Danny & Bjorn Knaepen win the 1st Provincial Châteauroux Limburg against 1,079 youngsters

Binderveld - In the village of Binderveld, father and son Danny and Bjorn Knaepen ended their pigeon racing season in spectacular fashion. At the last national flight of the year, in Châteauroux, they managed to win the coveted provincial first prize against 1,079 youngsters from Limburg. It was a special achievement for the duo, especially as Bjorn is also a dedicated member of the Herbots team.

Flor Junior - the winning pigeon

The winning pigeon, whose ring number is BE24-5012853, is named "Flor Junior" after Bjorn's son Flor. "Flor Junior" showed his speed not only in Limburg, where he was the fastest of the 1,079 youngsters, but also the fastest of the 1,303 pigeons competing in the province. At national level, he finished in a fine 73rd place out of 15,060 youngsters.

A line of champions

"Flor Junior" has some of the same lineage as last season's top pigeon, "Crazy Fighter", who performed exceptionally well. "Crazy Fighter" won prestigious prizes in 2023 such as:
1st Best Pigeon of the World M.D. (Belgium) 2023
1st Prov. Ace K.B.D.B. M.D. Old Pigeons 2023
1st Best Pigeon of Belgium M.D. Old Pigeons 2023 with a coefficient of 0.7118 over 5 races (the official winner of the K.B.D.B. had a coefficient of 1.9514).

Following his success, "Crazy Fighter" was sold to Herbots and given a permanent place in the breeding boxes, allowing his exceptional genes to contribute to future generations.

In addition, the sire of "Flor Junior" is a half-brother to "The Fighter", the 1st Provincial Ace KBDB G.M.D. 2020, and there is also blood from Georges & Luc Hayen and Stefan Steenbergen pigeons in "Flor Junior".

Bjorn Knaepen looks back on the season

Prior to Châteauroux, the Knaepen youngsters prepared with flights to Mettet, Chimay, Dizy-le-gros, St-Soupplets, Sourdun and Soissons. The youngsters play on the sliding door and Bjorn has noticed that their performance has improved greatly in recent weeks. "You could see it in the little details: lots of feathers, the pigeons wanted to be outside all the time and they were training for more than an hour, which wasn't the case before.

From the end of August, the results started to improve. On 25 August they had already achieved excellent results in Sourdun, with 19 prizes out of 52 pigeons, and on 2 September they impressed with several first places (five pigeons in the top-100 against 2,428b and 26/44 prizes). But the highlight of the season came on 14 September at the Châteauroux flight, where they shone with 1st, 12th, 52nd and 55th places against 1,079 pigeons at provincial level and 20/38 prizes.

Feeding and cooperation

When it comes to feeding, Bjorn explains that the pigeons are fed Matador feed. In addition, the pigeons of Luc & George Hayen and Stefan Steenbergen, who have been crossed with the Knaepen pigeons in recent years, have contributed greatly to the success.

Danny and Bjorn, on behalf of all your colleagues in the Herbots team, congratulations on this provincial victory!

Maarten Herbots