Vermeerbergen - Wilms (Mol, BE): “Specialisation is the key to success at the highest level”

And racing bird National Wonder (BE14-6168603) was 5th Nat. Ace Pigeon longer middle distance KBDB last season, as well as 1st Nat. Ace Pigeon over 5 and 6 national races in our PIPA Ranking. This says everything.

Luc Vermeerbergen (right) and Robby Wilms: always talking and discussing, even at the National Days.

Luc Vermeerbergen and Robby Wilms consider pigeon racing a professional sport in every aspect. They can look back on an impressive career in modern pigeon racing.

This ‘Wonder Team’ is based entirely around ‘Nat. Breeding Wonder’, this loft's stock breeder.

The dam of ‘National Wonder’ is ‘Nat. Breeding Wonder’, the stock breeder of this team. She is the dam of many stars, including a 2nd national Chateauroux.
Click here for her pedigree.

National Wonder (BE14-6168603): 5th Nat. Ace Pigeon longer middle distance KBDB and 1st Nat. Ace Pigeon over 5 and 6 national races in the PIPA ranking.

A few of the results of Vermeerbergen-Wilms from 2019:

1204 YBs Momignies: 15,16,25,26,27,33,39,44,46,49,62,66,70,73,74,89,90,114,... 53/92
813 YBs Soissons: 6,7,8,9,30,33,49,57,61,63,68.. 44/91
651 YBs Chevrainvilliers: 4,5,6,14,15,16,18,20,21,23,24,25,26,27,28,31,33,52,53,60,61,62,65,66,
67,68... 46/79
751 YBs Chevrainvilliers: 3,7,8,10,16,28,31,34,36,42,46,60,62,66,67,68,70,71,72... 39/81
1403 YBs Chevrainvilliers: 9,10,11,22,23,24,26,28,29,33,35,37,38,39,41,44,47,70,71,81,82,83,
87,88,90,91,105,112,115,125,139...55/79

A few of the titles from 2019

5th best young bird of Belgium over 4 national races
18 Nat. Ace Pigeon GMD 2019
22 Nat. Ace Pigeon GMD 2019
39 Nat. Ace Pigeon GMD 2019

Click here for the pedigree of the 103-19: 5th Nat. Ace Pigeon in the PIPA ranking

Click here for the pedigree of the 146-19: 39th Nat. Ace Pigeon in the PIPA ranking

Click here for the pedigree of the 183-19: 18th Ace Pigeon KBDB

Luc and Robby proudly showing an overview of their National Wonder Team.

Specialisation

Luc Vermeerbergen is the man behind the success story of these three lofts. "Pigeon racing today is all about specialisation. This is a professional sport, you can leave nothing to chance. Specialisation means that you need a dedicated young birds' loft, a different loft for your old birds, etc. Our Vermeerbergen-Wilms combination (Mol) races the young birds for up to 600km, focusing on the national races. Our second loft, for which Robby and I work together with Kris Mostmans from Rijkevorsel, is aimed towards the sprint competition. And for our third loft we went to Balen, for a collaboration with Gert Huysmans, who races our olds and yearlings. They won for instance a 9th National Ace Pigeon longer middle distance (BE17-6075237) this season. And the results indicate that we have made the right choices", Luc and Robby said.

Click here for the pedigree of the 9th Nat. Ace Pigeon, also related to the Nationaal Wonder bloodline.

Luc Vermeerbergen and Robby Wilms, in the middle, along with their "companions" Kris Mostmans and Gert Huysmans.

When we sat down with Luc and Robby, we saw a few recurring themes. In each of the three lofts, the fanciers are working hard to get a group of good, strong and healthy pigeons in top form at the start of the season. And a second important aspect of their strategy is, like we said, specialisation. In that respect, Luc proudly points to their second loft, which they race as Vermeerbergen-Wilms-Mostmans from Rijkevorsel, and which is aimed towards the sprint competition. In this loft, Kris Mostmans has won 40 first prizes in five seasons with descendants of the renowned Grizzly breeding pair.

A unique overview of a familie of winners: The Grizzly Dynasty.

One pigeon seems to be out of place in this overview: BE16-6027114 'Invincible Ace Wonder', a 2nd National Ace Pigeon Sprint KBDB 2017 (bred and raced by J. Adami). He is not related to the fantastic Grizzly dynasty but you can tell that he is an excellent sprint bird nonetheless, having won 3 first prizes and 8 prizes per 100 in a single season. His pedigree can be seen here.

The Grizzly dynasty of Vermeerbergen-Wilms-Mostmans in Rijkevorsel has produced many first prize winners; they have won 40 first prizes in just five years' time. That is incredible. Kris Mostmans is responsible for the day-to-day running of the lofts in Rijkevorsel. This dynasty is led by the two stock breeders BE13-6164780 'Grizzly Wonder Breeder' and BE12-6188693 'Blue Wonder Mother', which developed into a household name in the sprint competition in Belgium. This breeding pair was created in 2014.

The stock sire of 'Grizzly Wonder Breeder' is a grandchild of the renowned 'Pitbull' of Karel Laenen - Van Reeth. He was himself an excellent racing and breeding bird. He was not only a successful breeder for Vermeerbergen-Wilms-Mostmans, he is also the great-grandfather of a 6th National Ace Pigeon KBDB 2010, a 2nd National Ace Pigeon middle distance KBDB 2013, a 3rd National Ace Pigeon KBDB 2014, etc.

BE13-6164780 'Grizzly Wonder Breeder'

Click here to admire the fantastic pedigree of the stock breeder.

Stock dam 'Blue Wonder Mother' is a daughter of 'Grandson Olympic Lievin', a 100% Leo Heremans and himself the sire of 7 first prize winners x 'Raketje'. As her name suggests, Raketje is an incredibly fast sprint pigeon and winner of six first prizes.

BE12-6188693 'Blue Wonder Mother'

Click here for the pedigree of the stock dam.

Among the most famous and most legendary youngsters of the Grizzly stock pair are BE15-6274218 'Grizzly Ace Wonder', 2nd National Ace Pigeon Sprint KBDB 2015 and winner of 7 first prizes, as well as BE17-6200651 'Sister Grizzly Ace Wonder', winner of 6 first prizes, and her nest sister BE17-6200652, winner of 5 first prizes. These last two youngsters of the stock pair, also referred to as the 'Grizzly Sisters', were two absolutely sensational birds in the 2018 sprint loft; they claimed 11 first prizes together!

BE15-6274218 'Grizzly Ace Wonder': also successful in our PIPA rankings over 4 races

A few of the top results from 2019:

Vermeerbergen-Wilms-Huysmans

Gert Huysmans from Balen is racing the olds and yearlings to their full potential, as Vermeerbergen-Wilms-Huysmans. They won for instance a 9th National Ace Pigeon longer middle distance this season (see earlier). We take a look at a few national results of Vermeerbergen-Wilms-Huysmans:

Chateauroux: 89,103,106,113 ….    of 20,522 p.
Issoudun:    31,35,58,153 ….      of  8,248 p.
Bourges:     67,75,353,356,375 …. of 10,401 p.
Chateauroux: 35,81,92 ….          of  4,203 p.

Conclusion

Luc Vermeerbergen and Robby Wilms, together with Kris Mostmans and Gert Huysmans, have developed world class pigeon families both in Mol and Rijkevorsel, thanks to their expertise and a collection of high quality bloodlines. It seems that specialisation is the key towards a stable future in pigeon racing.