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Tom Smith’s Sports Talk – April 1st 1994 – Staf Van Reet of Mol *
Once again we headed for Mol, Belgium, the home of the “speedmaster”, Staf Van Reet. I had been in touch with Staf throughout the year and was looking forward to handling his team of speed pigeons bred mainly in 1989 that had one a total of 139 1st in 4 years: 1990 – 1993. I was particularly interested because most of the team was sold to a well known Van Reet specialist in England for a small fortune, but they were not to be delivered until the end of the summer, so it was my last opportunity to handle them, and handle them I did! Among them were such pigeons as Vechter, winner of 13 x 1st; Bliksem, winner of 16 x 1st; Bijtner, winner of 7 x 1st; Nieuwe Vosse Wittekop, 11 x 1st; Vale Sprinter, 6 x 1st; Donkere Blauwe Kampieon, 7 x 1st; Lichte Blauwe Kampieon, 12 x 1st; Nieuwe Donkere Daniel, 6 x 1st; and Jonge Peggar, 10 x 1st. And that was upto the end of 1992. Van Reet specialists are calling these the new generation because there are several new crosses into the old family.
After a warm greeting by Staf & his lovely wife, we headed to the third floor of his home where the fliers are located. There they were in all their glory, breeding a late round of youngsters. I handled them all as I listened intently to Staf’s commentary, from their racing exploits & their individual personalities to their pedigrees.
Vechter & Bijter are brothers, their sire is Kleine Donkere, a son of Donkere Witpen Daniel van 1983 (17 x 1st) son of the Daniel & Louchardt Duivin, when mated to the Borgman Duivin of 1980. Their dam is De Goede Blauw Witpen Duivin van 1988 (dtr of Late Beschelpte Witkop van 1986 son of Donkere Witpen Daniel x De Borgmans Duivin) when mated to Dikke Duivin (dtr of Grote Vale Daniel van 1981 & De 86 Duivin). Bliksem & Nieuwe Donkere Daniel are also brothers. Their sire is Jonge Donkere Witpen Daniel of 1988 (son of Donkere Witpen Daniel, 7 x 1st x De Borgmans Duivin). Their dam is Duivin Duits Kweekkoppel 1988 sister of De Limoges, the double 1st National Limoges winner for Verstappen – Van Reet. Nieuwe Vosse Wittekop, along with brothers De 996 (6 x 1st) De 190 (10 x 1st) De Goede Vale (15 x 1st) are all sons of the famous Vosse Wittekop 1980 son of the Daniel (57 x 1st) son of Genopte Witpen van 1968 x De Janssen Duivin van 1969 when mated to Vosse Kweekduivin (dtr of Goede Vos 1970, 22 x 1st & the Vermeyan Duivin 1961. Lichte Blauwe Kampioen was bred from Goede Blauwe 053 (9 x 1st) son of Vosse Wittekop x Tienneke (dtr Dikke Prins, 26 x 1st x De Hofkens Duivin). His dam is Zuster Verige (sister of Verige, 1st National Bourges) when mated to Mussekopke, dtr of Dikke Prins (26 x 1st) x De Hofkens Duivin. Jonge Peggar is a son of Peggar (7 x 1st) when mated to sister of the double 1st National Limoges winner.
All these pigeons are sprint pigeons with plenty of muscle, sparkling eyes, strong backs, good feather & vibrant. Seeing them as a group is a sight to behold. It amazed me that Staf was selling all his aces at one time. I asked him how he could do this & he said: “Tom, I’ll breed another team, in fact, I’ve already bred the replacements...just look at Favori. He won 6 x 1st this year as a yearling & could have won several more races but he is a bad trapper!” Remember Staf is the man that sold Dikke Prinz winner of 22 x 1st to Jan Grondelaers & sold his brother, the one & only Daniel (57 x 1st). In 1989 he sold most of his breeding team to England, but of course he had a reserve team of brothers, sisters, sons & daughters to start his new team.
I asked Staf how he breeds such pigeons & he said: “Tom, don’t believe all those theories. First you have to have the family, the right pigeons for the distance you want to compete at; then you have to know how to handle them; & finally you have to race them. The same goes for breeding. Once you have the family you study it, get a feeling for the birds, mate them up & race the offspring. No tricks, no secrets”. Wow! Here’s a man that has won over 600 x 1sts in speed races of 100miles, many Fond races 300-500miles, & two Nationals, & he says “There are no secrets, just good pigeons & handlers”.
I then asked Staf about the composition of the Van Reet family today. Staf said that originally the family was based on the Janssen Brothers, Arendonk strain because his father was interested in the short races & the most famous fliers in the area were Janssen Bros. As time went on, other pigeons were crossed in to try & improve their performances. A Herman’s, a Hofkens, several Marien-Meulemans, a Vermeyan, a few Hufkens, other Janssens, a Van Ravenstein, a Borgmans-Janssen, a few Stan Raeymaekers & several Soontjens were crossed in over the past 40 years. Usually an exchange was made with another top flier such as the time he exchanged two birds with Gust Hofkens after beating him for 1st in a big championship. At other times, Staf read or heard of a top flier in the area & bought from his best to cross in.
These new introductions would be mated on to the best of the Van Reets & their offspring flown. If the offspring won, the cross was kept; if not, they were all culled. Take a look at the new young champion Favori 659426 B’92 BBC (6 x 1st) as a yearling. His sire, Grote Tom, was bred from the Geschelpte Soontjens Cock x dtr Daniel. His dam, Lichte Frou-Frouke is a granddaughter of Donkere Witpen Daniel, the Dikke Duivin & the Borgmans Janssen Duivin. So this young cock which Staf says of “I have never had a better yearling”, is ¾ Van Reet ¼ Soontjens. Staf says, “That’s why you need to add a good cross once in a while!”.
Joseph Soontjens was one of the greatest winning short distance champions in Belgium during the 1980’s with his Janssen based family, but he retired & sold his whole loft to Taiwan for a fortune a few years ago. His foundation cock was Old Tom (13 x 1st) & the foundation hen was The Wolf, parents of Geschifte (22 x 1st) Jan (16 x 1st) & Late Tom (3 x 1st) which is sire of De Blue Lichte (3 x 1st) sire of Vet Bol (12 x 1st) etc. Staf of course had his best & you will see Oude Tom, Grote Tom, Late Tom & Geschifte in many of his pedigrees.
Staf has also used the blood of the Verstappen – Van Reet National winners in his short distance loft. Relatives of the famous Limoges Cock, the double 1st Limoges National 409 miles, winner against 16,000 plus birds, bred from Blauwe Dimke son of Stan Raeymakers’ Favoriet 1977 (12 x 1st), half brother of Van Reet’s Daniel (from Daniel’s dam De Janssen Duivin x 1st Provincial Ace Pigeon Middle Distance Antwerp) x daughter of Schouwmann Janssen Bros Arendonk. Limoges’ dam is Zwarte Van Ravenstein Duivin. De La Souterraine winner of 1st National La Souterraine Yearlings (379miles, 2,135b) 1992 was bred from a cock that is again Stan Raeymakers x Meulemans. Her dam is Meulemans x Janssen. These pigeons are being crossed in this year & will be tried in the future. In fact, before the Widowhood aces were sold this past summer they were mated on all the Verstappen – Van Reet aces for future breeding. Another top National winning pigeon being used was not flown by Verstappen-Van Reet, but is bred from their blood. Vurige, winner of 1st National Bourges (300miles 3,048b) bred from Bonte Delen son of Meulemans’ Schoondonker. Vurige’s dam is Princess Van Reet of 1977.
Staf told me about the other key pigeons such as De Chinees, Stan, Mussekopke, Tienneke, Schone Blauwe Schellens etc. One interesting story was about De Chinees, a superior breeding cock that bred many top races including the two aces Dark Blue Witpen & his brother Schoondonker, winners of 1st National Palieter-Criterium Championship in 1987 for Verstappen-Van Reet. De Chinees was brought from his friend Stan Raeymakers & was the son of the original Chinees, twice 1st Ace Pigeon of Antwerp against thousands of pigeons. Stan Raeymakers was an editor & a top flier. He & Staf became good friends through the pigeons. Staf & Alois named their 1st Provincial Brive winner Kleine Stan (400miles, 1493b, and 1375ypm). This blood was also introduced into the speed loft with great results. Stan was bred from a Stan Raeymakers cock off a daughter of Janssen Bros Arendonk famous 019. His dam was De Souterraine Duivin bred from Marien-Meulemans x Janssen Bros. When you study the pedigrees of many of these outcross pigeons you can see a common ancestry with the Van Reet family. Over the years several pigeons stand out in the pedigrees of Van Reet’s winning pigeons, & with over 600 x 1sts there are many, many individual winners.
One thing Staf did say was not to get caught in the past, that is always try to improve. That is why he adds new blood to his already successful family. A few years ago he & Tom Hufkens, the National Ace Sprint Champion KDBD, made an exchange of several top breeders which they mated to their own top pigeons, bred from for a season, then returned the breeders at the end of the season. In this way both men profited.
After a couple of hours Staf asked me if I would like to visit any fliers in the area & I said “Yes, how about the Janssen Bros....and Karel Meulemans....” Staf said: “Let’s go”. “But don’t we have to call first?” “No, I’ve known the brothers since I was a small boy; let’s go”. I told Gigi to go shopping in Mol, & that I would be back in an hour or two. I was looking forward to this visit because it had been a few years since I last saw the brothers & they weren’t getting any younger. We headed down to the garage where Staf said he had a surprise to show me. He knows I love cars, & there it was his new grey Mercedes-SL convertible! What a machine! Staf says he drove into the Mercedes Benz dealership to get service on his old Benz, saw the new two-seater sports model, loved it at first sight, said to the salesman, “How much.... if I pay cash?” “Almost 3million francs”. After a few minutes of negotiating, Staf was the new owner. And I was about to get the ride of my life in it! Staf was driving like Nigel Mansell with the top down & blasting Lou Rawls on the stereo. Soon we were in Arendonk & had a great visit, but that will have to wait until a future article....
That night Staf & his wife took Gigi & I to dinner where we were joined by several of Van Reet’s friends. One was a fancier by the name of Walter Van Dyck who onced owned the local hotel. Walter is a businessman who flies well considering the lack of time he has. He flies Van Reets & Flor Engels pigeons. He says the Van Reets fly well to 300 while the Engels fly all the way to 500miles. Later I handled several of his winners & they were outstanding specimens. Soon it was time to head back to Mol, visited Staf & his wife for a few more hours & then off we went to visit another great loft.
*with kind permission from the author & the British Homing World.
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