A decade of top results thanks to Rocket and Witbuik bloodline
Peter's successful career in pigeon racing can be mainly attributed to two invaluable bloodlines: Rocket and Witbuik. Dragon Rocket was obtained from M. van Gastel (Roosendaal, NL) in the end of 1999, and he was added to the breeding team straight away. He is a son of Rocket, the best sprint pigeon of 1999 for WHZB. Witbuik comes from B. Kools (St. Willebrord, NL), and he showed his potential as a racing bird by winning several first prizes. He was also among the best ace pigeons in the Entente three years in a row. He was then transferred to the breeding loft as well, where he gave birth to several talented racing birds in his very first year, including a 3rd NPO Le Mans. You can read Witbuik's history here. Dragon Rocket did great in his first season as a breeder as well, giving birth to Golddigger (2nd Nat. Ace Pigeon), winner of several first prizes. Several teletext pigeons followed in his path, including the winner of a 3rd NPO Etampes.
But in 2006 Peter decided to get rid of his entire pigeon collection, except for a few youngsters and Witbuik. The auction proved a major success, and the young birds that were kept in the team did great towards the end of the season, winning a 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 6th Ace Pigeon in Province Brabant 2000. Breeding bird Witbuik fertilized a pair of eggs for the last time in 2008, and from one of these eggs came Young Witbuik. Peter continued his journey with his youngsters of 2006 and with this Young Witbuik. He was able to breed several talented pigeons by crossing the different descendants of Dragon Rocket and Witbuik. Such pigeons as Young Witbuik, Supergirl, Golden Canonball, Miss Goldnugget, Rocketeer, Golden Bingo and his top pair Super Rossi x Miss Goldmine have given numerous prize winners over the years. And Peter has gained some excellent results by crossing his pigeons with some of the best bloodlines from Belgium and The Netherlands; even the third and fourth generation of youngsters appear to be just as talented as their illustrious predecessors.
The 2017 season
The year 2017 was another memorable season, with excellent results both in Peter's own loft and in the partnering loft of Jan Timmermans (Donkerbroek). Peter, who races in Province 2 (Brabant), has been working closely together with Jan Timmermans (Province 11, Friesland), who races exclusively with Peter's pigeons. The reason is simple: Peter wanted to test his pigeons in two different locations that were at least 200km apart. His loft is located more towards the east, which is a rather unfavourable location, with the wind usually coming from the west. Jan's loft has a better geographical location, more towards the west.
Peter and Jan are in contact with each other pretty much all year round. The pigeons in both these lofts eat a mixture that Peter created and tested himself over the years: Embregts-Theunis Championmix and NPO mix. The same feed is used throughout the year, in the racing, the breeding and the moulting season. Here is a look at the best young birds' results of last season (in both Peter and Jan's racing loft):
Peter in Hoeven (click here for all the championships - click here for all the first prizes of 2017) Lessines 111 km 1.537 p.: 2-4-5-9-11-13-14-15-17-18-20-21-22-28-29-30-31-32-33-34- 35-36-38-39-58-60-61-62-64-etc.(122/43) Quievrain 142 km 1.496 p.: 1-2-13-14-15-16-18-20-21-28-29-30-31-44-48-53-54-57-69- 70-74-82-84-85-86-89-93-95-etc.(106/45) Morlincourt 248 km 1.294 p.: 2-3-4-16-20-24-26-30-31-33-53-55-62-68-71-75-etc.(102/43) Creil 298 km 1.316 p.: 3-4-12-14-15-17-18-19-23-27-28-29-30-32-35-36-37-43-51- 60-61-65-67-69-72-73-74-75-76-etc.(102/64) Pt.St.Maxence 289 km 1.005 p.: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15-16-18-19-20-25-26-27- 28-34-37-41-43-44-47-55-57-58-59-63-etc.(98/51) Fontenay sur Eure 417 km 737 p.: 1-2-3-4-5-6-9-10-12-13-15-16-17-20-21-30-31-33-34-37-40- 42-55-56-58-etc.(91/50) Jan in Donkerbroek (click here for all the championships) Gorinchem 157 km 19,430 p.: 4-6-7-etc. (31/93) Heusden 229 km 2,062 p.: 6-16-24-33-34-37-38-etc. (50/85) Heusden 229 km 13,858 p.: 2-22-83-87-90-etc. (49/85) Quievrain 340 km 13,332 p.: 1-12-14-15-18-21-36-etc. (58/81 Niergnies 382 km 11,597 p.: 7-33-34-41-42-43-58-etc. (58/78) Morlincourt 446 km 7,577 p.: 8-14-31-33-36-etc. (55/73) Gennep 151 km 13,998 p.: 2-4-5-6-8-9-11-20-etc. (44/72) Gennep 151 km 4,203 p.: 43-47-51-53-56-58-62-64-66-etc. (55/72)
Most if not all of these top results stem from the enormous breeding potential of Young Witbuik, Supergirl, Golden Canonball, Miss Goldnugget, Rocketeer, Dragon Rocket, Golden Bingo and the top pair Super Rossi x Miss Goldmine. Three youngsters of Super Rossi have won the following prizes as young birds last year alone:
NL17-3715065: with 1st Quievrain 5,214 p., 2nd Lessines 4,550 p. NL17/3715057: 3rd Pont-St.-Max. 3,462 p., 11th Lessines 4,550 p., 23nd Creil 1,316 p. NL17-3715027: 17th Lessines 4,550 p., 21e Quievrain 1,496 p., 28th Pont-St.-Max. 1,005 p.
Click on the ring numbers for their respective pedigrees.
We zoom in on some of the stars that have really left their mark on this pigeon family in recent years.
NL08-1650231 Young Witbuik
Like we said, Young Witbuik is the last youngster of Witbuik - click here for his pedigree. Young Witbuik went straight to the breeding loft, where he became the sire of Miss Goldnugget in 2010 (6th NPO Orleans 8,136 p. and 5th Ace Pigeon Brabant 2000). In 2012 he bred bred Blue Star, a top class racing hen and winner of a 1st Ace Pigeon Brabant 2000 and the title of Golden Crack FZN in her year of birth. Blue Star then went on to breed several first prize winners as well. Another youngster of Young Witbuik did great in 2016, winning a 3rd NPO Tongeren.
Miss Goldnugget turned out to be an excellent breeding hen as well: she became the dam of Super Rossi (10 x 1st prize), Space Girl (3rd NPO Sezanne), Brother Super Rossi (11th Nat. Chateauroux) and Valentino (1st of 8,000 p.). In 2012 she bred three sisters that were promising breeders as well. Unfortunately she passed away after laying her first egg of 2013, and this youngster was Last Son Goldnugget (a full brother of Super Rossi). The youngsters of Miss Goldnugget turned out to be excellent breeders as well:
Space Girl : dam of 5th NPO Argenton, 2nd NPO Orleans and 9th NPO Chateauroux. Miss Rocket : dam of New Goldstar, 1st NPO Fontenay and Fast Jewel, 5th Ace Pigeon Brabant 2000 Beauty Nugget : dam of Amazing Nugget, 3rd Ace Pigeon YBs WHZB
NL11-3024467 Space Girl
Space Girl, which is a daughter of Miss Goldnugget and a half sister of Super Rossi, has played an important role in Peter's lofts as well. She wins a 3rd NPO Sezanne (12,647 p.) and a 7th Nijvel (9,507 p.). Click here for her pedigree. Space Girl is now the dam of:
Space Boy : 2nf NPO Orleans 7,795 p.
4th Houdeng 6,459 p.
Space Star : 3rd Asduif Fond R2 Brabant 2000
Bingo Star : 5th NPO Argenton 5,608 p.
Bingo Girl : 7th Nanteuil 1,595 p.
12th Sens 4,900 p.
New Nugget : 8th Morlincourt 1,805 p.
10th St. Quentin 19,196 p.
Dragon Star 9th Npo/Nat Chateroux 3,817 p.
10th Creil 1,516 p.
21st Creil 4,225 p.
26th St, Quentin 1,880 p.
34th St.Quentin 1,896 p.
48th St.Quentin 5,539 p.
54th Mourlincourt 1,805 p.
56th S.Quentin 19,196 p.
61st Npo/Nat Creil 14,578 p.
5th Ace Pigeon Brabant 2000 R2
6th Ace Pigeon Brabant 2000
And the dam/grandmother of:
4th Gennep 13,822 p.
5th Sittard 16,739 p.
9th Chateauroux 3,828 p.
1st Orleans 1,652 p.
3rd Fontenay 737 p.
11th Npo Orleans 5,116 p.
12th Fontenay 2,943 p.
14th Queivrain 2,419 p.
36th Lessines 4,550 p.
40th Queivrain 8,257 p.
45th Orleans 2,386 p.
50th Pt St Maxcence 1,005 p.
69th Npo Fontenay 9,425 p.
2end Golden Crack FZN
48th Ace Pigeon Brabant 2000
NL12-3254827 Miss Rocket
Miss Rocket is another grandchild of Young Witbuik. She is a daughter of Blue Rocket and of the outstanding breeder Miss Goldnugget. Her sire Blue Rocket won a 4th National Orleans (13,186 p.), and a title of 4th Golden Crack FZN. Click here for the pedigree of Miss Rocket. Miss Rocket is now the dam of:
New Goldstar : 1st NPO Fontenay 7,858 p.
9th Morlincourt 1,805 p.
9th Creil 1,516 p.
10th Morlincourt 5,188 p.
Fast Jewel : 1st Ace Pigeon Sprint CC de Westhoek
NL11-3024491 Super Rossi
Super Rossi and a few of his youngsters
Peter believes he has never had a more talented pigeon in his collection than Super Rossi. He currently has 15 direct youngsters in his breeding loft, and today he is the sire or grandfather of an impressive 20 first prize winners. Click here for an overview of those first prizes. Like we said earlier, Miss Goldnugget is the dam of Super Rossi. The sire is Young Rossi (Leo Heremans), and he comes from Nieuwe Rossi x Een Oogje. Click here for Super Rossi's full pedigree. Here are his best results as a racing bird before he joined the breeding loft:
1st Creil 7,696 p. (and 2nd 26,452 p.) 3rd Nijvel 9,507 p. 3rd St. Quentin 8,115 p. 3rd Peronne 5,316 p. (and 4th 19,915 p.) 6th Pithiviers 4,147 p. 11th NPO St. Quentin 28,981 p. 12th Sens 4,279 p.
NL13-3316555 Last Lady
Last Lady is the last daughter from Rocketeer, a son of Dragon Rocket. This Rocketeer has bred Last Lady (46th Nat. Ace Pigeon WHZB) and numerous other prize winners:
Goldspice Girl : 3rd Nat. Orleans 19,692 p. Blue Rocket : 4th Nat. Orleans 13,186 p. Golden Power : 1st St. Quentin 2,011 p. Golden Canonball : 11th Nat. Orleans 16,382 p. He is also the grandfather of a 1st Nat. Orleans (13,186 p.), and a 9th Nat. Orleans (19,692 p.) As well as a 1st, 3rd and 12th Nat. Orleans (5,179 p.)
The dam of Last Lady is Zottelien, and she is a direct daughter of Rappe Zot (1st National Bourges, 15,508 p.) of Op de Beeck-Baetens (Putte, BE). Click here for the full pedigree of Last Lady.
These are the team's most valued breeding birds. Now let's take a a closer look at the racing birds that have been winning top prizes for Peter Theunis in recent years.
NL13-3337856 Miss Goldmine
Peter is always looking for new top pigeons to cross with his own breed, and a good example of such a pigeon is Super Rossi, which we talked about earlier. Super Rossi is a son of Jong Rossi (Leo Heremans) x Miss Goldnugget (Young Witbuik). Super Rossi is not the only Heremans pigeon that was introduced here. The pigeon depicted above, Miss Goldmine, is a 50% Heremans pigeon. Her pedigree includes such renowned bloodlines as Den 44, Rossi and Spinneke. The dam of Miss Goldmine is Sister Jani, and she is a sister of Jani (1st Prov. Bourges 4,555 p.) of Marina Van de Velde (Grobbendonk, BE). Click here for the pedigree of Miss Goldmine. She was obtained as an egg from Mario and Axel Verschueren (Zoersel, BE) from a pair that Peter had created himself. This pair has also bred Super Mario (1st WHZB) for A. Smits (Zundert, NL). Here are some of the best results of Miss Goldmine:
1st Orleans 1,983 p. 1st Creil 2,431 p. 13th Nat Orleans 6,850 p. 13th Morlincourt 12,241 p. 16th Nat. Orleans 4,229 p. 17th Creil 10,991 p.
NL14-1431623 Mystery Rocket
Mystery Rocket is a perfect example of Peter's successful breeding strategy: combining the bloodlines of his own breed with some of the most renowned Belgian and Dutch pigeons. The sire of Mystery Rocket is a grandson of the aforementioned Rocketeer (Son Home Alone x the dam of Wonderduifje) of Ad Schaerlaeckens (Baarle-Nassau, NL). The dam of Mystery Rocket is a daughter of top breeder Young Witbuik x Dark Mistery of P. & J. Roziers (Bevel, BE). Click here for the full pedigree of Mystery Rocket. Here are the best results of Mystery Rocket:
1st Morlincourt 1,507 p. 2nd NPO Morlincourt 6,663 p. 4th Nat. S. 4 Morlincourt 12,676 p. 4th Prov. La Louviere 18,551 p.
NL15-3530490 Magic Dragon
Among the best results of Magic Dragon are a 44th NPO Fontenay (7,863 p.) and a 45th NPO Morlincourt (17,386 p.), which resulted in the following titles:
1st Ace Pigeon CC de Westhoek 2nd Ace Pigeon Fondunie 3rd Ace Pigeon Brabant 2000
This is another example of a successful crossing. The great-grandfather of Magic Dragon through both its parents is Peter's very own Rocketeer. And this pigeon is related to the foreign bloodlines of Fientje (the dam of a 9th Nat. Orleans 19,692 p.) of Davy Tournelle (Rummen, BE) and Schoon Zabelke (4th Int. Prov. La Souterraine and the dam of a 1st Nat. Orleans (5,180 p.) of Johnny Jonckers (Drieslinter, BE). Click here for the pedigree of Magic Dragon.
NL16-1623587 National Miracle
National Miracle did what her predecessors had done previously: winning a national top result. She did great in the national race from Chateauroux:
1st Chateauroux 1,066 p. 3rd Nat. Sec. Chateauroux 7,775 p. 4th Nat. Chateauroux 37,794 p.
The pedigree of National Miracle features quite a number of pigeons, mainly from the line of De Rocketeer, and each one of them has one or more national top result to his name. Here a few examples:
Rocketeer : 1st Ace Pigeon Brabant 2000
Super Bingo : sire of 3rd NPO Creil
Nanda : 1st Orleans 4,482 p.
Golden Canonball : 11th Nat. Sens
Golden Canon : 3rd Nat. Orleans 5,180 p.
Blue Miracle : 7th Nat. Orleans 7,795 p.
Amazing Bingo : 10th NPO Morlincourt 17,385 p.
: 24th Nat. Ace Pigeon WHZB
Click here to find out more about the pedigree of National Miracle.
NL17-3714984 Maximal Rocket
The last highlight in the success story of the Rocket and Witbuik bloodline comes from Maximal Rocket. This promising young racing bird was the best young bird sprint in The Netherlands (4 prizes) in the PIPA ranking, after winning the following prizes:
3rd Quievrain 142 km 8,257 p. 12th Peronne 216 km 11,758 p. 19th Morlincourt 248 km 15,027 p. 16th Pt. St. Maxence 289 km 11,447 p.
The sire of Maximal Rocket is Maximus of Frans Maris (Itegem, BE). He is a son of the 1st National Argenton (3,660 p). The dam of Maximal Rocket is Wonder Woman, and she is another granddaughter of Rocketeer. She is an important breeder in Peter's lofts, and she is the dam of of Wounded Rocket (2nd Nat/NPO Orleans 3,128 p.) and Avatar (1st NPO Quievrain 13,331 p.). Click here for the pedigree of Maximal Rocket.
The Rocket- and Witbuik bloodline continue to lead to great results for Peter and many other fanciers
Witbuik and Dragon Rocket came into the team in the late 1990s, and the first top results would follow soon. We are now almost 20 years later and the descendants of these very pigeons continue to achieve great results in The Netherlands. Peter has bred six national first prize winners in his loft:
1st Nationaal Bourges 1st Nationaal Bourges 1st Nationaal Orleans 13,186 p. (fastest of 58,925 p.) 1st NPO Fontenay 7,858 p. 1st NPO Orleans 5,180 p. (bred by Peter, raced by A.Smits Zundert) 1st NPO Quievrain 13,331 p. (bred by Peter, raced by J & S Timmermans Donkerbroek)
And other fanciers have done great at national level with these descendants as well:
1st NPO Orleans 9,142 p. Ludo Claessens Putte 1st NPO Argenton 4,563 p. J de Ritter Hoek 1st NPO Epernay 7,284 p. Jan van de Putten Handel 1st NPO Poitiers 3,376 p. Jan van Wanrooij Breda 1st NPO Orleans 9,372 p. Mark Palinck Hoeven 1st Nat. Maidstone Adam Thomas Wales
Countless victories have been won between Witbuik's first top results (the late 1990s) and Maxim Rocket's racing career (Best young bird in The Netherlands 2017 PIPA ranking). The name of Embreghts-Theunis has continued to appear in different national championships.