Alyda is another highly talented pigeon in the Harry dynasty. She won her first teletext prize of the season in the first NPO one day long distance race of 2015 from Blois, winning an 8th NPO against 6,613 pigeons. She is now following in the footsteps of her dam Alexia, which won a 1st NPO Chateauroux against 5,620 pigeons in a strong headwind. Alexia is a sister of Harry, and her sire is Dolce Beauty, a direct Pieter Veenstra bred from stock cock Mr. Blue x Dolce Vita, probably the most successful racing hen ever.This goes to show that Alyda, a hen with soft plumage and soft muscles, originates from nothing but high quality bloodlines. She clearly has the outside characteristics of her parents, which are two excellent looking birds as well. Alyda won 9 prizes in 11 races in 2015, including 6 prizes 1:10. Click here for the full pedigree.
Many lofts tend to rely on the same bloodlines for years but Team Hooymans has gone through a few changes last winter. Jan Hooymans is now assisted by Mario Bombacht and Christian Van De Wetering. However, his goals have not changed: he still focuses on the one day long distance competition, and he continues to achieve great results in this discipline. He had a perfect season so far, winning three teletext prizes in three races!
NPO Blois 6,613 p.: 8th-18th-32nd-59th-65th-70th NPO (+ Teletext with Alyda)
NPO Bourges 5,177 p.: 10th-32nd-48th-49th-60th-63rd-93rd NPO (+ Teletext with Annie)
NPO Bourges 4,843 p.: 1st-21st-92nd (+ 1st Teletext with Alyda)
Team Hooymans appears to have a wide base of top class pigeons, having won 23 prizes with 30 pigeons from Bourges. They are in great form as well. Mario explains the day to day running: “All pigeons are released once a day, since we also have three teams of young birds and a group of long distance pigeons that have to be trained. Still, our main goal is the one day long distance. The cocks are trained at 7am, the hens are released at 8:15am. The cocks have no specific training plan but the hens are raced with the flag, for at least one hour. The hens have been training really well in the past few weeks, despite the colder temperatures. In case of cold weather we sometimes turn on the ATX heating.”
Team Hooymans deliberately opted for Matador feed, using the method of Start-Vlieg-Turbo and Fond, in which pigeons are fed larger portions as race-day approaches. They are given some peanuts and sweet seeds shortly before basketing as well. They are particularly satisfied with the side products of Wonderpigeon, Belgasol, Multimix, Condition powder Mariën, as well as animal fats. Jan explains: “The cocks and hens can spend one hour together before the race, and the partners of both the cocks and the hens are always at home. As is the case in many lofts, the cocks do not seem to find their best form this season. Our fourth pigeon in the race from Blois last Saturday was a cock, but most of our top prizes are won by hens.”
Years of careful breeding has resulted in a racing team that is almost entirely based on stock pair Jonge Bliksem x Dirkje, the parents of Harry and his outstanding brothers and sisters. The number of top results that have been won with pigeons from this bloodline across the globe is quite exceptional. We conclude with an overview of all the first prizes won by descendants of Harry in 2015 alone:
1st Nat. Chateauroux België 44,293 p. (great-grandchild) 1st NPO Souppes sur long 3,609 p. (great-grandchild) 1st NPO Bourges 8,064 p. (great-grandchild) 1st NPO Bourges 4,843 p. (grandchild) 2nd NPO Bourges 4,520 p. (great-grandchild ‘Dirkje’) 4th NPO Argenton 2,984 p. (great-grandchild ‘Dirkje’) 2nd Teletext Soissons 8,508 p. (great-grandchild) 1st Carentan 2,884 p. (grandchild) 1st Worcester 2,395 p. (grandchild) 1st Portland 1,228 p. (great-grandchild) 1st Souppes 1,987 p. (great-grandchild) 1st Worcester 1,058 p. (grandchild) 1st Quievrain 749 p. (grandchild) 2nd Worcester 2,395 p. (great-grandchild) 3rd Souppes 1,987 p. (great-grandchild) 4th Portland 1,228 p. (grandchild) 5th Worcester 1,058 p. (grandchild) 5th Noyon 1,799 p. (great-grandchild) 6th Souppes 3,350 p. (great-grandchild) 6th Worcester 1,058 p. (grandchild) 8th NPO Blois 6,613 p. (grandchild) 8th Carentan 2,884 p. (grandchild) 8th Portland 1,228 p. (grandchild) 8th Yeovil 1,234 p. (grandchild ‘Harry’) 8th Hullavington 1,344 p. (great-grandchild ‘Harry’) 9th Souppes 1,187 p. (grandchild ‘Harry’) 9th Worcester 1,090 p. (grandchild ‘Harry’) 9th Mangotsfield 906 p. (grandchild ‘Harry’) 10th NPO Bourges 5,181 p. (grandchild ‘Jonge Bliksem’) 10th Hullavington 1,344 p. (grandchild ‘Harry’) 12th Hullavington 1,344 p. (grandchild ‘Harry’) 14th Tewkesbury 1,456 p. (grandchild ‘Harry’) 15th Hullavington 1,344 p. (grandchild ‘Harry’) 18th NPO Blois 6,613 p. (grandchild ‘Harry’) 21st NPO Bourges 4,843 p. (grandchild) 32nd NPO Blois 6,613 p. (grandchild) 38th NPO Bourges 6,613 p. (grandchild ‘Harry’)