“He was not only the best in my loft, but also the most pleasant one,” said buyer Marijke Vink … “With pain in my heart I say goodbye to the best pigeon I ever had,” says owner Jürgen Jung. ‘Aladin’ is considered as best breeding ace ever and is now in auction on PIPA. Time to reveal the backgrounds of this legend!
The story of ‘Aladin’ really starts in 1997 on the annual anniversary of ‘sportblad De Duif’. There Gerard Koopman handled a late youngster from 1996, a direct daughter to ‘De Kannibaal’ the 1. Nat. acebird middle distance for Dirk & Louis van Dyck. “For some time I searched for an exceptional hen to pair to my ‘Gentil’,” says Gerard Koopman. He won several 1. prizes, represented The Netherlands on the 1997 Olympiad, was 2. world champion long distance 1995 and 4. world champion long distance in 1994. “I knew he had to become my new founding father and the daughter to ‘Kannibaal’ of Van Dyck I saw at De Duif was for me his new partner. I bought her and called her ‘Golden Lady’. First in 1998 the two were paired up for the first time. The first youngster I bred from them was ringed
NL98-5821416 … the birth of a new miracle!”
‘Kleine Dirk’
As youngster ‘Kleine Dirk’ instantly excelled as racer. He won 1. prizes and Gerard Koopman entered his results for the Versele Laga world championship youngsters, where he ended in fifth place. Gerard: “Off course a very promising start! He had to be one of my top racers in 1999 and therefore I naturally wanted to breed some youngsters from him before the racing season. I selected a fine hen for him, direct from ‘Beatrixdoffer’, great 1. prize winner and still a son to my basic pair ‘De 48’ x ‘Gouden Duifje’. ‘Beatrixdoffer’ was than paired to direct daughter to ‘Eric’ x sister ‘Zitter’ … all my old lines very well represented in the pedigree of this hen therefore. Later, in 1998, this daughter to ‘Eric’ that was paired to ‘Beatrixdoffer, became mother to my 1. world champion youngsters ‘Emperor Qin’.”
In January 1999 ‘Kleine Dirk’ had no problem filling the eggs of his first partner ever, the mentioned daughter to ‘Beatrixdoffer’. “At that time also my close friends Henk and Marijke Vink visited me. They had already bought several pigeons from me and their results were better by the year. However they searched for something extra, something special that would give extra impulses to their breeding colony. I had paired ‘Kleine Dirk’ x daughter ‘Beatrixdoffer’ to test some youngsters for myself, but I wanted to help Henk and Marijke and advised them take these ones. They were very thankful and took the eggs with them to Mookhoek”
Extra bond
The first two eggs ever bred from ‘Kleine Dirk’ were shoved under a yearling couple in the breeding loft of Henk and Marijke Vink in the small village of Mookhoek. It is there where the NL99-2308215 ‘Aladin’ saw the light of day and developed to a beautiful young checker cockbird. “Our first intention was to just let him grow in the aviary and than in 2000 we would see if we could find a suitable hen for him,” said Marijke Vink. “Of course ‘Kleine Dirk’ had performed very well as youngster, but when he won the NPO race from Troyes on May 15th 1999, we already paid some extra attention to the development of ‘Aladin’. ‘Kleine Dirk’ repeated his work of art on NPO Bourges from July 10th 1999, a tough race covering 700 km with no pigeon over a velocity of 1,000 meters per minute. He than became world famous and we started to suspect ‘Aladin’ could maybe bring us even more joy in breeding then intentionally thought.” As so often, women in pigeon racing create an extra bond with the birds. Marijke: “He was the just the sweetest cock; always in for a hug and really showing he appreciated the attention I paid to him. Henk and I were looking forward to pairing him to a super hen in 2000!!”
The first youngster ringed from ‘Aladin’ was a super star racer directly! It is the 048, who was in 2001 crowned as 1. acebird short distance and father to the 11. NPO Creil winner against 22,715 birds. “But in the summer of 2000 we wanted to breed some inbred youngsters from ‘Aladin’,” says Marijke Vink. “And therefore we paired him to ‘Last Lady’, a full sister to the icon ‘Kleine Dirk’ that was also bought in 1999. The youngsters we bred from them we placed in the breeding loft in 2001 and like that, just 2 years after the birth of ‘Aladin’, our colony was formed more and more around this exceptional wonder cock!”
Super breeder ‘Tips’
In the summer of 2000 one of the worlds most famous breeding aces was bred from this pairing ‘Aladin’ x ‘Last Lady’; that is ‘Tips’. Marijke Vink paired him to a granddaughter of Van Dycks ‘Kannibaal’ (even more inbred!!) and every year several super aces were bred from this couple; a total of at least 11 different 1. prize winner! The best? For sure they are ‘Reza’, generally considered as best middle distance pigeon in the world with 1. prizes against 28,332 birds, 21,892 birds and 10,589 birds. But also ‘Farah Diba’, the 1. Nat. acebird 500-700 km racing WHZB 2003 and 1. Western European Nations Cup long distance 2003 comes direct from ‘Tips’. Just as ‘Future’, 1. acebird Federation 2003, 1. Troyes 2,047 birds, 5. NPO Troyes 12,056 birds, 1. prizes against 394 birds & 336 birds.
In November 2005 ‘Tips’ and ‘Geschelpt Kannibaaltje’ moved to the glorious breeding studs of Hans Eijerkamp & Sons. Hans Eijerkamp: “I went to the entire clearance sale of Marijke Vink because I had heard of the supreme performances listed by top birds like ‘Reza’ and ‘Farah Diba’. I saw several birds and was deeply impressed by the overall quality of all these ‘Aladin’ descendants. It was however ‘Tips’ and ‘Geschelpt Kannibaaltje’ I was in particular interested in. I was not the only one and during the bidding I was as nervous as a young boy buying candy from his hard earned money.”
“When I managed to buy ‘Tips’, I was extremely happy and directly I had several of our top hens in mind I wanted to pair him to. However he is a stubborn cock and felt not very happy in the ‘stud-boxes’. When we paired him in a loft with several pairs, suddenly he felt superb at home. Since than we paired him to great Van Loon and Koopman hens and bred really fine performers and producers from him!! ‘Tips’ is one of the most important breeding cracks in our loft nowadays and his descendants have a good share in the many championships we won the last years!”
Jürgen Jung new owner of ‘Aladin’
Next to ‘Tips’, ‘Aladin’ had also bred super pigeons like 1. short distance acebird 048, super racer 46, 1. prize winner ‘Farla’ as well as champion breeders ‘Merlijn’ and ‘De 150’ for Marijke Vink. It came therefore as breaking news in the world of pigeon racing that Henk and Marijke Vink would sell all their birds in auction in November 2005. “What a tough decision, as we had composed a colony that brought us so much success,” Marijke looks back. “But because of our personal health conditions we had no choice. All we kept were 18 late breds, everyone of them close related to ‘Aladin’. But all the old birds were sold, including ‘Aladin’ … for a long time I did not sleep over that decision!!”
The word that the supreme Marijke Vink colony would be sold in auction, also reached Jürgen Jung from the German town of Ebertshausen. He searched for a founding father and doubted to spend his money for ‘Aladin’ or his successful son ‘Tips’. Jürgen grabbed the telephone to hear Marijke Vinks advice. “Directly she told me to put my money on ‘Aladin’. ‘Why ‘Tips’ when you can breed your own ‘Tips’s?’ she said. And when I came to the auction and first handled ‘Aladin’ my mind was made up. What a super class cock and what a vitality … that wing and that body … it didn’t matter to me anymore what he would cost; I just had to buy this super cock. Together with ‘Last Lady’ he moved to my breeding lofts in Ebertshausen and just like Marijke said, I experienced the sweetness of the super cockbird right away.”
Jürgen paired him to several hens, but never he bred more than 4 rounds of youngsters from him per year. Many supreme children were bred from him that were first put on the breeding loft so until 2009 performances of his offspring at Jürgen Jung can not be honestly judged. “However I gave away some of ‘Aladin’s offspring and others had great success with it. A direct son, ‘Last Baby’ went to my good friends Birgit & Gerhard Lueking and they bred their ‘Lucky Hope’ from him, the 1. acebird on the Sun City One Million Dollar Pigeon Race of 2007. A supreme performance!!” Other highlights of ‘Aladin’ offspring over the last years:
– M. Jerxsen, 2. Nat. acebird of Germany 2008 winning 1. prize 1,015 birds and also 4., 4., 5., 6., 10. prize bred from grandson x great granddaughter ‘Aladin’
– C. & M. van Koppen bred two of his best 2009 yearlings from ‘Shorty’, son to ‘Aladin’
– J. Merx wins 2. prize 23,049 birds and further 3., 4., 4., 5. prize with gr.grandson ‘Aladin’ in 2009
– J. Merx wins 2. National Blois 2009 against 85,000 birds with gr.grandson ‘Aladin’
– M. Jerxsen winst 1. prov. acebird 2009 and winner 2., 4., 6., 7., 8., 9., 10. prize bred from grandson x great granddaughter ‘Aladin’
– Grandson ‘Aladin’ wins 50. & 84. prize on Hot Spot races Million Dollar Pigeon Race 2010
– Grandson ‘Aladin’ wins 59, 88., 257., 372. prize on Hot Spot races Million Dollar Pigeon Race 2010
– Grandson ‘Aladin’ is 63. acebird Grand Average Million Dollar Pigeon Race 2010
– Great grandson ‘Aladin’ wins 16. prize in Million Dollar Pigeon Race 2010
Super brothers
When we ask Gerard Koopman about other offspring of the pairing ‘Kleine Dirk’ x daughter ‘Beatrixdoffer’, he must honestly say just 4 youngsters of this exact same pairing were bred. In summer 1999 the daughter ‘Beatrixdoffer’ was lost … what a shame. Because two full brothers are super toppers as well … they are ‘Dirky’ and ‘Darryl’ of Pieter Veenstra. Two cocks that brought Veenstra to the absolute highest level in Dutch pigeon racing. “In many generation ‘Dirky’ bred me super class pigeons,” says Pieter Veenstra. “But direct children also reigned supreme. Like ‘Davinci’, winner of 1. NPO Ablis against 7,946 birds, ‘Iron Lady’, 1. prize winner of 25,905 birds and ‘Desiree’, 9. Nat. racing hen WHZB and 2. prov. old acebird in 2004.”
Breeding exceptional pigeons like the 6. Nat. acebird short distance WHZB 2005, 1. prov. acebird 500-700 km racing and winners of 1. prizes against 2,916 birds, 1,656 birds, but also 4. NPO Houdeng against 22,537 birds, show that the breeding skills of ‘Darryl’ are almost equally good as ‘Dirky’s. Gerard Koopman: “Later ‘Kleine Dirk’ bred many more top pigeons paired to several hens … however the pairing to daughter ‘Beatrixdoffer’ was out of this world, with 3 International icons bred from 4 eggs.” Other famous children to ‘Kleine Dirk’ and therefore half brothers to ‘Aladin’ are:
– ‘Charley’; SUPERBREEDER at Marcel Sangers, now at Kenny Rhodes (USA)
– ‘Amoré’s Dirk’; SUPERBREEDER at Cor Leytens, father to 1. NPO & 1. Nat. acebird
– ‘Dirkje’; at Jan Hooymans mother ‘Harry’, winner 1. NPO, 1. NPO & 3. NPO … the absolute nr. 1 racer in Holland 2009
– ‘Magic Dirky’; SUPERBREEDER at Ian Staffort (sold at PIPA in August 2009)
– ‘Wonder van Haacht’; SUPERBREEDER at Horst & Frank Sander – Germany
In conclusion
“For me ‘Aladin’ is the best breeder in the world,” says Marijke Vink. “When we had to sell all our birds, we kept 18 late breds, everyone of them close related to ‘Aladin’. When luck laughed our way and we had the opportunity to start again; these ‘Aladin’ based youngsters formed our new base … again with success!! A grandson to ‘Aladin’ x ‘Farah Diba’ is now one of our top breeders; children to him helped us winning the 1. prov. championship 500-700 km racing in 2009!! From a brother to ‘Tips’ we bred ‘Domela’, winner of 1. Mariembourg 4,332 birds & 4. NPO Chateauroux 8,201 birds as yearling and 1. NPO Bourges in 2009 against 8,579 birds. A grandson to ‘Aladin’ is ‘Jus de Pomme’, 1. Pommeroeul 4,549 birds and father to 1. Orleans in 2009 against 2,507 birds … and many many more top positions were won at us by ‘Aladin’ offspring … his bloodlines still bring us so much success I dare to see I never read about a better breeder ever!”
Gerard Koopman is also convinced about the great quality of ‘Aladin’. “In 2005 already I got back a daughter from ‘Aladin’ when he was paired to his granddaughter ‘Farah Diba’. I called her ‘Marijke’ and for me she has now already bred ‘Doran’ (1. NPO Orleans 9,670 birds) and ‘Varella’ (1. Nat. acebird 500-700 km racing Eendaagse Fondspiegel 2007). A grandchild to ‘Marijke’ wins 16. prize in the Sun City Million Dollar Pigeon Race 2010 for me! Also in 2005 ‘Miss Mookhoek’ came to my loft, she came direct from ‘Tips’ x ‘Geschelpt Kannibaaltje’. When paired to ‘Cassius’ (from ‘Kleine Dirk’ x ‘Annelies’) I bred from her my ‘Daydream’, 2009 sensational winner of 1. NPO Ablis 8,519 birds. ‘Aladin’ left my loft as an egg in 1999 but now, eleven years later, I dare to say this ‘Kleine Dirk’s first and best direct son!”
The last word is for Jürgen Jung, present owner who must soon say goodbye to ‘Aladin’. “Everyday I owned this cock he filled me with joy. Never a problem pairing him to one of my hens and only very occasionally an egg was not filled. He is now 11 years of age, but still enormously vital. Probably because Marijke Vink and me both did not ask too much from him. However he gave back a lot; the best of breeders and racers in the world. ‘Aladin’ is a legend, selling my total breeding colony including him is painful, but in my situation inevitable. I am sure he will produce several new top pigeons in the future!!”
Selection of the best ‘Aladin’ children
00-048 1. acebird short distance
Father ‘Silvia’ 11. NPO Creil 22,715 birds
‘46’
3. against 5,207 birds
5. against 5,084 birds
‘Farla’
1. against 2,473 birds
‘Tips’ Father to at least 11 different 1. prize winners
Father ‘Farah Diba’
1. Nat. acebird 500-700 km racing WHZB 2003 sold for € 70,000
1. long distance West European Nations Cup 2003
1. prov. acebirds 500-700 km 2003
1. Tours 1,846 birds
1. Chateauroux 3,894 birds
2. NPO Chateauroux 11,270 birds
12. NPO Bourges 9,399 birds
Father ‘Reza’ Best middle distance pigeon of the world sold for € 84.000
1. Peronne 28,332 birds
1. Chantilly 21,892 birds
1. Chantilly 10,589 birds
Father ‘739’
1. young acebird Fed. 2001
1. Niergnies 4,222 birds
Father ‘119’
1. Aardenburg 4,423 birds
Nest sister wins
1. Chantilly 552 birds
Father ‘152’
1. Peronne 3,051 birds
Father ‘153’
1. acebird Fed. 2003
1. Troyes 2,047 birds
5. NPO Troyes 12,056 birds
Father ‘414’
1. Oudenaarde 784 birds
1. Menen 423 birds
1. Chantilly 297 birds
Nest sister bred
1. Doornik 5,464 birds
Father ‘Drum’ (nestbrother ‘Farah Diba’)
1. Chantilly 700 birds
Father to a/o:
1. Portand 3,501 birds
1. Cheltenham 1,558 birds
1. Strombeek 1,098 birds
1. Orleans 1,244 birds
3. Portland 2,467 birds
3. Portland 2,055 birds
3. Frome 3,312 birds
Father ‘Miss Mookhoek’ Mother to ‘Daydream’ (racer C. & G. Koopman)
1. NPO Ablis 8,519 birds
Father ‘Future’
1. Ablis 4,417 birds
1. Strombeek 542 birds
1. Chantilly 228 birds
1. Chateauroux 184 birds
1. Argenton 103 birds
Father ‘Youri’ At Burg-Luyken, father and grandfather:
1. against 3,562 birds
2. against 5,598 birds
2. against 4,809 birds
2. against 3,953 birds
2. against 3,636 birds
2. against 4,036 birds
2. against 5,212 birds
3. against 2,862 birds
‘Merlijn’
Father ‘Cowboy’
1. Le Mans 1,546 birds
9. Nat. Le Mans 15,848 birds
1. Chantilly 440 birds
8. NPO Chantilly 17,818 birds
Father ‘Ranger’
1. Peronne 3,719 birds
3. prov. Peronne 18,513 birds
‘459 br. Tips’
Father ‘Dornela’
1. NPO Bourges 2009 8,579 birds
4. NPO Chateauroux 8,201 birds
1. Mariembourg 4,332 birds
‘Marijke’ One of the best breeding hens at C. & G. Koopman
Mother ‘Doran’
1. NPO Orleans 9,670 birds
Mother ‘Varella’
1. Nat. acebird 500-700 km 2007 E-Fondspiegel
‘Idem Dito’ paired to ‘Farah Diba’ he bred ‘Mascotte’:
Father ‘863’
1. Ablis 3,547 birds
Father ‘623’ (Colijn-Ganus)
1. St. Quentin 1.879 birds
‘623’ bred ‘Chanel’ (now Peter Fox)
3. NPO Orleans 9,800 birds
5. NPO Orleans 14,014 birds
3. Creil 3,616 birds
4. Strombeek 8,402 birds
6. Pithiviers 3,784 birds
8. Pommeroeul 2,082 birds
9. Pommeroeul 2,201 birds
‘De 150’
Father ‘Blauwe 404’
1. Peronne 362 birds
2. Peronne 3,254 birds
6. Niergnies 3,254 birds
Father ‘Geschelpte 629’
1. Moeskroen 966 birds
Father ‘Blauwe 630’
1. Peronne 667 birds
‘Last Baby’
Father ‘Lucky Hope’
1. acebird Million Dollar Race South Africa 2007 for Birgit & Gerhard Luecking and sold for 30.000$
‘748’
Father ‘Jus de Pomme’
1. Pommeroel 4,549 birds
Father to 1. Orleans 2009 2,507 birds
Father ‘Verdi’
10. NPO Bourges 8,579 birds
Father to 1. Strombeek 2009 3,988 birds