Hugo’s stepfather Jan Van Nederpelt had a great result as well, winning a second prize in North & South Holland and a third national in the hens’ race.
Hugo Batenburg is really pleased with the performance of Little Diamond. “Together with the PIPA Elite Center, we added two new champions to our pigeon collection: New Witbuik and New Laureaat. We are convinced that the introduction of these great stars will allow our Witbuik family to perform at the highest level for another 20 years. This is the reason why we moved 15 of our best racing pigeons (almost all of which had won a national top 15 prize) to the breeding loft, which had an obvious impact on our racing team. We decided to compete in only four races – Bordeaux/Agen, Barcelona, Cahors and Perpignan – and this is not the most comfortable position to be in. However, you have to make sacrifices in order to prepare for the future. We missed several top prizes this season, but we are really satisfied about this victory from Perpignan!”
They were particularly satisfied about their winning hen Little Diamond NL09-1137480, a great looking hen from a first class son of Euro Diamond x Ace hen Davonne (click here for the full pedigree). She has won quite a few prizes already; this is her list of achievements:
1st Nat. Ace Pigeon Perpignan 2011-2012-2013
2nd Nat. Hens Perpignan 2014 – 1,705 p. (20th Nat. 6,413 p.)
5th Nat. Perpignan 2011 – 5,607 p. (6th Int. 15,107 p.)
79th Nat. Perpignan 2013 – 4,978 p.
413th Nat. Perpignan 2012 – 5,616 p.
112th Nat. St. Vincent – 3,163 p.
Little Diamond was clocked at 5:56 after completing 1023km, which is another top class performance. In a farm opposite the street, a pigeon was clocked in the loft of Jan Van Nederpelt, the husband of Hugo’s mother and a relatively new name in the extreme long distance. His long distance breed is unsurprisingly based on the old Batenburg breed, and the winner of a 2nd interprov./3rd nat. hens Perpignan is based on these bloodlines as well, as a granddaughter of Jonge Witbuik You can find the full pedigree here.
The champions from Klaaswaal have closed the old birds’ season with a nice victory, and Hugo is now focusing on preparing his young birds for next season. “We have had a few wonderful pairings that have bred a collection of promising young birds. New Witbuik and New Laureaat have played an important role in the breeding loft, and we will get an idea of the potential of this new generation when they are raced as yearlings for the first time next year. I am very positive about them, but only the results can tell. This will be an exciting new episode in my career as a fancier and I am looking forward to it!
