many top finishers. Such pigeons as Mister Unique, Mister Bourges, Miss Argenton and others have added numerous national top results to their palmares in these important races.
A few of the stars in this team
The team really excelled in the last two years, claiming an extensive number of top results. We take a look at the national top five placings of this fairly small team:
1° national Limoges 7,274 p. 1° zone. Bourges 6,466 p. 2° national Argenton 19,133 p. 2° national Brive 9,278 p. 3° national Gueret 8,517 p. 4° national Bourges 23,155 p. 4° national Argenton 22,826 p. 5° national Limoges 13,570 p. ...
Who does it better?
A long series of provincial victories
And let's not forget the many provincial victories of team Demely in 2019, which have been a recurring theme in their career, alongside their many other top results. In 2019 alone, they claimed six victories and six national second places, with a total of 42 first prizes across the 2019 season, in different competitions! We take a look at their provincial victories from the past two seasons:
1° prov. Fontenay 7,114 p. 1° prov. Fontenay 4,389 p. 1° prov. Argenton 4,084 p. 1° prov. Argenton 2,591 p. 1° prov. Fontenay 2,502 p. 1° prov. Fontenay 1,359 p. 1° prov. Limoges 1,362 p. 1° prov. Pontoise 3,044 p. 1° prov. Blois 623 p. (fastest of 3,549 p.) 1° prov. Tours 876 p. 1° prov. Tours 723 p. 1° prov. Tours 568 p. 1° prov. Tours 469 p. 1° prov. Chateauroux 428 p. 1° prov. Fontenay 691 p. 1° prov. Bourges 501 p.
(For an overview of their achievements in 2019, click here)
An exceptionally gifted breeding loft
The Demely family has had the fortune of discovering some exceptionally gifted breeders in their team, thanks to a specific approach and a strict selection process. One of those breeders that deserves a mention in particular would be Superkweker Brother Draaier (BE07-3161845). This incredible breeder is the sire/grandfather of six provincial first prize winners. This bird originates from the best bloodlines of A&H Reynaert from Passendale. David Demely clearly knows where to find good quality pigeons.
Click here for the pedigree of Brother Draaier
Super class breeder: Brother Draaier
And this stock breeder is also the sire of Miss Pontoise (BE18-3052860), which claimed ten clear first prizes on her own, as well as four provincial top 6 placings in four weeks' time. This is quite impressive! This is obviously a family of race winners that have the ability to breed new generations of equally strong birds. Miss Pontoise is in fact the sister/half sister of a long series of successful racing birds, which underlines the potential of this strain.
For the pedigree of Miss Pontoise, click here.
Miss Pontoise: provincial winner of 3,044 pigeons
Next up is the fantastic breeding pair David (BE14-3048431) & T' Zwartje (BE12-3085210). These two pigeons, which were initially very successful racing birds, claiming several top results in ace pigeon competitions, are a good example of the breeding approach that is being adopted in Moorsele. Only the best performing birds, such as ace pigeons or race winners in major competitions, will be getting a spot in their breeding loft. David is a crossing of the line of De rauw-Sablon, combined with the best of the best of Op De Beeck-Baetens.
Click here for David's pedigree.
David, an exceptionally gifted racing & breeding bird
T' Zwartje does justice to his Figo origins
T' Zwartje stems from the Figo line (Reynaert), which the Demely family has done really well with (click here for the pedigree of T' Zwartje). This pair has produced an impressive number of talented pigeons that have helped Demely develop into a renowned team. They are for instance the parents of two provincial first prize winners, the grandparents of three provincial first prize winners, etc. This combination knows how to breed strong pigeons; another good example is Gilbert (BE16-3039614), a great racing bird and winner of two provincial first prizes, alongside many other great results. The parents of Gilbert are in fact David and T' Zwartje, which we already talked about.
Gilbert: a great racing bird for Demely
And we came across numerous other talented pigeons in later generations as well. Miss Argenton (BE18-3052845) is a grandchild that knows how to win races. As you can tell from her name, this pigeon claimed a 1st Prov. Argenton of more than 4,000 pigeons. And she has been a successful sprint pigeon as well, claiming victory in Pontoise, among others. She is a grandchild of David x 'T Zwartje, and she is also related to the bloodlines of Roger Buvens from her father's side, originating from the line of Roger's 1st National Bourges (click here for the pedigree of this black pearl). When claiming her provincial first prize (and a 4th National of more than 23,000 pigeons), Miss Argenton was the first of several pigeons that delivered an impressive overall result that day: Argenton (club): 1-2-3-4-8-9-11-18-22-23-29-35-36-... / 498 p. The team did equally well at provincial level, with a 1-4-5-16-37-50-67-92-... of as many as 4,084 pigeons, and 18 prizes with 21 birds, including 15 prizes per 10!
Miss Argenton: the black pearl of this loft
Another bird from the newer generation that was impossible to ignore is Miss Fontenay (BE19-3084958), which claimed a 1st Provincial in Fontenay of more than 7000 pigeons. And she claimed four first prizes in the five middle distance races that she was basketed for, resulting in a title of 11th National Ace Pigeon KBDB. This special racing bird was victorious in three different races from Chateaudun! She is a daughter of Gilbert, which does explain why she a well above-average performer. (Click here for the pedigree of Miss Fontenay).
Miss Fontenay: 11th national ace pigeon KBDB
And the male grandchildren have done their share of the work as well. Take for instance the one year old cock Black Argenton (BE18-3052846), winner of three first prizes and a double second place interprovincial in Blois. In addition, he was beaten to the line by a teammate in the race from Argenton (For the pedigree of Black Argenton, click here).
Black Argenton
Or how about Mister Chateauroux (BE17-3043801), a very promising youngster that managed to meet the high expectations, winning a 5th National Chateauroux in 2018, as well as a long series of top results in the sprint and middle distance. It must be a joy to have such a talented bird in your collection, although we reckon these fanciers are quite used to this. This bird is another descendant of the Figo bloodline, combined with a top breeder of Hugo Vlaeminck.
For the pedigree of this great looking cock, click here.
Mister Chateauroux
Mister Unique and the Tulle bloodline
The absolute star of this loft is of course Mister Unique (BE16-3039664). This fantastic bird did extremely well in 2018, winning a 1st National Limoges and a 2nd National Brive! This resulted in a well deserved title of 1st pigeon in the PIPA Ranking, with an exceptionally low coefficient of 0.0353%. Mister Unique, a son of stock breeder Den Tulle, is clearly an unusually gifted bird.
For the pedigree of Mister Unique, click here.
Mr. Unique: one of the very best.
Den Tulle (BE10-3085128): it would not be easy to find a breeder that is better than this one. Den Tulle, himself winner of a zonal race from La Souterraine, has bred an endless number of talented descendants. He seems to breed new stars with ease, the numbers don't lie. Click here for a description of this Unique bloodline.
Den Tulle
And there is another hen that deserves a mention in this overview: Het Aelbrechtje (BE07-413881). This is perhaps the most valuable pigeon for team Demely, because this super class breeding hen has produced so many successful pigeons over the years. She bred generation after generation of national and provincial race winners and ace pigeon titles. This breeding hen, which they obtained from Marcel Aelbrecht from Lebbeke, is without doubt one of the most important investments for Demely (click here for her pedigree). Aelbrecht has provided his top quality pigeons to numerous fanciers over the years, and he has always favoured quality over quantity. With such top quality bloodlines in your collection, you can dominate a race with just a handful of birds. And that explains the impressive list of achievements of Liliane Demely.
Aelbrechtje : a true stock dam
Plenty of references
The Demely family has been getting quite a number of references over the years, with many fanciers from at home and abroad claiming top results thanks to their bloodlines. At the moment, more than 450 first prizes have been won with Demely birds. We were particularly impressed with the high number of ace pigeons, including most notably the following ones:
2nd national ace pigeon KBDB for Dany Leus 2nd national ace pigeon KBDB for Betty Van Hegge 3rd national ace pigeon NPO for comb. Romein-Klein 7th national ace pigeon KBDB for Astere Vergotte 8th national ace pigeon KBDB for Jespers-Vanderwegen ...
We reckon there is still a lot more to come for team Demely. They have become one of the leading names in Belgium, and we reckon these highly ambitious fanciers are not willing to settle for less. It takes a highly talented pigeon family to win so many top results with such a small team. And since they are always looking for new investments, we do not expect them to back down any time soon.