August 20, 2013
By dlesofski
Canadian Champion Silvio Mattacchione
© By Silvio Mattacchione BA MA
The very first running of the Canadian International One Loft race took place in August 2010.Founded and operated by Tony Alves and now in its fourth year it has become Canada’s largest one loft race. I attended the 2010 inaugural event together with my good friend from St. Augustine, Florida Mr. Glenn Shrader. It was quite an event, good conversation with old friends, lots of food and a large turnout of participants from all over Canada and some from Florida and several other US including those states bordering Canada. I remember well how the organizer and the crowd were dismayed as the projected time of arrival came and went and the anxiety as everyone present realized that we were in for a very long day. With only 17 birds arriving on the first day the race, 350 miles from Cochrane, Ontario was a difficult one with the 1st bird finally arriving at about 5:50 PM and the 17th and last of that first day arriving at about 8:23 PM. Gardi Gamboa and I had entered a team in this race as “Philipians-Silvio” and we clocked two birds to score 4th and 7th. After our 4th placed bird arrived the organizers announced the arrival of the 5th placed bird bred by “Gallo Loft”! Gallo Loft? Interesting I had never heard the name before? Thought to myself “wonder who these people are?” and then thought no more about it until the 2011 event and low and behold there was that “Gallo Loft” again and this time they were equal 1st (4th, 11th and positions) as well as 1st average speed Champion .I made a mental note to myself to take some time to find out a little more about “Gallo Loft” but unfortunately never did find the time to do so. Another year had gone by and here we were again at the 3rd running of the Canadian International and to my great surprise and I am sure to that of many others “Gallo Loft” scored again and this time they were equal 1st with all three birds clocking , incredibly at exactly the same time.
Well there was now no doubt about it I made it a point of finding out who “Gallo Loft” was.
Well it turns out that “Gallo Loft” is a Florida based loft and a member of the “Gulfcoast Homing Club” also known as the GHC of Springhill Florida. This “Springhill” area is often referred to as “Little Belgium” and is certainly, when it comes to serious racing pigeon enthusiasts, not for the faint of heart. Located on the west coast of Florida some 35 miles north of Tampa the GHC is the largest club in the USA with over 200 active members. It is also interesting to note that the GHC is made up of a “who is who” of the very best known names in American racing. From all over the USA serious local American Champions retire to the Gulf Coast to race against each other. These are serious competitors, they are the very best .They expect no quarter and give no quarter, they are there for only one reason, to win, but as we all know there can only be one winner and the rest must settle for scoring on the first sheet! Let us say that for all of the alleged Champions racing in “little Belgium” can certainly be a humbling experience!
Gallo Loft or rather Manuel Rodriguez the owner of Gallo Loft is a Cuban/American, born in Havana, Cuba, a landscaper by occupation and a telephone technician by training. Married to his wife Kathya with three children, two sons and a daughter. Rodriguez moved to the USA in 1992 and did not start racing in Florida until 2004 but he has kept pigeons since he was a very young lad. Manuel Rodriguez who everyone calls “Manny” is assisted to a great degree by his wife who helps attend to their needs including all aspects relating to feeding, loft cleaning when necessary and receiving of the birds during training. As they say behind every good man is an exceptional woman and the Manny case is no exception.
As I began my research it was apparent that there were a lot of fanciers in Canada taking note of the Gallo Results and many were speaking of a pair called the “Chocolate Bar Pair”? Since my longtime friend Ed Minnville operated the largest pigeon supply business in the USA I called him to make inquiries regarding Gallo Lofts and this “Golden Couple” especially the cock called “Classic Boy”. It turns out that I could not have called a more knowledgeable person on this matter given (that Ed had bred the mother to “Classic Boy” and owned the Father called “Persues” as well!) and Ed had nothing but the very highest respect for Manny and his abilities as both a breeder and racer of exceptional racing pigeons.
Ed patiently related the story of “Classic Boy” and how chance brought together three key players that included Manny Rodriguez.
The “Chocolate Bar Pair” came to prominence as the direct result of the talents of three very different racing pigeon enthusiasts. All three were absolutely essential, all three equally indispensable to this success story. One was my good friend Ed Minvielle of Louisiana, the second was Mike Cortes of Puerto Rico and the third and final person was Manuel Rodriguez of Springhill, Florida. Together, and totally by chance they formed and incredibly powerful triangle of success, and I personally believe that the best is still to come.
Ed Minvielle was the breeder of the hen of the Chocolate Bar Pair“Andromeda” AU 2005-A-25341.There is no doubt in my mind that the Mitochondrial DNA supplied by this hen was paramount and without this carefully prepared female line the story might have been very different indeed (see my detailed article at http://www.silvio-co.com/pigeons/pdf/Mitochondrial-DNA-Explained.pdf ). Mike Cortes of Puerto Rico selected and purchased “Andromeda” AU 2005-A 25341 at auction in 2005 and then mated “Andromeda” to “Persues” AU-NWIN-08-99 and the result of this pairing in 2009 was a young cock with brown bars 2009-ISA-4014 that was sent to the Gulf Coast Classic in 2009 and handled by Manuel Rodriguez .Well the rest as they say is indeed history because the young blue cock with brown bars under the skillful handling of his totally dedicated trainer Manuel Rodriguez decimated his competition and won 1st place Gulf Coast Classic in 2009.The winnings shared by Mike Cortes and Manuel Rodriguez were substantial and even more important the Floridian Manuel Rodriguez got to keep the young cock whom he appropriately named “Classic Boy”. An incredible victory for all three men!
Manny advised as follows when I asked if he had known early on that “Classic Boy” was special.
“Classic boy is special… because he has all the qualities that I want in a pigeon. In the beginning of loft flight he was injured in a wing. He was in recovery for one month. After I brought him back to loft flight he didn’t want to fly. I sent him directly to 50 miles race. He arrived the next day. From that moment on he went to all the training, he always arrived late. But little by little he advanced in his training. When the first race came of 150 miles, he got 118th place. In the second race of 200 miles, he arrived too late. In the final Classic Race, I received three birds together. Classic boy clocked in first. From there on was when I realized that he was a special bird.”
As one reviews the racing results of Manny Rodriguez over the past nine years since he began racing in 2004 I think it is obvious that he has a sixth sense when it comes to taking care of his birds and furthering there training. It seems to come very naturally to him and he has his own methods of handling the birds which are second to none as the results only to readily attest.
Gallo Foundation Pair – Old Line Clausing Inbred to The Young Artist!
The base of the Gallo Line of racing pigeons is comprised of pigeons originating from the Clausing line. These Clausing pigeons were developed by David Clausing of Florida from birds of Houben origin (same source as the original Janssen Brothers stock). Therefore the Gallo loft is made up of essentially 80% Clausing Line pigeons. Manny’s foundation cock is a bird he calls “Eddy #1”given to him by a friend and his foundation hen he purchased for a modest $200.00. These two pigeons both bred from original “Clausing stock” represent the old original Clausing line. Mated together these two specimens remain to this day an exceptional foundation pair for the Gallo Line based upon the Clausing Line racing pigeons. I wanted to have an idea of just how good “Eddy #1” was so I spoke with David Clausing asking him for input.
