Hertzog Family Loft 103/21
BB Cock
Super nice young cock. These Vandenabeele bloodlines perform all over the world.
Father: FVC 1255/19
One of the stock breeders for the team of Mark Evans
is Champion Shadow BE95-3211313 (bred by Gaby
Vandenabeele). He is a tremendous pigeon that bred 6 generations of race winners, including 30 first prizes in the Open Classics or in national races. His descendants have won:
1st National Alencon 6,823 birds
1st National Messac 7,000 birds
1st National Angers 5,977 birds
1st National Eastbourne 7,312 birds
1st National Lillers 10,601 birds
1st National Vire 4,756 birds
1st National Bordeaux 1,339 birds
1st National Nants 10,148 birds
1st National Maidstone 4,472 birds
1st National Guernsey 2,433 birds
1st National Clermont 5,434 birds
1st National Fougeres 1,427 birds
1st National Carentan 5,103 birds
1st National Alencon 6,590 birds
1st National Tours 4,315 birds
1st National Picauville 3,192 birds
As well as 7 x 2nd National, 6 x 3rd National, etc.
Other fantastic Gaby Vandenabeele breeders are Jester
BE.95.3211309 and Carrie BE95.3211317 (both bred
by Gaby Vandenabeele). Their bloodlines appear in the
pedigrees of over 15 1st Open National winners
Mother: CBS 268/21
Inbred to Rudy
Having the chance to learn everything about pigeon fancying at an early age is an undeniable advantage. Gaby learned a lot from his father Gentiel, who was a great champion as well. When starting out on his own in 1976, Gaby already had a lot of knowledge about the sport and he could always turn to his father for advice. This allowed him to reach a high level of performance fairly quickly, initially in the sprint and middle distance competition.
His impressive career started when Gaby borrowed the renowned Zitterke pigeon from Jozef Delodder. Gaby could not find a good partner for Zitterke right away so it was paired to the phenomenal breeding hen Ameyke from his good friend Gilbert Van Parijs (Aarsele, BE) first. Gilbert had been particularly successful in the region with descendants of this invaluable stock dam, which was often paired to his Angoulême. In his total auction in late 1983 his stock dam was transferred to the Norman pigeon family, where she laid the foundation for a number of national first prizes!
This hen was paired to Zitterke and they bred Gaby Vandenabeele’s outstanding number one stock sire Kleinen BE81-3238253, whose direct descendants have really rocketed the Vandenabeele pigeon family to the top nationally. They were so successful that the neighbouring clubs did not want to basket the Vandenabeele pigeons; they were simply too strong! This means Gaby had no choice but to shift his focus to the provincial and national classics. Such champions as Picanol, Fideel, Turbo and of course the amazing mister Wittenbuik were all direct sons of Kleinen and they really overpowered their opponents in quite a number of races!
Fideel (2nd nat. Limoges 6,991 p. in 1985) was very close to winning a national first prize but Gaby’s very first national victory was won by his pigeon Rambo, which won a 1st Nat. Bourges against 13,116 old birds in 1988, the season in which his now world famous Wittenbuik was born. The Vandenabeele pigeon family then started to develop quickly and Gaby soon became an internationally acknowledged fancier. Wittenbuik was outstanding both as a breeder and a racing bird! His success story has been extensively reported in the press. He was the second leading figure of the Vandenabeele pigeon family after his father and he is the grandfather of the third iconic pigeon in this loft, the equally legendary Bliksem. These are highly talented and invaluable pigeons whose direct descendants have played a key role in many pigeon lofts worldwide, making the Vandenabeele breed one of the most successful pigeon families worldwide.
It took a while before Gaby could find a new leading man in his loft. He had several excellent breeding pairs but it was Rudy BE06-3008003, a direct son of Bliksem, who turned out to be a top class stock pigeon. He joined the breeding team after a successful career as a racing bird, winning the following prizes:
Argenton 2,401 p. 18
Bourges 1,279 p. 19
Argenton 5,134 p. 28
Tours 2,791 p. 76
Rudy, the new stock sire
He quickly developed into a new stock pigeon ready to follow in the footsteps of his sire De Bliksem. One of his first great descendants is his son Super Romeo, winner of the title of a First Nat. Ace Pigeon Long Distance Yearlings KBDB in 2013.
Super Romeo, 1st Nat. Ace Pigeon Long Distance Yearlings KBDB 2013
Click here for a detailed description of Super Romeo
Click here for his pedigree and his list of achievements
In the meantime Super Romeo joined the breeding team as well. In addition to Rudy and his son Super Romeo, the lofts in Dentergem house several other outstanding breeding pigeons and highly successful racing birds. It would take us too long to discuss every single one of them; Benji and Lion King are just two of many world class pigeons in this loft. You can take a look at their list of achievements by clicking their name.
When creating a new breed, Gaby has always focused on his own champions (the stock lines of Kleinen, Wittenbuik, Bliksem, Rudy, Super Romeo and several others) to come up with a new team. He managed to get the most out of his own successful bloodline, which has managed to excel in many races over the past 30 years. His greatest breeders are used for artificial insemination to fertilize his best hens, allowing Gaby to breed a great number of descendants in a short period of time.
