Third time's the charm
After Dirk, racing under the name of BDS/Speybroeck, has won several provincial and zonal victories in the past season...and has been close to the national victory, he now stand on the highest podium spot himself. After years of successful and dominant pigeon racing, this is the cherry on top. He has completed the 'National podium' after winning 1st Nat. Issoudun, 2nd Nat. Brive and 3rd Nat. Aurillac. After zilver and brons, he finally takes gold!
Issoudun Club 258 Yearlings: 1-15-17-21-44-52… (14)
National 12,349 Yearlings: 1-325-426-784-3010
After racing partner Piet Blancke of Team BDS took 1st Nat. Agen 4,405 Old birds and 1st Internat. Agen 4,269 Hens in '17 and 1st Narbonne 3,580 Yearlings in '19 in Ruiselede, this is the fourth 1st (Inter)national victory in 5 years time for Team BDS. Sensational!
On the first national race of 2022, BDS/Speybroeck won 1st Nat. Zone A2 Bourges against 2,996 yearlings. A sign of the class that that the yearlings team in Vinkt has in store.
Fabio wins 1st National Issoudun
Just like the 1st Nat. Narbonne at Piet Blancke, this 1st National victor, Fabio, descends from the Cees line of Joël Verschoot. He can join in the celebrations, just as Rudi Desaer and Jo Bauters. The father of this national winner is son of Fabian (1st Nat. Poitiers at Jo Bauters) paired to super breeder Blue Antonio at Team BDS (a daughter of Antonio - Rudi Desear: winner of 1st Nat. Souillac). Whilst the mother is a direct Joël Verschoot pigeon; a daughter of Cees (1st Nat. Brive) paired to Zody (a daughter of 1st Nat. Agen at Joël).
In short, this recent national winner on Issoudun is a crossing between 4 x 1st National winners. Moreover, grandmother Blue Antonia BE13-3076220 became stock hen at the lofts of Team BDS. She is mother and grandmother of countless 1st prize winners, as well as the 6th Nat. Ace Pigeon Allround KBDB 2017 (with Speedo Girl 045/15: also winner of 1st Prov. Argenton, 19th Nat. Limoges 9,162 p., 20th Nat. Jarnac 3,904 p., 54th Nat. Chateauroux 20,437 p., etc.), the 14th Nat. Ace Pigeon Long Distance KBDB 2017 (with Perfect Blue 132/16: winner of 15th Nat. Tulle 9,578 p., 17th Nat Jarnac 5,371 p., 95th Nat. Limoges 10,554 d., etc…) and many more. A mighty breeding hen that now resides in the land of rising sun.
Furthermore, the mother of Fabio, Dochter Cees BE15-3006209, is also mother of Ace Verschoot: 11th Nat. Ace Pigeon Long Distance YL KBDB 2019 and 5th Best YL in Belgium across 3 National races (PIPA Ranking)...with 9th Nat. Libourne 4,354 p., 27th Nat. Limoges 10,783 p. and 68th Nat. Tulle 7,155 p. Father of Fabio, Fabian 497 BE15-3109497, is also father to 1st Prov. Limoges 3,037 p. and 16th Nat. Limoges 15,797 p., 5th Prov. Chateauroux 3,084 p., 5th Prov. Argenton 3,068 p. etc..
The apple didn't fall far from this legendary tree. Fabio is once again proof that winners are bred from winners.
What makes the story of Fabio even more beautiful, is that he is a summer youngster from 2021. With this National victory on Issoudun he immediately hits the jackpot!
- Fabio BE21-3099103
1st Nat. Issoudun 12,349 YL ’22
181st Prov. Chateauroux 7,286 p. ’22 – 120th Prov 4.726 YL
27th Clermont 574 p. – 20th Clermont 423 p.
He also has several prizes on Clermont, Fontenay and Chateaudun. Despite the little to no experience as a youngster (summer youngster 2021), he doesn't disappoint as a yearling. Quality always comes first.
Pigeons split between Tulle and Issoudun
Due to the poor weather forecast, Dirk split his yearling team between Issoudun and Tulle. The pigeons with the least experience went to Issoudun, whilst 4 yearlings were basketed for Tulle, to not have all eggs in one basket. The old cocks were also basketed on Tulle. Just before publishing this article we were informed of the (preliminary) national results:
Tulle Nat 6,842 YL: 260-566-1088-1091 (4/4) arriving in the exact order they were nominated.
Tulle Nat. 9,763 Old birds: 43-419-1154-1732-1913 (5/8).
The first pigeons to arrive in Vinkt from Tulle was star racer 'Bronze Aurillac' BE19-3039286, who previously won 3rd Nat. Aurillac 3,004 p. and now winner of 43rd Nat. Tulle 9,763 p.
There was also a strong performance on Tulle by team member BDS/Clarisse with 2 pigeons in the National Top 100: 9-91-780-1497 against 9,763 Old birds (4/5), and 97-132...National against 6,842 YL (5/2).
Hard work pays off
For Dirk Speybroeck, this national victory is the highlight of his impressive pigeon racing career. A reason for a party, one would think. This was unfortunately not the case as Dirk was expected for a planned surgical operation hours after the arrival of his national winner. As far as we have heard, everything went as planned. A huge congratulations to Dirk and Team BDS for this new national victory, and we wish Dirk a quick recovery!