The Joël Verschoot racing birds are at their best in races where pigeons have to work hard and have to use all the strength they have - i.e. good racing weather and a strong headwind. These are the conditions in which such renowned Verschoot birds like Armando, Contador, Nopri, Agen, Cees etc. have delivered national top results, turning Joël into an internationally renowned fancier. After a few weeks of racing with a strong tailwind, we had the first tough weekend on 18th of July, where we saw perfect race conditions and a slight headwind in the largest part of France, with the wind turning to west-southwest in the final kilometres. This is exactly what the Verschoot pigeons were looking for, after they had already competed in the national races from Issoudun and Limoges earlier on.
New Betsy triumphant in Issoudun
This highly talented racing hen, the leading lady of the female longer middle distance team, was basketed for the fifth time in a row. And this was in fact her fifth consecutive top result. This time, she arrived home from Issoudun with a velocity of 1300 m/min thanks to an impressive final sprint, with which she outperformed the rest of the pack in West Flanders. New Betsy was the team's first nominated, which shows that Joël has plenty of confidence in this outstanding racing hen. Her palmares speaks volumes:
-New Betsy BE19-3072351
1. Prov Issoudun 2,489 YLs ’20
36. Prov Argenton 4,299 YLs ’20
92. Prov Bourges 2,821 YLs ’20
299 Intprov Blois 8,991 p. ’20
312 Prov Chateauroux 5,555 YLs ’20
9. Prov Chateauroux 3,608 p. ’19
48. Nat Argenton 23,258 p. ’19
Sire: Powerman JR BE18-4215819
A direct Annick Goeteyn, and a son of Powerman BE17-4177134 (a full brother of the fantastic Full Power: 1st Prov. Blois 5,334 p. - bred from a crossing of the stock bloodlines of Tsaby x Kim and Orlando x Nicofelia). Powerman was paired to Daughter Ballon BE17-2000394 (half sister of an 8th Nat. Ace Pigeon Allround).
Dam: Ann BE16-3009219
A super class hen (winner of 8 prizes per 10) and a direct Patrick Verhue. She comes from Jonge Tonny BE13-3012250 x Margo BE13-3004603 (full sister of 1st Prov. Pontoise).
The team of yearlings that was basketed for Issoudun did a great job overall:
Issoudun Provincial 2,489 yearlings: 1-18-47-49-62-83-87-264-269-368-616-662-699 (13/17)
And the two old birds did not disappoint either:
Issoudun Provincial 1,602 olds: 257-407 (2/2)
All in all, the race from Issoudun was a major success across the board.
Boy wins two top results in Limoges I and Limoges II
Issoudun was not the only race that took place on 18th of July; we also had the national long distance flight from Limoges II that weekend. This happens to be one of the favourite races of the Verschoot racing cocks, and they did manage to take the win at club level in the old birds' race. Their race winner is superstar Boy, who claimed his second national top result from Limoges in two weeks' time. Boy has some excellent origins indeed: he is a half brother of a 1st Nat. Agen (bred from the same sire). This is already his fourth national top 100 result.
-Boy BE17-3031038
10. Prov Limoges II 2,248 p. ’20 – 96. Nat 10,319 p.- 1. Club 465 p.
17. Prov Limoges I 3,037 p. ’20 – 102 Nat 15,981 p.
90. Nat Limoges I 13,569 p. ’19
92. Nat Libourne 4,605 p. ’19
93. IProv Chateauroux 2,343 p. ’18 (19/5)
98. Nat Limoges 7,236 p. ’18
109 Prov Chateauroux 2,470 p. ’18 (15/6)
145 Nat Tulle 6,206 p. ’19
212 Nat Angoulême 5,030 p. ’18
234 Nat Cahors 6,903 p. ’19
Sire: Black Jack BE09-3127174
The sire of a 1st Nat. Agen ’13, and one of the stock breeders of Joël Verschoot. He is a grandson of stock breeder Costello (brother of Champion of Chris Hebberecht), crossbred to the bloodlines of Ludo, a top class hen of Waerniers.
Dam: Saerke 12 BE12-3120047
A talented hen and a direct Rudi De Saer. A granddaughter of golden stock dam 't Goedje (the dam of two national winners and the grandmother of a national winner).
A total of 19 pigeons were basketed for Limoges (10 old birds and 9 yearlings), and they performed as follows:
Limoges Provincial 2,248 olds: 10-68-86-136-214-307-501 (7/10)
National 10,319 olds: 96-349-428-634-953-1292-1933 (7/10)
Limoges Provincial 2,139 yearlings: 13-112-248-389-469-519 (6/9)
National 9,756 yearlings: 99-480-1047-1586-1878-2099 (6/9)
You can tell from these results that the racing team is in excellent form. As you know, the Joël Verschoot pigeons can always push themselves a bit more when they are on top of their game. It explains the many national victories, championships titles and ace pigeon titles in the past. We have several more classic races on the calendar, so we might expect to see another brilliant result in the next few weeks. A super class breed in top form is notoriously difficult to beat, and Joël Verschoot is on a winning streak. Will anyone be able to stop him?