These super quality pigeons are likely to further increase the level of quality in the pigeon loft of Willy and Ivan Baetens.
Ace pigeons breed ace pigeons
This idea has been mentioned in countless news reports, pigeon magazines and other publications. It is the most important unwritten rule in our sport, and it has been demonstrated by our sport’s greatest champions (which includes ace pigeons and other first prize winners). Exceptional orientation skills, high intelligence, a strong character, great strength and a lot of speed – these are the features that characterize some of the best pigeon breeds and bloodlines. This is what makes a pigeon breed stand out from the others. Having a pigeon breed that is also capable of breeding new generations of champions will give you a significant advantage over your opponents in the long run. This explains why so many of us are trying to find this type of pigeon. They are an important asset in any loft, as they can really enable you to stand out from your opponents, and to beat them. After all, we can all agree that pigeon racing is most of all about being the fastest and about taking the win.
Breeding loft based on proven ace pigeons
Ivan Baetens knows that it takes the best bloodlines to achieve great results. That is why his breeding loft consists of nothing but proven first prize winners and ace pigeons. In fact, less successful pigeons will not be allowed to join his team of breeders. His approach has always been to breed pigeons from proven racing birds, rather than using brothers or sisters. One of the downsides to this approach is that racing birds tend to be quite expensive. Still, that does not keep him from pursuing his objectives and adopting this proven method.
He started to focus increasingly on the long distance and the extreme long distance in recent years, and an additional group of top class pigeons were introduced in the Bricon Loft. He did not just want top quality pigeons, he wanted the best birds he could find. Some of them were purchased together with some fancier friends.
–Peggy BE09-2045788: 1st Nat. Ace Pigeon Extreme Long Distance KBDB 2011
–Witpen Rivaldo BE07-3008642: 1st Nat. Ace Pigeon Extreme Long Distance KBDB 2012
-Elsie BE11-4274336: 1st Nat. Ace Pigeon Extreme Long Distance KBDB 2013
–’t Fenomeen: BE07-4278339: Best Long Distance Pigeon of Belgium over 5 national races 2010 (PIPA ranking), and 5th Nat. Ace Pigeon Long Distance KBDB 2010
Other talented pigeons such as a brother of Peggy (an excellent racing bird), Yana (47th Nat. Barcelona and a half sister of Peggy), and Mannequin (a supercrack for Etienne Devos and winner of 6 top 100 prizes National) came to join the breeding team as well.
Significant quality improvement thanks to Pierre Mistral and Nico
Three national first ace pigeons were introduced in the loft in 2014: Peggy, Witpen Rivaldo and Elsie. That was still nog enough for Ivan Baetens, who managed to add two more invaluable birds to his collection! One of them is Pierre Mistral, an outstanding racing bird of Pierre Bourgeois and winner of a 1st National Ace Pigeon KBDB extreme long distance 2014. This pigeon proved his talent by achieving great results as a one year old. 2014 was a truly outstanding season with two national top 10 prizes! He won his national title with a considerable lead over the second in the ranking, and he also won the title of 1st International Ace Pigeon 2014 in the international races.
The second pigeon to join the team was the 1st National Ace Pigeon extreme long distance yearlings KBDB of Nico Jaspers. We take a closer look at both these pigeons:
Pierre Mistral BE10-3120100
1st Nat. Ace Pigeon Extreme Long Distance Old Birds KBDB 2014
’14 St.Vincent Prov 797 p. 1
Nat 3,240 p. 5
Int 11,388 p. 19
’14 Perpignan Nat 6,248 p. 8
Int 17,971 p. 18
Nico BE13-5105708
1. Nat. Ace Pigeon Extreme Long Distance Yearlings KBDB 2014
’14 Agen Prov 500 p. 4 (Club 1st of 110 p.)
Nat 3,180 p. 13
’14 Narbonne Prov 357 p. 2 (Club 1st of 141 p.)
Nat 2,835 p. 16
And there is more: the 13th national Ace Pigeon championship long distance yearlings was transferred to St.-Niklaas as well. He originates from the loft of Raf Bijl and he is a 100% Meirlaen pigeon. This makes him well suited for this pigeon breed, which is home to several Meirlaen pigeons already.
Rafke BE13-4212109
13. National Ace Pigeon KBDB Long Distance Yearlings '14
’14 Brive Zone 1,223 p. 11 (Club 1st prize)
Nat. 3,850 p. 70
’14 Tulle Zone 2,037 p. 11 (Club 1st of 100 p.)
Nat 5,731 p. 38
The fanciers from Sint-Niklaas also obtained a nest brother of ‘t Fenomeen at the Casaert-Sénéchal auction. He is a proven breeder and an equally successful racing bird:
Nestbrother Fenomeen BE07-4278340
19th Nat Montauban 6,822 p. in ’12 26th Nat Bourges 27,506 p. in ’09 26th N.Zone Limoges 7,823 p. in ’08 (186th Nat. 16,018 p.) 39th Nat Limoges 19,737 p. in ’11 82nd Nat Cahors 8,651 p. in ’10
An additional four hens of the super class loft of Vanoppen-Luyten were purchased as well, which have won 9 national top 100 prizes together. Kannibaal Stafke (26-30-73-86th National), The 233 (47-96th Nat.), Steffi (16-44th Nat.) and Nina III (66th Nat. Bourges) are four excellent hens well suited for the longer middle distance.
No wonder that Willy and Ivan Baetens have been very successful in the provincial and national competitions for many years. Their palmares is founded on highly talented and top quality pigeons, something Ivan has an eye for.
You can see that Ivan has invested in quite a number of pigeons in recent seasons, and the coming seasons will tell if his investments have paid off. The fanciers from Sint-Niklaas have performed really well in the longer middle distance with the outstanding breeders Houdini, Chipo, Lady Bourges, Cobra and others, and they aim to do equally well in the future with descendants of their newly obtained national ace pigeons long distance and extreme long distance. They hope to be able to excel in the (inter)national classics, including Limoges and Barcelona. Their goal will be to achieve excellent results at provincial and national level.
Peggy: 1st Nat. Ace Pigeon Extreme Long Distance KBDB 2011
Witpen Rivaldo: 1st Nat. Ace Pigeon Extreme Long Distance KBDB 2012
Elsie: 1st Nat. Ace Pigeon Extreme Long Distance KBDB 2013
‘t Fenomeen: Best Long Distance Pigeon of Belgium 2010 over 5 national races + 5th Nat. Ace Pigeon Long Distance KBDB 2010
