Comb Maegh A S amazing racing season start 2021.

Ad Schaerlaeckens races together with companion Roger de Vrij in Rijkevorsel with the name ‘Maegh A S.’  Maegh is only on paper. They race middle distance in ZAV and the Union with the Border alliance. Ad became as teenager, in the fifties, a pigeon fancier. Four of his uncles had pigeons as almost the entire neighbourhood did. He didn’t hear a lot of other things than talks about pigeons. It would be even strange if he didn’t start racing pigeons. If you didn’t, you weren’t ‘one of them’, then you were an ‘outsider’. Also Roger had pigeons his entire live. Getting results, and how, is something he only got after he started to race in combination and Ad changed all the present pigeons for better once. This was 2006. 

THE PAST CENTURY

In the former century Ad raced extra-terrestrial with offspring he got at Hans v d Veeke from Westdorpe,  Janssen Arendonk, Hofkens Merksplas, Leo Broeckx, Gaby Vandenabeele, Mattens, Voets.  A hen out of the wondercouple from Hans v d Veeke became grandmother to the legendary ‘Ace Four’. A cock from Hofkens was paired up with a hen from the Janssens bros. and gave the ‘Goede Jaarling’ who would have an enormous impact on the successes in the nineties. Those days the chairman of the Department claimed during a championship celebration that he had never seen anybody dominating in a Department as Ad Schaerlaeckens did. And this both with the young as the old. This was against average 2,000 fanciers. A cock from Mattens coupled to a hen from Vandenabeele (Sissi, sister to ‘Prinses’) also took care of superior off spring.    

COMBINATION
These amazing results had a down side and that is that Ad couldn’t put any money anymore on the races, his club couldn’t compete in an union, this is how they said it, as when Ad would compete nobody would put their money on the races anymore. Second thing is that his wife developed an allergy for pigeons and Ad started to have some trouble with his knee. In short, a lot of miserie, but not for long! Ad decided to start racing in Belgium in combination with someone else. The competitors laughed in their hands ‘the competition in Belgium is much stronger as here so he would return quickly sobbing.’ 
Within a few months the negative mouths shut up. The first year 2006, the just formed combination became immediately champion on Noyon with the youngsters, the year after with the yearbirds and the following year with the old birds. Results as never have been seen in this area.    

THIS CENTURY
This century he was (so now in Belgium) successful with pigeons from Gebr v d Brande, Ebben, Boeckx, Scheele, de Bruijn, R Hermans, Engelen, Marcel Wouters, Eyerkamp, Leo Heremans, L van Mechelen. 
Youngsters of these pigeons gave all winners or Ace birds in ZAV. 
Ad:’I wouldn’t know which ones are the best now. With a modest number of pigeons we had in 2019 in ZAV an unique series of Ace birds : 2nd, 3rd and 5th at the old and 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th Ace bird Year birds. The ‘08-250’, out of the Extreem x Mother Leeuw from Marcel Wouters, gave with a hen from Rik Hermans the ‘006’. He won the 1st Provincial Argenton with 10 minutes ahead of the race with a North Eastern wind on almost the longest distance. National it was the 1st zonal. And this ‘006’ gave only exceptional good pigeons. Marcel Wouters had in the meantime his ‘Ad’ (1st National Ace bird) bred out of a hen from Ad Schaerlaeckens, strain ‘Ace Four’. As both were successful with each other’s pigeons, Marcel suggested to start breeding together. His ‘Ad’ was paired up with 4 hens from the combination (k.i.) and this seemed to be a hit in the rose.    

VERY LIMITED IN A MEDICAL WAY
The combination races ‘total widowhood’ with at the start 14 couples but very soon a few will fall out. They are on a very old loft that is totally open above the heads of the pigeons, but they don’t risk to change it. At the bottom they have broken corncobs just as it was in Baarle Nassau (NL). Except for the obliged vaccination against PMV, they haven’t visited a vet in a decade. They cure against yellow before the start of the season and after this on a weekly base yellow drop and that’s it. To ignore a vet is only possible when you have very healthy pigeons. This was a bit difference in 2011. The youngsters didn’t grow good, the old ones were too ‘fat’, the results were mediocre and a lot of them went lost. Baytrill was the salvation. The following year they became 1st champion youngsters in the Union of Antwerp and ZAV. These raced together back then. After that year they cured a few more years with Baytrill, but they stopped doing this the past 4 years. Every doctor will say that each medicine has it side effects so why would you give this to healthy pigeons. Ad is convinced that many fancier do more harm with it then that they do good with it

TRAINING and YOUNGSTERS  
We let Ad speak again: ‘Until now (touch wood !!!) the training never was a problem, except for that paratyphoid year. Without a flag or any other obligation, they train for a long time and freely from the beginning of April. A matter of base health? Our biggest medical problem is One eye cold, I tried everything for that. My experience is that after giving them a cure it was gone after 2 weeks, when I did nothing it was gone after 14 days. They race on nest and on sliding doors. Ad: ‘One nest after the other is something they get bored off, keeping them apart the same thing.’ He knows what he’s talking about, no? In Holland he made of the youngsters game an art. 

A FEW RACERS
Ad claims that he never had a good couple that only gave good ones. If you want real quality you have to be able to breed the good ones out of more than one pigeon, argues Ad. Which ones are the best? He wouldn’t know. Comprehensible when you see the range of Ace birds that reside on their lofts. Ace birds in ZAV and that is an union with a huge memberslist. From Lier until the Dutch border. 
That’s why a selection to introduce:

BE17-6200709 1st Ace bird ZAV 2020:
Was in 2020 1st Ace bird in ZAV and also 1st Ace bird in Sint Job. In 2019 it was the 2nd Ace bird in ZAV. Won 425b – 6th , 642b – 8th , 563b – 6th , 1,270b – 8th , 841b – 7th , 2,071b – 9th , 2,274b – 8th and so on…Father is the ‘15-595’ a brother to ‘Diamant’ from Gebr. v d Brande. Mother is the ‘10-636’ from Luc van Mechelen, out of the strains ‘Zwever’ and ‘Steffi’.      

BE19-6226549: 1st Ace bird yl ZAV 2020. 
Won 504 b – 2nd , 441 b – 2nd, 1.093 b – 2nd,  593 b- 3rd, 718 b- 3rd, 669 b – 5th and so on. 
Father is the ‘17-028’ out of ‘Indy’ from Ebben, a fabulous hen that Falco bought for 75€ at Ad’s. She won 6 1st prizes in the bigger union on the shorter long distance. Mother to this Ace bird is the ‘15-616’. She won herself:  461 b – 1st, 790 b – 1st, 1,480  b – 4th, 1,351b- 9th. This ‘616’ was bred out of the ‘09-995’, 1st Ace bird in 2010 and the 13-1947264, this daughter ‘Ad’ gave winners with different cocks. 

BE16-6257755: ‘Double Ace’.  Was 3rd Ace bird in 2017 and 7th Ace bird in 2019. 
Won 430 b – 1st, 372 b – 2nd, 908 b – 1st, 563 b – 2nd, 1,037b – 7th and so on. Father is the ‘13-235’, product of a co-breeding with Marcel Wouters. Comes out of ‘Den Ad’ and daughter ‘95-230’, brother ‘Ace Four’. 
Mother to ‘Double Ace’ was the ‘601’, a hen from Gust Janssen out of brother ‘Euro’.

BE17-6200721:  ‘Advance’ 
This is the pigeon that on the rememberable Sermaise in 2020 won against 841 pigeons with a lead of no less than 12 minutes. In the Union against 2,071 pigeons it was 8 minutes ahead. And that’s not all, she also won : 721 b – 1st, 425 b – 1st,  1,622 b – 5th and 3,414 b – 7th. And now, after 2 races in 2021 she already won again a 1st against 662 pigeons. Father is the former mentioned ‘006’ who is also the father to the 3rd National Ace bird yl MD KBDB, mother to this ‘ahead racer’ is the former mentioned fabulous breeding hen ‘13-264’ from ‘Den Ad’. 

BE18-6243732: 3rd National Ace bird MD yl KBDB 2019.
In Belgium in 2019 there were only 2 year birds that did better on the middle distance races. The ‘732’ won: 323 b – 1st, 515 b – 1st, 563 b – 1st, 1,270 b – 1st (double), 375 b – 2nd, 830 b – 3rd, 975 b – 3rd  and so on. Was bred out of the former mentioned ‘13-006’ and the ‘12-702’. This ‘702’ was Ace bird in the bigger union in Holland. 

Than we have the ‘Super ZAV’ (twice Ace bird and more than one 1st prizes) and the ‘18-727’ (1st Ace bird), the 2nd Ace bird youngsters 2020 and some more Ace pigeons that we didn’t even mention.    

CHAMPIONSHIP
Every year a series of titles are won without focussing on them. In 2019 ‘King’, in 2020 without even racing the last race (!) in ZAV : 2nd Champion 1st signed, 3rd Champion 1st and 2nd signed, 2nd Champion 1st , 2nd and 3rd signed, 1st Champion 4 first signed. 

BEST RESULTS 2020
Please have a sit and look at the only truth within pigeon sport…the results. And then to know that 2019 was even better. Ad again: ‘After 2018 everybody said ‘you will never get a same year again’. Then 2019 came…in an extensive article in ‘De Duif’ Luc v d Plas called the Comb Maegh A S the best of Belgium on the Middle Distance. Nobody objected. That year they only had one less race namely Orléans, a very irregular race. But even then 8 prizes out of 10. And then there was 2020: 

2020
- Sermaise 1,338 b: 3, 5, 6, 9, 18, 19, 20, 22 and so on  (21/24)

- Sermaise 822yl:  2, 6, 10, 11 and so on   (9/11).

- Sermaise 1,052 b: 4, 5, 6, 8, 18, 19 and so on   

- Sermaise  2,274 b: 4, 5, 6, 8, 23, 25 and so on   (20/26).

- Melun 718 b:  1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 14, 18, 19, 23 and so on   (17/24)

- Melun  1,743 b: 1, 6, 7, 8, 010, 16, 17, 25,31, 32, 46 and so on   (17/24).

- Melun 504 yl: 2, 3, 4, 13 and so on   (7/11).

- Sermaise  841 b: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 13, 17, 37 and so on   (14/16). They never had such a result in the ZAV.

- Sermaise  2,071 b: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 22, 26, 36 and so on   (14/16). This was in the Union with the Border Union. With so few pigeons winning the 1st against more than 2,000 pigeons was something that never had happened either before. 

- Sermaise 1,205 youngsters:  1, 12, 13, 19 and so on  .  That same day with heavy weather from Sermaine:  1st prize 2,071 old,  1st prize 669 year birds (another pigeon) and so the 1st against 1,205 youngsters. 

- Sermaise  669 yl: 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 40 (7/7 and all per 10).

- Sermaise 593 b:  3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 22 and so on   (14/18).

- Sermaise 408 b: 3, 4, 15, 21 and so on  .  (9/11).

UNBELIEVABLE
How unreal it may seem, 2019 was an even better season and this season stopped too early for the combination. The last race out of Chevrainvillers they won with the year birds 1, 3, 10 and 13 with 4 pigeons in competition (158 d).  Also the old won all per 10: 1, 2, 3, 5, 15, 19, 21 with 7 basketed (238 d). In the union against 566 pigeons all basketed pigeons also per 10: 1, 4, 6, 14, 25, 38, 44. So 7 out of 7. The week before it was 7 out of 8 for the year birds, 11 out of 12 for the old starting with the 1st and 12 out of 12 for the youngsters. 

HOT OF THE PRESS
After a training race the season of 2021 started for the Combination Maegh A S on the 16th of April and it was from the 1st time a hit in the rose. And this on the short distance race Quièvrain. With the year birds they started with the 1st and 2nd prize against 412b, the old and year birds combined they won : 1, 2, 4, 5, 12, 13, 29, 30, 33, 38 and so on against 662 pigeons. From the 16 old pigeons basketed, 14 of them won a prize, in total 20/28.
The winner, more than 1,400mpm with head wind, was the ‘17-721’. That same hen that won in 2020 with 12 minutes ahead on that though Sermaise against 841 pigeons and with 8 minutes ahead against 2,071 pigeons. The ‘18-727’ (1st Ace bird) won the 4th prize. The year birds that won 1 and 2 are sisters to each other. A lot of talking is going on these days about the huge number of pigeons that some basket and this not always in a positive way. That it is possible with a modest amount of pigeons is something that this Dutch-Belgian combination proofs…you just have to have good ones.

Ad and Roger, a big congratulation on these marvellous results and hope you will continue in 2021 as you started!