We already introduced him on PIPA after the 2015 season as this young fancier just booked his first ranking in the KBDB chamionships, three years after a fresh new start on his current location. Gregory classified himself as 13th national champion ELD KBDB as well as 11th national ace bird ELD KBDB with the '392/12' (BE12-9056392) who is just a full brother of the '658', the brand new 8th national ace pigeon ELD KBDB this year…
The man and his pigeons…
Gregory is now aged of 40 years. Maried and father of three young kids, he works as a train driver. In the winter, he tries to work as much as possible so he gets enough free time during the racing season to take care of his birds. As a former runner (his personnal record on the 10 km is 31 minutes), he always wanted to use his experience on this domain in the pigeon sport. He directly fixed his main goals while he moved to his current place, which says a lot regarding his ambitions. Gregory already had a strong experience in pigeon sport as he comes from a family of real pigeon fanciers, his father and his grandfather are still racing nowadays.
The main characteristic in the daily management on his lofts consists on the severity. Above 600 km, the pigeons shouldn't miss their prize. And it starts at the age of one year, the only exception being that they get one more chance in case of failure on two 600 km races. Then they have to fix the bill on Narbonne, their last chance, otherwise Gregory is totally ruthless. The yearlings are raced on celibacy: they never see a hen and they are only motivated with their territorium. The best ones will be kept as two years old and they will be entered on Pau and St-Vincent. The less we can say is that these two races have been really successful for Grégory over the last two years. The pigeons from the same loft are basketted on the same race. Gregory likes the races from the ouest flying line of France the most, St-Vincent being his favourite one. He always goes to the club with the best pigeons he has for this race… But it doesn't prevent him to shine on some other races from the international calendar.
To achieve good results, you better reach a form peak on the right moment and then you better keep it as long as possible. In the start of the season, the pigeons are only out for training once a day, and they eat a light mixture with 50% of Vandenabeele and 50% of Energy, always from Beyers. It's also important to know that the cocks are basketted without any form of motivation at this time. They will only see their hen before the basketting of Limoges. Then, the situation changes quite a bit: they can fly around twice a day and the mixture they are receving is more rich with more phats and proteins. The pigeons are then ready to face the most demanding races from the Belgian calendar.
Regarding the medical guidance, the pigeons are of course vaccinated as they also receive something against the pox. Then, nothing is done if it's not necessary. Gregory doesn't like the blind cures but he does use the yellow drops on the food, each thursday of the racing season. For the trichomoniasis and the coccidiosis, they only proceed to a cure after a positive testing. After the racing campaign, the pigeons are not breeding: they are paired up after Perpignan then separated before the start of the winter. By the way, they are never breeding, not even before the season. They are just paired up during a few days and the eggs from the best are moved under feeding pairs.
Despite what is usually done in such case, Gregory likes to race his young birds. They are darkened and the cocks are even basketted for Bourges while the hens have to fly all the national races. This allows him to have a better selection for his yearling team and Gregory limits the amount of birds he keeps during the winter. Another good thing is that he can also directly test the quality of his breeders.
Results 2019
Narbonne 3873 vieux National : 10, 113, 231, 278, 296, 316, 374 (7/11) Provincial : 1, 12, 29, 36, 39, 42, 50… Narbonne 3580 yearlings National : 173 et 277 (2/2) Provincial : 7 et 19 St-Vincent 2949 vieux National : 18, 85, 106, 242 (7/8) Provincial : 4, 6, 7, 15, 21, 28, 34… Pau 2797 vieux National : 21, 41 (5/13) Provincial: 1, 2, 14, 23, 43, 53, 55, ... Agen 3935 vieux National : 78, 243, 305, 326, 335 (8/11) Provincial: 4, 12, 14, 16, 17, 35, 43, 49, ... Perpignan 3915 vieux National : 233 (4/5) Provincial: 19, 46, 71, 72, ...
A fantastic breeding pair
Gregory has been lucky enough to discover a fantastic breeding pair right from the start. Everything that comes out of this pair is born to win. We think about the BE17-1010658 who became the 8th National Ace Bird Extreme Long Distance KBDB in 2019 as well as the BE12-9056392, 11th National Ace Bird Extreme Long Distance KBDB in 2015 but also the 1st National Zone Bourges against 8.545 youngsters in 2019 (10th national 28.446 pigeons) for the combination Claes father & son (Taintignies), etc. These two top breeders are either parents or grandparents of no less than 85 prizes above 600 km for Gregory including several national top 100 positions.
Click here to see his pedigree.
The father is the BE10-9036292 called Le Rouge and he was born out of a crossing between a cock from Marcel Vandenabeele (BE09-4222532), a grandson of the 2. Limoges National ‘02, and an original hen from Houfflijn, Stella (BE04-4167658), a half-sister of the Red Barcelona, 40. & 45. National Barcelona.
The hen is the BE10-9107889, the Bleue Didi, daughter of the DV07883-08-3746 Etienne Devos, grandson of the worldfamous Didi, 1st National Ace Pigeon Extreme Long Distance KBDB ‘97, and of the BE07-2104190, original Marcel Aelbrecht out of the line from Miss Joyce, top breeding hen for André Verbesselt.
As you can see, when Gregory seeks for new reinforcement, he always tries to get the closest material possible from the pigeon he targest: a son or a daughter of an ace pigeon or of a national winner. Throughout the years, he paid a visit to Eric Vanacker (national champion in France 2019), De Smeyter-Restiaen, Vandeputte-Kubica (mainly for the Devos pigeons), Michel Dhalluin or Marcel Lekeuche…
A turning point in 2020
For 2020, the loft of Gregory Demaret will know a massive change to go ahead for the next few years. Indeed, collaboration was born the last winter with Thierry Marichal, a former professionnal cyclist who is now the current general manager of the cycling team Cofidis. Being a pigeon fancier himself and seeing his busy schedule as a manager, Thierry had a lack of time to take care of his birds and he decided to start this new collaboration with Gregory to try to get the maximum out of his breeding loft, mainly built around original birds from the best of De Smeyter-Restiaen. The breeding team will be housed at Thierry while the racers will be managed by Gregory. We think it is the start of a successful collaboration. We wish all the best to the new combination Demaret-Marichal for 2020!