What Gommaire has managed to book down over the years… borders on the impossible, performances which most fanciers can only dream about. Yet the pigeon sport has evolved strongly over the years… Gommaire began our pigeon chat. It is so… although it seems as though this evolution has had no effect on the performances achieved there in the Holleblokstraat, at the foot of the basilica of Scherpenheuvel! Gommaire is still the man of the ‘classics’… achieving accomplishments against the ‘greatest’ and ‘toughest’ opponents possible, it gave, and still gives him the ‘kick’ necessary to achieve exploding performances… of which the ‘maestro’ from Kaggevinne has booked down a lengthy series over the years! For the national ‘Bourges I’ at the end of May… followed 2 weeks later by the ‘semi-national’ Chateauroux… Gommaire prepared his troops… took the best of the bunch from the stables… managed to shine, often ‘dominate’! In-between all this his clappers also managed to often win in provincial or interprovincial classics from Vierzon, Orleans, Blois… to finally turn their attention to the national ‘Bourges 2’ at the end of July. Gommaire acquired ‘world fame’ in these classics… his exploits at that level were written about in great detail, and are known to all of us. In that time Gommaire liked to enter a team of about 10 pigeons for these classics… wherefrom he can produce several results with 4 to 5 pigeons within the ‘Top 100’ at provincial, semi-national or national level! ‘Memories’… seasoned with 36 x 1° provincial victories, a recital of semi-national victories, in addition to a 1° National Bourges 11.215 Yearlings ’06… a nice thing to dream about on a sunny winter’s day in a relaxing chair. Just like the exploits later from the long distance team… not only from Barcelona, but also by winning the 1° Nat Ace pigeon Long Distance KBDB 2007 with the ‘Nieuwe As 299/05’.
Building on a new team
But the times have changed… Gommaire has gone further: In the meantime our sport has undergone a real metamorphose at that level over the last decade… where you used to see a greater number of fanciers with a choice, in other words smaller or ‘select’ team of ‘top athletes’ passing along the basketting table… then you now see less participants, but with ‘bigger baskets’ filled with pigeons lining up for basketting. The game has evolved more and more and is based on success with the ‘mass’… as a result of which smaller racing lofts are as it were ‘blown away’ from the results… they don’t get noticed between the bigger lofts. A lot has also changed where the care and game is concerned… where we used to race our ‘widowers’ every 2 weeks (with a rust week between races), then the emergence of the game with the hens and the system of ‘total widowhood’ changed everything at that level… and the pigeons are entered almost every week for the 500 Km-races.
An evolution where you, as a topper so as Gommaire Verbruggen, have to make the choice… either you remain more or less stuck in your pattern… or you jump on the bandwagon which is carrying the ‘modernising’ in our sport! Gommaire is not the sort of person to shy away from challenges… but rather tries to attach his wagon. That’s why at the end of 2009 Gommaire decided to get rid of his entire racing team for the middle distance… and to start again in 2010 with a few youngsters. Gommaire is still a man of the ‘hard line’… his motto is play and prove! Being patient with the pigeons… is not necessary, says Gommaire… what good is soon happens, also by the long distance pigeons! A loft full of ‘eternal promise’ was never for him! Naturally the pigeons have to be optimally healthy… but then there only remains 1 thing… good food, tough training… and testing them to the full in the races! The sharpness of the knife at the end of it all… is the criterion for a colony in the ‘value scale’ at national level! It could be that the pigeons, through what we call the ‘modern approach’… unhook a year earlier at ‘top level’… but, according to Gommaire, this is not even a problem… you can use them a year longer in the breeding loft! It is how you look at it… For 2011 Gommaire now has a team of 80 yearlings ready, consisting of 39 cocks and 41 hens… these have been allowed to raise their young for the coming season. One often breeds one’s best pigeons from yearlings… says Gommaire. In this way I know have a nice team of youngsters ready… wherefrom the majority out ‘young blood’… which will later be tested out fully in a few top nationals for youngsters!
The old ‘success line’ still works…
When we ask Gommaire which breeding line is the best at the moment… he says clearly… that of the ‘Baron’. Although he immediately adds… it is also the line with which I have worked the longest with up until now… and stems out my old basis. In other words they are pigeons that Gommaire knows inside out… which hold no more secrets for him. Gommaire continues… ‘New’ recently introduced lines (including a.o. the super cracks ‘Ballon’ and the ‘Speedy’) also give me just as much hope… maybe there is even a chance that there are pigeons amongst them which will even equal or surpass the current ones in the future… but this is something we will see over a longer period, when these pigeons have had enough chances to make their mark in the further development of the colony over several years. To speak of a ‘breeding line’ there in Kaggevinne… certain pigeons have to produce ‘crack pigeons’ continuously for several years, and this preferably for a few generations in a row… so also out the children, grandchildren etc…
That’s the Gommaire we know… not as a man of many words and empty slogans… but as a man with ‘pigeon wisdom’, and a treasure house of ‘pigeon ingenuity’… who knows how it works, and is well-informed! For the building up of his loft is has always used ‘class pigeons’… pigeons for which even the citation ‘super crack’ doesn’t do justice. Remember the ‘As’… which produced world famous clappers so as the ‘Kletskop’, the ‘Teen’, the ‘Massis’, the ‘020’ and the ‘Kadet… feel free to call it a ‘world line’! It must be a relief for Gommaire, but also a ‘respite’… that it is still this success line… which, in the form of the ‘Baron’… still plays the leading role in the lofts in Kaggevinne. Let us take a closer look with a few examples:
-The ‘Baron’ B01-2137150
A real ‘super breeder’... and the current ‘Nr 1’ in the breeding lofts in Kaggevinne. This is proved in the results achieved by a few of his children up to provincial and national level:
Montluçon 3.656 p. 2 (543 Km) Bourges 6.226 p. 6 (471 Km) Orleans 1.810 p. 6 Sens 304 p. 7 (332 Km) Blois 2.836 p. 15 (461 Km) Argenton 1.727 p. 16 Chateauroux 6.280 p. 19 (521 Km) Bourges Nat 32.762 p. 20 Pithiviers 1.290 p. 23 (370 Km) Bourges Nat 12.898 p. 25 La Souterraine Nat 17.017 p. 42 (586 Km) Montluçon 7.366 p. 43 Bourges Nat 30.748 p. 61 Bourges 11.252 p. 216
There are also numerous good breeding pigeons by other fanciers, which were bred directly from this ‘Baron’. He is self a ‘grandson’ of the legendary ‘Kletskop 199/83’… you know, the world famous son of the top couple ‘Schilderij 262/79’ x ‘Klein Aske 021/77’ (daughter of the stock pigeon: the ‘As 035/72’… 1° Nat Ace pigeon Sprint KBDB ’74 and 17 x 1° prizes… x ‘Witpen Kranske 876/74’). This phenomenal top couple was a.o. parents of famous ‘super cracks’ so as:
-the ‘Kletskop 199/83’: 1° Prov Orleans 1.608 p. ’85, 1° Prov Blois 889 p. ’85, 1° Prov Orleans 759 p. ’86, 1° Semi-Nat Chateauroux 10.417 p…
-the ‘Teen 008/83’: 1° Intprov Vierzon 1.970 p. ’85, 9° Nat Bourges 13.053 p. ’86, 2° Semi-Nat Chateauroux 10.417 p. (after his own brother and loft companion (Kletskop’)
-the ‘Massis 256/86: 1° Semi-Nat Chateauroux 9.595 p. ’89, 5° Nat Bourges 13.154 p. ’88, 8° Semi-Nat Chateauroux 11.586 p. ‘88
-the ‘Blue Vansweevelt 063/81’: 1° Prov Orleans 2.414 p. (and fastest of the 5.300 participating pigeons), 1° Momignies, 1° Meaux, 1° Etampes etc…
Also pigeons so as the ‘Godfather 331/85’, the ‘Mazout 008/84’ (grandmother 2° Nat Ace pigeon Long Distance KBDB)… are creations from this wonder couple! And what if Gommaire had separated this famous breeding couple for a couple of seasons… although no-one will ever be able to say or prove it… whether or not this would have resulted in more ‘super pigeons’ of this calibre. They are all pigeons which, together with the equally unprecedented ‘020’ and the ‘Kadet 002/86’, have given the Gommaire Verbruggen colony ‘world fame’.
Let’s take a closer look at the pedigree of the current ‘Nr 1’ in the breeding lofts in Kaggevinne, namely the ‘Baron’.
Father: ‘Witpen Baron’ B90-2553359,
also a real super breeder, and both father and grandfather of an entire recital of extra racing and breeding pigeons. He is self a son of the ‘Kletskop 199/83’ x ‘Blue Baroneske 090/87’, self 1° Orleans 224 p., 9° St.Denis 961 p. (out the top couple ‘Favoriet 184/83’ x ‘Jonge Barones 345/84’ from Martin Dhondt)
Mother: ‘Donker Pootje’ B94-2061168,
daughter of the ‘Poot 399/88’ direct Gerard Van Cauwenberghe (and full brother of the ‘Uno’: winner 1° Nat Bourges YL ’89, 1° Prov Ace pigeon Middle Distance KBDB, and later star breeder by Raoul & Xavier Verstraete in Oostakker) x the ‘Donker Witoogske 025/92’ (one of the best breeding hens ever out the legendary ‘Blue 020’ 020/83).
Call it the ‘old strain’ Verbruggen with a back coupling to stock pigeon the ‘As’ (with lines ‘Kletskop’ x ‘020’) honoured with a touch of ‘strange blood’ of the first order. Not surprising then, that out such a breeding pigeon with such gene potential… new top pigeons were born, so as:
-‘Nana’ B03-2191008
Daughter of the ‘Baron 150/01’ x ‘Mother Nana 204/00’, half-sister of the 1° Nat Bourges 12.682 YL and 1° Semi-Nat Argenton 11.034 p. (as daughter of the super breeder ‘Walters Favorite 535/92’ x ‘Daughter Kadet 321/92’… daughter of the ‘Blue Kadet 002/86’, 2° Nat Bourges 13.154 p., 7° Nat Bourges 9.550 p… x ‘Beauty Kletskop 385/90’, daughter ‘Kletskop’). This ‘Nana’ performed as follows in 2004:
Pithiviers 19 519 p. 1 Blois Prov 2.770 p. 10 Argenton Prov 1.727 p. 16 Argenton S-Nat 6.334 p. 26 Bourges Nat Zone C 4.881 p. 28 Chateauroux S-Nat 13.791 p. 34
-‘Kleine Prins’ B10-2045101
Son of the ‘Baron 150/01’ x ‘Daughter Black Jack 568/08’… daughter of the ‘Olympiad pigeon All Round’ Ostend 2007 Paul Huls: ‘Black Jack 902/04’ (out the top breeding couple the ‘Monnik 326/99’ x ‘Kannibolleke 992/00, daughter ‘Kannibaal’ Van Dyck) x ‘Klein Dirkske 25506’, direct Dirk Van Dyck (out the ‘Kannibaal 005/95’ x ‘Sister Rambo 984/97’). The apple didn’t fall far from the tree with this ‘Kleine Prins’ either… in 2010 he won as a youngster a.o.
Soissons 1.281 p. 1 Pithiviers 716 p. 5 Vierzon C.O. 2.457 p. 34 Soissons 971 p. 57 Bourges Nat 30.748 p. 61 Soissons 1.362 p. 96
-The ‘Prinseske’ B10-2045102
Own nest sister of the ‘Kleine Prins’. She also performed excellently up to national level with
La Souterraine Nat 17.017 p. 42
As shown in all the information and performances above, the line of the ‘Baron’ is a breeding line which knows what ‘front racing’ is all about. Gommaire Verbruggen doesn’t call the ‘Baron’ the ‘best breeder’ at the moment for nothing. The ancient ‘Kletskop line’… still works… is still ‘top’, for now almost 30 continuous years! No wonder that this family is considered as one of the best breeding lines ever, out our international pigeon sport… in the races of the ‘grand middle distance’ to the ‘light long distance’! They also immediately formed the cornerstones for the formation of a new team of star racers in the provincial and national ‘grand middle distance’ in our country. If you ask us… it seems as if the Verbruggen-team is ready to cause fireworks once again in 2011!
