THE GOLDEN BOY

29/01/2009 14:43:27 - by Adie McCormick

VAN HOVE-UTTERHOEVEN
1st Semi National Argenton 2008

During the autumn of 2008 I had the pleasure of once again travelling over to Belgium to meet up with some exceptional fanciers with the help of Guy Van Der Auwera of Belgica De Weerd. Now one of the first ports of call was to the Putte area of Belgium to visit the lofts of the world famous Van Hove-Uytterhoeven partnership who need absolutely no introductions to the sport of pigeon racing. They are living legends who have just not won 5x1st Nationals and seven new motor cars but have assisted many fanciers including many of the modern day European elite to where they are today with their fabulous family of pigeons., Many will probably recall an article on the partnership which was published in the Masters of Breeding book which hit the shelves during the early ’80s where it highlighted at that stage the world wide fame that this team of pigeons were achieving with the assistance  of the old Havenith bloodlines. The partnership is made up of Gust Van Hove his wonderful wife Mit who is in charge of all the young birds and is often in the garden most mornings scraping from 6am, also involved very highly in the partnership is son Geert who is a gentleman, also you have the silent but very influential Nabor Uytterhoeven who is an uncle of Gust who sits in the background and his years of experience is often called into play during any year of racing. I will go back to this partnership in another article but will give you the story on a rather special pigeon owned by the Van Hove-Uytterhoeven partnership namely ‘Golden Boy’. I will return with a more detailed loft report during 2009 on this legendry partnership but for now to give you a taste of what the family of pigeons is about please read on.

The 1994 bred ‘Golden Boy’, what a pigeon. He is a blue cock with two white feathers in one wing and in the other one white feather, and he has never raced in his life. Born by accident in fact as his sire and dam were both sold to Japan. This being the last pigeon bred from them before departure and what a world wide star he has become. Not simply by the results obtained by his children, but generation after generation all over the world fanciers are winning with the bloodlines of the ‘Golden Boy’ of Van Hove-Uytterhoeven with many Ace Pigeons and National winners attached to the bloodlines of the 1994 bred ‘Golden Boy’.

I will go into a bit of the pedigree, rather than going into every single winning descendent that has come from this particular pigeon firstly the sire of ‘Golden Boy’ was a 1990 bred pigeon called ‘Woody’ a pigeon that excelled when in the hamper, especially from Semi National or National level. Some of his results that I have selected include 5th Provincial and 21st National Bourges 16,725 pigeons, from Argenton, he finished 16th Provincial and 77th Semi National 2,979 birds and from Vierzon 85th Provincial against 4,083 birds. Sire of ‘Woody’ is none other than the 1981 bred ‘Mustang’. Now this pigeon I have come across in a few successful families winning on the continent, he is a direct son of the ‘Millionaire Pair’ namely the 1976 bred ‘Late Flippe’ when mated to ’77 bred ‘Apollo’ who got there name simply because descendents from them have won a combined million BEF prize money. If you check over all the history and family tree concerning ‘Mustang’ you will come across scores of 1st prize winners at every level, one that I recall writing about not so long ago for a website in Europe was the 1991 bred ‘Argenton’ who in fact was a grandson of ‘Mustang’. He won a catalogue of prizes in his career including 14th National Argenton with 27,499 birds competing re the name, he also won from Bourges in 1993 2nd Provincial with 3,266 pigeons competing and 6th overall in the National against 17,048 pigeons, before being sold once again like so many of the Van Hove pigeons to Japan. He was to finish 2nd Provincial 2,465 pigeons and 2nd overall in the National from Bourges again with 10,156 pigeons competing.

Now what has the family produced in the ‘Land of the Rising Sun’, too much to mention in this article, perhaps that can be part two of the Van Hove-Uytterhoeven story. But I do know that such were the results obtained from children and grandchildren from the ‘Argenton’ and of the parents of the bird himself the ‘Golden Boy’ that the pigeon market in the Far East has been a birth place for the Van Hove pigeons with many winners reported right out to 1,000km.
‘Mustang’ was mated to the 1988 bred ‘Benjo’ who was in fact a full sister to Stan Raeymaeckers 1st National winner from Limoges to produce the sire ‘Woody’ of the pigeon in question ‘Golden Boy’. Dam of ‘Golden Bo’y was the 1991 bred ‘Golden Girl’  once again a very sound racing pigeon indeed for the Van Hove family with many top prizes including in 1991 winning 1st Provincial from Bourges with 9,962 pigeons competing and then going on to win 6th in the overall National with 51,950 pigeons competing and as mentioned at the start of this article she was sold to Japan. Her sire was the pigeon that is considered by the Van Hove family to be the most famous pigeon within their lofts the 1986 bred ‘Jonge Bange II’. All children were raced from him up until the year 2000 to which he gave many very good pigeons for example one of the toughest National races ever remembered was a race from Gueret a distance of 586km the first two arrivals to the loft were direct from the ‘Jonge Bange II’ before this excellent legend of a stock cock was retired. He was himself a relatively consistent racer with positions such as 6th/294 birds; 6th/362 birds; 6th/148 birds; 13th 462 birds; 13th/1372 birds; 15th/371 birds; 31st/1,301 birds; 39th/1,355 birds; 45th/4,417 birds; 57th/676 birds; 66th/4,275 birds and 81st/1,858 birds; and in the six important races in which he participated he finished from Blois (455km) 2nd Club and 5th Provincial; Bourges (471km) 46th Provincial and 337th National 11,200 pigeons; Orleans (410km) 1st Club, 2nd Provincial 3807 pigeons; Blois once again 1st Club, 3rd Provincial and Vierzon (466km) he finished 1st Club, 2nd Provincial and 2nd Semi National 1937 pigeons. In all he won 1st prizes on a varying amount of velocities from 1000 m/minute to 1600 m/minute on varying distances from 200km to 500km.

Direct children from him included of course ‘Golden Girl’ 1st Provincial Bourges (471km) 9,962 pigeons; ‘Electric Blue’ (super breeding hen), ‘Zitterke Bange’; ‘Princess Souterraine’ 1st Provincial La Souterraine (584km) 1,816 pigeons; and ‘Bourgeske Bange’ a winner of 18th National Bourges 44,185 pigeons and also dam to the ultra successful ‘Shinjisan’ the National winner from Bourges in 2002 for Van Hove. Now for the second generation coming from the lines of the masterful ‘Jonge Bange II’ they include ‘Lambada’ 1st Semi National Tours (499km) with 4,588 pigeons competing; of course we have the ‘Golden Boy’ (perhaps one of the best breeders in the world); ‘Mozart’; ‘Miss Brasil’ a winner of 1st Ace Pigeon Antwerp Union Long Distance 1998, 2nd National Ace Pigeon BDS 1998, with race records that include 1st Club, 1st Provincial 1,545 birds in stifling heat and won the race by 10 minites. Also she was 3rd Club, 11th Provincial and 56th National Argenton with some 20,583 birds competing; 1st Club, 4th Provincial and 12th National La Souterraine with 13,488 pigeons competing. ‘Miss Dream’ 1st Ace Pigeon Kempische Fond Club 1999, 3rd Ace Pigeon Antwerp Union Long distance 1999, 7th National Ace Youngster in 1999, her most impressive results included 5th Club, 8th Provincial, 47th National 14,957 pigeons from La Souterraine (584km); 10th Club, 143rd Provincial 11,842 pigeons from Orleans; 55th Provincial and 166th National from Bourges with 44,185 pigeons competing; 5th and 76th Provincial Tours with birdage of 1093 and 2642 respectively; 34th National from Bourges with over 4,000 pigeons competing and 42nd National from La Souterraine once again with 1,892 pigeons competing on that occasion. The ‘Jonge Bange II’ was mated to the 1986 bred ‘Adona’ to produce the ‘Golden Girl’ who is dam to the ‘Golden Boy’, she won when racing 56th Provincial and 135th National from Bourges with 29,297 pigeons competing she is also dam of ‘Miss Universe’ who was 1st Ace Pigeon Long Distance in the Antwerp Union in 1996.

Now the basis for the story was to highlight the super breeder that is the ‘Golden Boy’ in particular the direct children and grandchildren in what they have achieved over the years, both on the road and in there respective stock lofts. Like all families and especially winning ones not all the information is fourthcoming when fanciers have success with your pigeons, so I can only highlight the info that I have to hand. First pigeon on the podium is Belg 96/097 ‘Oude Tornado’ he won a number of top prizes during a glittering spell in the basket they included 1st Club Tory 618 birds; 19th Club, 51st Provincial Chateauroux with 2,465 pigeons competing; 2nd Club, 8th Provincial and 20th National Bourges with 39,114 pigeons competing; 35th Semi National Montloucon 2008 birds; 9th Club, 24th Provincial and 138th National Bourges 11,396 pigeons; 321st National Limoges with over 12,000 pigeons competing and 88th Provincial Chateauroux 3198 pigeons competing. In the stock loft he was as equally dominant rearing the following prize winners: ‘Miss Telex’ 00/183 winner of 1st Pithiviers, also 48th and 206th Semi National Argenton with 7,613 and 3,243 pigeon respectively. ‘Miss Boulevard’ 00/064 winner of 335th National 15,306 pigeons, also 193rd National Chateauroux with 4,619 pigeons competing and finally another race point to highlight Vierzon where ‘Miss Boulevard’ finished 121st and 402nd Semi National with 5,047 and 13,825 pigeons competed respectively. ‘Miss Music’ 98/055 won as a young bird in 1998 5th Ace Pigeon in the Antwerp Union in the long distance Category, also she finished 351st National Argenton 20,538 pigeons; 10th Provincial and 50th National La Souterraine with 13,488 pigeons competing and 141st National from the same race point with 7,419 pigeons competing. This all achieved from one of the sons from the ‘Golden Boy’.

Second up on the podium is ‘Napoli’ 96/201 his direct children included ‘Real’ 99/187 winner of 1st Toury 315 birds and 1st Sens 361 birds. Another direct daughter ‘Miss Turbo’ 97/808 was a winner of 1st Ace Pigeon Fond Club Antwerpen; 2nd Ace Pigeon Antwerp Union Long distance 1997; 2nd Ace Pigeon BDS 1997 just behind the famous ‘Fieneke 5000’ of Flor Vervoort; her most outstanding performances included 7th Provincial from La Souterraine with 1,298 pigeons competing, 6th Provincial and 145th National Argenton 15,453 pigeons competing, 71st Provincial Orleans with 10,194 pigeons competing, 81st Provincial 2,017 pigeons competing from Vierzon and 2nd Club, 8th Provincial and 35th National Bourges with 38,169 pigeons competing. A super nest pair of grandchildren from the ‘Napoli’ included ‘Golden Oscar’ 01/149 winner of 1st Ace Pigeon Flanders Cup 2001, 1st Ace Pigeon Antwerp Union 2001, 1st National Ace Pigeon BDS, 3rd Olympic middle Distance France with the following performances 3rd Provincial and 3rd Semi National Vierzon 3,621 pigeons, 8th Provincial and 33rd National 3,515 birds from Gueret, 10th Provincial and 10th National Argenton with 23,493 pigeons competing, 17th Provincial and 92nd National against 42,763 pigeons from Bourges; 1st Club Pithiviers 624 birds, 77th Inter Provincial and 131st Semi National 8,142 pigeons and 65th National and 201st National from once again Bourges with birdage respectively of 4,674 and 16,950. Her nest mate was a pigeon called ‘Concorde’ 01/148 he was a winner from Pithiviers of 3rd/389 birds; 3rd/1017 birds, 7th/535 birds and 8th/1,367 birds, from Marne he finished 5th against 747 birds; from Chateauroux 17th Provincial and 38th Semi National with 6,018 pigeons competing, from Argenton he was to finish 59th and 71st Semi National with 3,589 and 8,142 pigeons competing respectively.

The third direct child from the ‘Golden Boy’ onto the podium is the now Mr Lai of Taiwan owned ‘Zuster Miss Tornado’ 97/008. Her direct children include ‘Bourgeske Bange’ 99/027 she won 2nd club Noyon with 873 pigeons competing, 19th Provincial Vierzon 1,682 pigeons competing and finally 10th Provincial and 18th National with 44,185 pigeons competing from Bourges a distance to 471km to the Van Hove lofts in Putte, Belgium. She is also dam to the champion racer ‘Shinjisan’ winner of the 2002 National from Bourges. Another of ‘Zuster Miss Tornado’ offspring is the ‘Zitterke Bange’ 00/146 an outstanding racer and breeder would have made a tremendous racer had she have shown more courage after finally reaching the racing loft many occasions opting to sit out. On her last two National races she won 17th Provincial and 115th National from La Souterraine with some 15,000+ pigeons competing and from Gueret she was 2nd Club, 3rd Provincial and 24th National with 9,277 pigeons competing. Yet another super hen worth a mention direct from ‘Miss Tornado’ is ‘Princess Souterraine’ 00/147 she won in the year 2000 1st Ace Pigeon Antwerp Union Long Distance, 3rd National Ace Pigeon Young birds BDS, 1st Club, 1st Provincial and 9th National La Souterraine against 15,306 pigeons, 4th Club, 7th Provincial and 44th National 9,277 pigeons, 156th Semi National and 466th National with 36,506 pigeons competing.

Now we move onto the grandchildren of the third of the children profiled from the ‘Golden Boy’, ‘Miss Helena’ 01/905 winner of 4th Club, 6th Provincial Tours 2,066 pigeons, 306th Semi National Chateauroux, 99th National and 290th National Bourges 16,950 pigeons, 254th Semi National 10,767 pigeons, from Bourges she finished 4th Provincial, 18th Provincial and 20th Provincial averaging 1700 pigeons. Another grandchild is ‘Shinji-San’ 01/059, this the Van Hove National winner from Bourges in 2002 against 16,950 pigeons and the fastest bird record from the overall convoy of 40,000 pigeons. An offer of 50,000 was turned down for him, he is also a winner of 1st Pithiviers 523 birds, 2nd Pithiviers 535 birds and 2nd Pithiviers 1,367 birds on both occasions beaten by loft mates. Still we stay with yet another grandchild from ‘Zuster Miss Tornado’, this time we have ‘Miss Bacardi 1’ Belg 00/082 yet another exceptional racer with only some of her highlights listed they include 2x1st prizes from Pithiviers a distance of 364km, 11th Provincial 5,471 birds and overall 16th National against 36,506 pigeons from Bourges, 20th Provincial and 39th National with 7,613 pigeons on this occasion competing from Argenton, 21st Provincial and 113th National Bourges yet again with 16,119 pigeons to beat on this occasion and finally from Gueret she finished 26th Provincial and 136th National with over 9,000 pigeons competing.

The fourth pigeon on the podium direct from the ‘Golden Boy’ is ‘Jonge Tornado I’ Belg 98/023. Probably the show pigeon of the loft, he can race and he can breed and also he can catch your eye. On a visit to the Van Hove lofts by Gaby Vandanabeele he picked this boy as one of his favourites. We only raced him for three years and some of his results are as follows 49th Provincial and 136th Semi National from Vierzon with close to 17,000 pigeons competing, from Chateauroux a distance of 520km he was 3rd Provincial and 32nd Semi National 9,975 pigeons, from Chateauroux yet again he was 4th Provincial and 35th Semi National also back again to Vierzon he finished 26th provincial and 66th Semi National with over 6,000 pigeons competing on that occasion. Direct children from him include ‘Venus 1’ Belg 01/037 winner of 2nd Club Sens 632 birds, also 1st Club and 2nd Provincial from Orleans with over 10,000 pigeons to beat on this occasion ‘Venus I’ was beaten to 1st place by less than one second. Also nest mate to ‘Venus I’ is named ‘Venus II’ was also to get in on the act specifically from a hard National race from Bourges she was our first arrival finishing 2nd Club, 2nd in the Antwerp Union, 5th Provincial, 15th Semi National, and 36th overall in the National result with 42,763 pigeons competing.

Fifth on the podium direct from the ‘Golden Boy’ is ‘Jonge Tornado II’ 98/024 nest mate to the previous pigeon this pigeon also was a very consistent racer as you would imagine winning 56th Provincial, 151st Semi National against 16,828 pigeons and 31st Provincial and 71st Semi National on both occasions from Vierzon, from Argenton he recorded three performances namely 72nd, 88th and 75th Provincial finishing 174th, 205th and 338th National with the following birdages 4,740, 9,864 and 9,506. Sixth pigeon to be covered is the ‘Jonge Tornado III’ Belg 98/119 a winner of 1st Toury (373km) and was the fastest of 4,440 pigeons.

Seventh to the Podium is the famous ‘Miss Tornado’ Belg 99/047. What a pleasure this pigeon is, she was winner of 1st Ace Pigeon Antwerpen Fond Club in 1999, also 1st Ace Pigeon Antwerp Union Long Distance 1999, 2nd National Ace Pigeon Young Birds BDS, 4th Olympic pigeon Middle Distance (300-600km) 2001, wins included 1st Club, 5th Provincial 1682 pigeons, 3x1st Clubs from La Souterraine each time finishing 1st Provincial, 71st National 9,061 pigeons, 2nd provincial 26th National 14,957 pigeons and 2nd Provincial again this time finishing 13th National, also she recorded a good result from the Argenton National finishing 24th Provincial and 63rd in the National with over 21,000+ pigeons competing and not finished there she also scored from Orleans recording a 4th Club after three loft mates finishing 96th in the Provincial result with over 11,000+ pigeons competing. Direct children from her include ‘Miss Victoria I’ Belg 01/054 a winner of 1st Sens 1,208 pigeons and the fastest recorded from 10,000 pigeons; 7th Provincial and 7th National from Argenton with 23,493 pigeons competing and the following one being 294th National from a liberation of 16,950 pigeon from Bourges. Another direct daughter is ‘Miss Victoria II’ Belg 01/223 a winner of 1st Pithiviers 446 pigeons, 2nd Pithiviers 386 pigeons, 17th Provincial and 26th Semi National 8,142 pigeons, 15th Provincial and 23rd National 9,308 pigeons from Chateauroux, also 7th Provincial and 17th National from Argenton beating 3,572 other pigeons, and again from Argenton 57th National with over 10,000 pigeons competing from Bourges a 13th place finish in the Provincial and a respectable 77th National with 42,763 pigeons competing. Also in 2002 a couple of super youngsters started to perform for the Van Hove loft and from the big National race from Bourges they were the two first pigeons to the loft finishing 95th and 98th National with 40,471 pigeons competing. They were both from ‘Miss Tornado’ and named ‘Miss Happy II’ and ‘Miss Happy III’ you may ask why not ‘Miss Birthday I’ well she already was named after finishing 22nd Provincial and 153rd from La Souterraine a distance of 584km and for many this went down as one of the hardest races in recent years for the Belgium fanciers.
I could continue to detail pigeon after pigeon coming down from what surely must be one of the most prolific breeders ever on the continent and the reason for this detailed report on such a super star, his descendents are still doing the business up to this present day as you will see from the next couple of pigeons, their I am sure well over 100 pigeons who are all multiple winners for the ‘Golden Boy’ lines and I will do my best to cover as many as I can when I have the time to conclude on the day to day running of this very successful continental loft.       

‘Queen Gueret’ Belg 06/047 is also a grand-daughter of the ‘Golden Boy’ and she was the winner of 1st National Guéret in 2007 against 2,448 pigeons, she also raced very well leading up to the National success including 107th Provincial Montluçon 1,913 pigeons, 166th Semi National Châteauroux 3,857 pigeons, 62nd Provincial Châteauroux 2.629 pigeons, 2nd Melun 916 pigeons, 52nd Noyon 552 pigeons, 18th Noyon 589 pigeons, and 9th Quiévrain 177 pigeons. As a youngster she was equally as prolific winning 62nd National La Souterraine 13,965 pigeons, 248th Provincial Salbris 2006 1,674 pigeons, 175th National Argenton 2006 14,534 pigeons, 5th St Denis 2,826 pigeons, 48th Orléans 8,835 pigeons, 418th Melun 3,603 pigeons, 55th Pithiviers 2,061 pigeons and 211th Pithiviers 2,477 pigeons.

‘Princes Gueret’ Belg 06/144 is also a full sister of the ‘Queen Gueret’ and finished 4th National the day her sister won the National. She also has been consistent like so many of the ‘Golden Boy’ descendants, she has previously finished 4th National Guéret 2,448 pigeons, 134th Provincial  Montluçon 1,913 pigeons, 24th Semi Nat Châteauroux 3,857 pigeons, 32nd Provincial Châteauroux 2,629 pigeons, 38th Noyon 555 pigeons, 19th Noyon 589 pigeons, 43rd Quiévrain 177 pigeons, 506th National Guéret 10,670 pigeons, 83rd National La Souterraine 13,965 pigeons, 111th Provincial Salbris 1,674 pigeons, 113th National Bourges 26,484 pigeons.