Orleans and St.Quentin…1st September, the end of a bruising season…

A statue of Joan of Arc in the Place du Martoi, Orleans..

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At the end of a tough season.. two races were held on Saturday 1st September. Most fanciers in the Combine have lost many birds this year especially youngsters and that can be seen in the massively reduced birdage for the famous Orleans Junior Derby.  Most fanciers spoken to have been very careful with the young cocks of 2012 and they have been kept at home to compete as yearlings next year. This includes ourselves.

Orleans is the vinegar capital of France, and was liberated from the British by Joan of Arc in 1429, after a ten-day siege. Each year in May a celebration commemorating her exploits is held; and every year the Dutch hold their Junior Young Bird Derby from the historic town in the Loire valley.

 

These days the race is not open to the entire country due to restrictions from the Animals League, however the four Rayons (Sections) running from east to west of the entire country compete and look forward to this most prestigious event. This year however the entry numbers have plummeted due to this seasons extraordinary losses.

The ‘Tot Weerziens’ club in Nieuwendijk sent just 94 birds to the club race and the super little hen NL12-1737098 maybe a star of the future?.. was good enough for 2nd place. She also won 3rd Altenna & Raamsdonksveer Fed against 384 birds,5th Union de Baronie against 1608 birds and the very credible 51st National NPO against 7795 birds.

She is bred from NL11-1867164 a winner of 30th Nat.NPO Orleans 2011 against 9030 birds as a youngster. He is a son of Young King himself a winner of 3rd Nat.NPO Orleans also as a youngster against 14,014 birds and two weeks later he then won 21st Nat.NPO Orleans 11 against 9003 birds. He is bred from our great pair the ‘Young Couple’ when he was paired to our super racer and breeder ‘Chanel’ a winner of 1st Orleans 2437 b ~ 3rd NPO Orleans 9800 b ~ 5th NPO Orleans 14.041 b ~ 2nd Strombeek 8402 b ~ 8th Creil 14.323 b ~11th Creil 8567 b ~ 14th Pithiviers 16.334 b ~  30th Pommeroeul 8567 b.

Dam of NL12-1737098 is NL11-1867270 and she raced supremely well as a youngster to achieve 13th Dutch National Ace Youngster W.H.Z.B. for her string of results. She is bred from ‘Mario’ a son of ‘Di Caprio’ of Heremans Ceusters (now owned by Dirk Van Dyke) when he was paired to ‘Elisa’ a daughter of ‘Drum’ x ‘Doran’ therefore a full sister to our good cock ‘Johannesburg’ and Crehan & O’Conners famous ‘Mystique’.

 

 

Second race of the day was a Natour race (Any Age) from St.Quentin a distance of 244 km to Nieuwendijk.

From a club entry of 317 birds the team of 19 that was made up of  mainly old birds won 1st,2nd,3rd,4th. In the Altenna & Raamsdonksveer Fed against 1218 birds it was 1st,25th,26th,27th, Union de Baronie against 3519 birds 1st and in the overall Combine race of the Rayon Brabant 2000 against 13.618 birds she won 2nd prize. Our great hen NL11-1867150 was beaten by a clear 22 meters per minute in the Rayon by a very worthy 3 year old raced by Mr Ros of Schijf. Maybe this is one to try to bring to our own breeding loft?

Our winner was very early being 7 minutes ahead in the club from our second arrival that won 2nd club. This hen has many top results also winning as a youngster and her nest mate has also won including 30th National NPO Orleans as a youngster against 10.473 birds. She is also bred in the ‘Purple’…her sire is a son of the ‘Super 8’ one of our new very top breeders. He is from the original Ganus/van der Weijst bloodline and his pedigree is full of fantastic performers like ‘Joep’ ~ ‘ Golden Mattens’ ~ ‘Sissi’ . ‘Super 8’ is really top class and will go on to be one of our very best ever!!

Dam of NL11-1867150 is NL10-3056738 a winner herself of several first prizes in the club and 4th Combine Pommeroeul 6369 birds plus 14th National NPO as a yearling against 6783 birds. She is bred from ‘Hannibal’ when he was paired to our top hen ‘Genie’ (‘Drum’ x ‘Gerrie’). We have now decided to retire ‘738’ to the breeding loft even though she is so young. The way she is bred together with her racing and breeding results would make her very difficult to replace if we lost her.