Herbots | La Chatre II: Yearlings

Anyone who follows pigeon racing will undoubtedly have noticed the outstanding achievement of Team Ariën – De Keyser – Kaier from Houwaart (near Tielt-Winge). They claimed the three fastest pigeons in the National La Châtre race against a field of 12,267 competitors. A result worthy of being framed and hung on the wall! Curious to learn more, we travelled to Houwaart to congratulate Team Ariën–De Keyser–Kaier.

We were welcomed by Pascal Ariën and loft manager Alessandro Beringhs. A few minutes later, Alessandro stood proudly in front of our camera holding the hen "Rani", while Pascal posed with the cock "Zorro."

Pascal smiled:

“I still can't believe it, and every now and then I secretly pinch myself just to make sure I'm not dreaming. Last week we came very close by winning 2nd National Tours against 7,968 pigeons, but this time it's truly a masterpiece produced by our Willem de Bruijn pigeons. And it should certainly be mentioned that they achieved it under extremely tough racing conditions. In weather like that, only truly exceptional pigeons can win.”

“We had just settled down to wait for the pigeons when we spotted two birds racing straight towards the loft. They flew slightly past their section before circling back on the right-hand side and diving onto the landing board. The hen Rani crossed the trap first and was clocked at 2:38:07 p.m. The cock Zorro's section was a few landing boards further along, and the beep of his electronic clock echoed through Houwaart just four seconds later.”

“Both winners are original Willem de Bruijn pigeons (their pedigrees can be found later in the photo report). This outstanding result is the product of the cooperation between Xing Wei (Kaier), Willem de Bruijn, and our own team. The project was launched last year and, if everything continues to go according to plan, we hope to finish the season with the title of 1st National KBDB Ace Pigeon Small Middle Distance (Old & Yearlings), and now we've added this incredible national 1-2-3 at La Châtre. If you ask me, it's been an exceptional season.”

Nest Racing

We'll publish a more detailed report on Team Ariën's racing system during the coming winter, but we can already reveal that the racing team competed on the total widowhood system throughout most of the season. However, for the final two national races, they were raced on the nest.

Pascal explains:

“When all the races were rightly cancelled because of the extreme heat, we decided to leave the cocks and hens together and continue racing them in nest condition. For Tours they were basketed immediately after laying, and for La Châtre they had been incubating for about seven days. They had built nests everywhere—some on the floor, others behind a board, and some inside their nest boxes. Once they were racing on the nest, they no longer trained around the loft. Instead, I took them twice a week for a 30-kilometre training toss.”

The hen Rani was in sensational form, as shown by her last four races:

1st Melun against 1,969 pigeons (04/07)

3rd Soissons against 922 pigeons (11/07)

2nd Provincial Tours (18/07)

1st National La Châtre and Fastest of all 12,267 pigeons

With this La Châtre victory, Pascal celebrated his 10th national win, further confirming his exceptional ability to bring a racing loft to the very highest level.

As promised, we'll return this winter with a comprehensive report on the management and racing system behind this outstanding colony.