Times have changed. Since they moved to Kruishoutem Eddy & Maarten have a lot less space than they used to have. So they race with a much smaller team of racers as well, but that does not make them less successful as they get the best out of them. They started the season with 15 racing cocks (8 old birds and 7 yearlings) and 12 racing hens (2 old birds and 10 yearlings). In addition 30 youngsters will be raced this season. That is not much, but they are all very talented pigeons.
The reason is that they have a great team of breeding pigeons in Kruishoutem, an invaluable pool of talent provided by grandmaster Eddy Leutenez. Throughout his career he has always managed to get a hold of first class pigeons. He had a feel for it and he knows how to find talent. This also proves that you do not need a lot of pigeons to be at the top of the game of pigeon racing. It comes down to having a few exceptional pigeons that form the basis for the breeding of the family of pigeons. It is also important to set goals for your team. It is up to Maarten to get the most out of his top class pigeons. This weekend the present day Leutenez pigeons have showed their strength with two important victories: first of all the from national Brive, where seven old birds were entered and performed as follows:
Brive Loc 279 olds: 1-2-37-41-56 (5/7)
Intprov 626 olds: 1-11… (5/7)
Nat 11,130 olds: 13-68… (5/7)
It was his first nominated bird which took a fantastic victory from Brive: Goudhaantje. This cock has already won several top prizes, which you can find below:
-Goudhaantje BE09-4077273
Brive Intprov 626 p. 1
Nat 11,130 p. 13
Clermont Loc 420 p. 2
Argenton I Loc 316 p. 3
Nat. 19,816 p. 72
Arras 227 p. 5
Chateauroux II Intprov 1,110 p. 18
Nat. 22,718 p. 102
Blois Intprov 5,142 p. 43
Chateauroux I Intprov 440 p. 9
Nat. 20,517 p. 110
You can find the full performance list here.
His forefathers were very talented as well: father and mother were purchased as young birds from the loft of Marc De Cock in Temse and they belong to a family of top pigeons:
Sire: Federer BE08-4347712… a grandson of the Dream Couple De Rauw-Sablon, a son of Albert x Paola
Dam: Siska BE08-4347741… a granddaughter of Milan, which was one of the last champions in the old Leutenez lofts in Semmerzake. Winner of for instance 1st Interprov. Blois 2,474 pigeons and 6th National Argenton 17,129 pigeons.
You can find the full pedigree of this pigeon here
Federer and Siska are a promising breeding couple and have already bred these birds:
-Alejandro BE09-4077218
46th Nat Chateauroux II 22,718 p. 95th Nat Chateauroux I 14,145 p. 151st N.Zone A Argenton 8,004 p. 237th Nat Souillac 5,667 p. 315th Nat Bourges II 14,145 p.
-Broer Goudhaantje BE09-4077274
94th N.Zone A Bourges 3,200 p.
That same Federer was also coupled to another hen, which makes him father of:
-Fed Express BE10-4007927
6th Ablis 156 p. 8th Clermont 217 p. 16th Intprov La Chatre 937 p.
-Het 856 BE10-4007856
25th Intprov Blois 1,701 p.
The loft of Eddy & Maarten did a great job as well in the interprovincial Guldensporenvlucht from Blois: they took an interprovincial win and seven prizes with 11 pigeons. These are the results:
Blois Lok 238 yearlings: 1-6-21-23-47-49-74 (7/11)
Intprov 1,522 yearlings: 1-56-125-136-242-247-431 (7/11)
The winning pigeon from Blois was the excellent yearling Basiel, which is winner of:
-Basiel BE11-4263939
Blois YL Intprov 1,522 p. 1 Blois Oude Intprov 1,306 p. 5 Chateauroux Intprov 885 p. 7 Tours Intprov 3,634 p. 38 Tours Intprov 2,355 p. 46 etc…
He is a direct Jose De Noyette (Ooike) where he was raced as a youngster. By the end of the season he was transferred to the lofts of Eddy & Maarten Leutenez to join their team of yearlings for 2012. There he proved his value after his interprovincial win in the Guldensporenvlucht last weekend. He stems from the same line as Bolleken, which was purchased two years ago together with its parents. Eddy & Maarten bought these birds from Jose.
Sire: Halfbrother Bolleken BE07-4348505… obviously a half brother of the super pigeon Bolleken: a son of Rita BE05-4159707, this time coupled to De Poot BE06-4211141. Rita is also mother of:
-Het Bolleken: 1st Intprov Tours 2,257 p., 8th Intprov Tours 2,045 p.
-Cancellara: 4th Intprov Blois 3,683 p., 15th Intprov Tours 2,357 p.
She is also grandmother of a long list of top class pigeons including Bolleke National, Bolleke Tours, Bolleke Bourges, Bolleke Crack (with a 41st Nat Argenton 22,384 pigeons and 43rd Nat Chateauroux 15,902 pigeons in 2012) and of course Basiel. Feel free to take a look at their list of achievements in one of our previous reports on the Leutenez family.
Dam: Dochter Zwartje 712 BE06-4211137… herself winner of for instance 6th Clermont against 1,014 pigeons and 15th interprov Tours against 1,799 pigeons.
It is clear that this team is in a great shape and they have great prospects for the classics in following weeks. Eddy & Maarten Leutenez, a name to remember!