Herbots | Bourges II: Yearlings

Bourges and Davy Tournelle… what an incredible partnership those two have! In 2024, he won 1st National Bourges II against 7,617 old birds with "Tiesto Mulan". In 2025, he claimed another victory by winning 1st National Bourges II against 21,502 young birds (also the fastest of all 34,429 pigeons entered) with "My Dream". And now Davy has added another chapter by winning 1st National Bourges II for yearlings with "Simonne". Has the same fancier ever won multiple national victories on the same race before? As far as we can remember, the answer is no.

The pressure of the National Ace Pigeon competition

Winning a national race is, of course, a fantastic achievement, but earning top positions in the KBDB National Ace Pigeon competition brings a different kind of satisfaction. The battle for the National Ace Pigeon titles is incredibly competitive. Every detail, both in the preparation and during the race itself, has to fall into place; otherwise, everything can go wrong.

Before the arrival from Bourges, Davy was already highly ranked in the KBDB National Yearling Great Middle Distance Ace Pigeon standings. Naturally, the arrival of those particular pigeons was followed even more closely than the others.

"Suddenly, one was sitting there incredibly early," Davy recalls. "Perhaps because of the stress, I released the dropper too quickly. The arriving Bourges pigeon was startled and flew back into the air. At that moment, seconds feel like minutes. Eventually, my first pigeon was clocked at 2:06:03 p.m., recording an average speed of 1,241.00 metres per minute. None of the 9,070 competing yearlings was faster, securing my tenth national victory! And yes… the pigeons competing for the KBDB National Ace Pigeon rankings also performed superbly. The final standings were:

"329-25": 2nd KBDB National Ace Pigeon Great Middle Distance Yearlings 2026
"343-25": 8th KBDB National Ace Pigeon Great Middle Distance Yearlings 2026
"761-25": 9th KBDB National Ace Pigeon Great Middle Distance Yearlings 2026

A word of thanks to his parents

We will publish a more detailed report this winter about Davy's racing system, but he specifically wanted to express his gratitude to his parents.

Davy explains: "I receive tremendous support from my mother Ann and my father Patrick. Without them, competing at this level would simply not be possible. I still work full-time every day, and everyone knows that I almost never arrive at the marking station with just a small basket. No... I enjoy racing a large team of pigeons. My father takes care of the breeders, all the aviary pigeons and the training tosses. I look after the racing team, and together everything falls into place."

When passion is the driving force, even a tremendous workload feels lighter, especially when it is rewarded with achievements such as a national victory and several KBDB National Ace Pigeon titles.