A dominant 2019
Team BDS has had quite a stellar racing season; their 2019 palmares is impossible to ignore. They have won an extensive number of top placings and first prizes this year, across all levels. Their 1st National Narbonne yearlings was of course the icing on the cake, besides the highly successful yearlings' races from Libourne and Tulle, which eventually resulted in a few prestigious national titles, including a 1st + 5th best yearling of Belgium long distance across 3 national races, as well as a 5th + 11th Nat. Ace Pigeon long distance & extreme long distance yearlings KBDB. This is what you get with a nationally renowned pigeon family! This palmares is the result of an extensive breeding strategy, along with clever investments in the breeding loft. This is a team that breeds youngsters from race winners and proven ace pigeons, and this approach has proven the key to long term success in the long distance and extreme long distance.
3 x 1. National winners on the breeding-lofts Team BDS
National top results one after another
It was just over two years ago that Team BDS opted to change things around, shifting their focus towards the national long distance competition. Their successful middle distance racing team went out the window, and they were replaced with a team of noble long distance pigeons. It was a bold but thoughtful move. Team BDS invested heavily in the bloodlines of national winners (either the winner itself or direct youngsters), as well as in national ace pigeons in the long distance. Many fanciers assumed it would take quite a bit of time (perhaps even years?) to develop a solid long distance team that could deliver at national level. Well, that was not quite the case. Their yearlings came to the fore already in 2018, and they continued to deliver as two year olds in 2019, alongside a new team of terrific yearlings that surprised pigeon fanciers across Belgium with their exceptional level of performance. We think the numbers speak for themselves, so we listed their best results of 2019 at national level:
1. Best yearling long distance of Belgium across all national races 2019 – 3 prizes
5. Best yearling long distance of Belgium across all national races 2019 – 3 prizes
5. Nat. Ace Pigeon & Extreme Long Distance Yearlings KBDB 2019
11. Nat. Ace Pigeon Long Distance & Extreme Long Distance Yearlings KBDB 2019
1. Nat. Narbonne 3,580 YLs – 3. Intnat 8,284 YLs
3. Nat. Libourne 4,354 YLs
4. Nat. Libourne 4,354 YLs
9. Nat. Libourne 4,354 YLs
16. Nat. Argenton 23,258 YBs
16. Nat. Narbonne 3,580 YLs
17. Nat. Tulle 6,206 olds
18. Nat. Tulle 7,155 YLs
19. Nat. Libourne 4,354 YLs
20. Nat. Tulle 7,155 YLs
22. Nat. Narbonne 3,580 YLs
24. Nat. Libourne 4,605 olds
27. Nat. Limoges II 10,783 YLs
27. Nat. Narbonne 3,580 YLs
28. Nat. Narbonne 3,580 YLs
30. Nat. Libourne 4,605 olds
33. Nat. Cahors 6,903 olds
54. Nat. Narbonne 3,580 YLs
56. Nat. Tulle 7,155 YLs
60. Nat. Limoges II 10,783 YLs
68. Nat. Tulle 7,155 YLs
69. Nat. Narbonne 3,580 YLs
84. Nat. Limoges II 9,661 olds
89. Nat. Narbonne 3,580 YLs
We have only included their national top 100 placings from 2019, because we think this overview says it all. The BDS racing lofts are home to a team of high quality birds, super class pigeons that were bred from a world class collection of bloodlines. That's right: champions breed champions, and ace pigeons breed ace pigeons. It is written in their genes, and these genes make up the BDS breeding loft.
It is also worth noting that Team BDS favours quality over quantity! We take a look at a few of the results in the different racing lofts:
01/6 Limoges I Nat 13,569 olds: 105-150-228-600… (8/11)
15/6 Cahors Nat 6,903 olds: 33 (1/4)
05/7 Limoges II Nat 9,661 olds: 84-230-745-780… (8/9)
05/7 Limoges II Nat 10,783 YLs: 27-60-327-818-820… (7/14)
21/7 Libourne Nat 4,605 olds: 30-141-158-487-622 (6/6)
21/7 Libourne Nat 4,354 YLs: 3-9-19-116-130… (7/8)
29/8 Narbonne Nat 3,580 YLs: 1-16-22-27-28-54-69-89… (27/48)
03/8 Tulle Nat 6,206 olds: 17-294-506-583… (6/7)
03/8 Tulle Nat 7,155 YLs: 18-20-68-145-200-225-327-372-444-1529 (10/10)
These fabulous results were won with a team of world class racing birds. These birds will be introduced in a next article, in which you will see that there is a definite link between the achievements in the racing lofts and the breeding lofts. The line of Kaasboer played a prominent role, and this line was crossbred with the strain of Rainman, with descendants of national winners of Rudi De Saer and Joël Verschoot, and with the best of Marc Pollin (more on that later).
Youngsters are the future
Their list of achievements clearly shows that team BDS is in full bloom. Their young racing team has already demonstrated their ability to compete against Belgium's finest long distance breeds. And this in turn indicates that their breeding strategy is on point. Given the young age of this long distance racing team, there is still plenty of room for improvement. We are not done yet with the future champions of Team BDS, which are highly talented and full of life, and ready to deliver again in 2020. The team's successful breeding strategy has clearly paid off. Well done!