The least we can say is that Francis Franssen is not the kind of fancier to be easy going with his pigeons. Last week, his yearling team had to race the very difficult national of Brive, a race where the pigeons had to fly in heat with a serious north-east wind. And to add some difficulties, Francis is living in the extreme eastern part of Belgium while most of the pigeons entered in the race were from the west and the centre of Belgium. Here is a balance of the results won on Brive:
23/06 Brive (688 km) Prov - 322 yearlings: 2, 3, 13, 16, 23, 26, 29, 33, 34, 35, ... (28/55)
Brive Zonal - 404 yearlings: 1, 2, 8, 12, 20, 24, 28, 32, 33, 34, 37, 39, 40, ... (27/55)
For Francis, it has been very important to let his yearlings fly in these kind of races because they have to learn to fly apart from the masses and if possible alone. This skill will be very useful for them for their further career in the extreme long distance races and if possible for Barcelona. For their manager, the long distance races reserved for the yearlings are helping him to select the strongest pigeons from his breed. Moreover, it is an excellent preparation for the final test of their season: Narbonne.
A strategy that pays off
Francis is also really happy with his performance because his two first clocked pigeons are direct descendants of his current two main breeders: the St-Vincent (1st national St-Vincent 3,132p. '14) & Origui (2nd national Agen 3,180p. '14) which are also two full brothers. After their top performances in 2014, Francis decided to resist the offers he received and he wisely placed them into the breeding loft. Four years later, two of their grandchildren are now booking a fantastic performance from Brive.
Used as basic breeders, Francis quickly went to purchase several hens from good blood o be paired with these two fantastic cocks. The largest part of their youngsters was directly put to the breeding loft, which means Francis is willing to in vest in long term performances. The results booked last weekend from Brive is the proof that his breeding strategy is working. We are really happy for him that he can now enjoy it!
Let's now have a look on the two first pigeons clocked from Brive:
- Miss Brive (BE17-1097118)
1. Brive zonal - 404 p. '18 288. National - 4,384 p. 219. Andrezel provincial - 1,335 p. '18 280. Châteauroux I zonal - 2,200 p. '18
Click here to check her pedigree.
- Mister Brive (BE17-1097092)
2. Brive zonal - 404 p. '18 (after loftmate) 294. National - 4,384 p. 150. Châteauroux I zonal - 2,200 p. '18 2524. National - 27,081 p. 61. Bourges provincial - 416 p. '18 102. National Zone - 1,000 p.
Click here to check his pedigree.
Francis, we would like to congratulate you on this super performance booked from Brive and we wish you good luck for the rest of the season.