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Staf Van Reet of Mol* “The fastest pigeons in the world” – it’s a common claim, especially in magazines and clubs. Many different fanciers have made the claim. Staf Van Reet, of Mol, has never been guilty of such statements – but others extol the virtues of his pigeons.
Staf has always had a breeding pair which produced one good flyer after another. Pigeons which easily flew to dozens of first prizes, almost always on pure speed; from Quivrain.
As many as 22 times, his birds have been the fastest in the entire province of Antwerp. According to Reet himself, more than 100,000 pigeons from the province are actually released from Quivrain each week.
Staf was born in 1935. His grandfather was a “fancier” , & from his earliest years, Staf was involved with the pigeons. His grandfather answered to the name Staf Snijers & Van Reet can still remember when, at the age of 10, he went with him to Janssen’s.
It was not entirely by chance that the Arendonk grandfather did so well. Janssen’s cousin lived next door to Van Reet.
Grandfather Snijers was a person who had to spend money on his pigeons. Through a Mr Vreys in Lommel, who went to Janssen to buy some birds, grandfather Snijers came into possession of the pure Janssen strain. He had also bought two pigeons from the sale by the famous Louis Vermeyen.
The Vermeyen type seemed to “match” the Janssen pigeons very well. In 1961, grandfather Van Reet died & the pigeons were sold. Van Reet bought the 8 which were, in his opinion, the best, & amongst these were three half-brothers. Pigeons bred from the same Vermeyen female with 3 different males of the Janssen strain via Vreys.
With the 3 half brothers Van Reet defeated all the competition in Mol & the surrounding area in 1962, 1963 & 1964.
He bought 2 pigeons, a Schalie female from a Vos breeder – which went missing from the coop - & a male.
The Cock was a direct descendent of “Halve Fabry of 60”, which was also the progenitor of “Oude Witoger of 65”. He was then paired with a female bred from the Vermeyan/Janssen cross.
From this pair, Van Reet got the legendary “Janssen pigeon of 69”. Together with the “Genopte Witpen of 68”, they formed Van Reet’s “Golden Pair”.
The “Genopte Witpen” was bred from a Vos, directly descended from “Natural”, & a daughter of “Blauwe of 57”. The latter was one of the 3 half brothers & a fantastic flyer.
The Golden Pair actually came about by chance. The Cock appeared regularly early every Sunday but, to the great sorrow of Staf, obstinately refused to trap. To the point where he stopped thinking about flying & “in anger” took him to the breeding coop.
As a young bird, the female had already proved her quality by winning 3 first prizes.
The first young produced by the pair was the “Prins of 72”.
As a young bird he never saw the basket, & as a yearling was suddenly thrown in at the deep end. After a few failures, which can be expected from such an inexperienced pigeon, he emerged in Quivrain as a flyer to beat them all. In this 132klm flight, he took 32 first prizes until clever Jan Grondelaers got wind of the existance of the high flyer. In 1978, “Prins of 72” moved to Opglabbeek for a substantial sum, & the following year showed what a connoisseur Grondelaers is. From Prins he bred his Stuka, famous in two ways: Stuka would race home to the coop so incredibly fast that on four occasions, not even Jan himself or any of his watchers saw him arrive. Jan heard him each time without seeing a feather, just a thump on the floor of the loft. Another feature of Stuka (B-79-5185502) was that he won 12 first prizes.
It is interesting to hear how Prins got his name. Borgmans from Turnhout, who at that time was racing through the Noyon flights like a hurricane, bought a female from Van Reet ‘s “Golden Pair”. She bred so well that Borgmans called her his “Prinses”. It struck Staf Van Reet as a suitable name, so the “Prinsen” family was created by Van Reet. In the plural, as you can’t call a breeding pair a :Golden Pair” if they only have one youngster.
In 1974, the Dikke Prins was born (B-74-6710998). He flew 26 first prizes. Still in 1974, the “Witoog Prins” was born (B-74-670895), but before his season began, broke one of his wings. Fortunately as it happens, he was rehoused in the breeding coop & there produced several first prize winners, the most famous the “Genopte Witpen of 76”.
1976 is the year the most spectacular son of the breeding pair was born, Daniel (B-76-6635973). He flew no less than 57 firsts.
The Kleine Prins (B-76-6721975) is a brother of the Daniel. From him in 1983, he bred a female who won 9 first prizes.
In 1978, the “Prins of 78” was born from the Golden Pair (B-78-7722716). He flew only as a yearling & a 2-year old. That didn’t prevent him taking 12 firsts.
From 1972 to 1976, Staf flew in partnership with Frans Verbruggen. In 1975, a flight from Limoges, 11 birds were entered & 10 were clocked in within 11 minutes. In the national results, “Van Reet, of Mol” stole the show with 10 prizes starting with 4th, 7th, & 9th overall. 31,000 BF were bet & the 10 pigeons bought home 197,000 BF.
In 1975, the Van Reet/Verbruggen combination was crowned Champion of the East Antwerp Area.
*Reproduced courtesy of Dean Pallatt, Leicester, England.
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