FLTR: Adrien Mirabelle (with sire Best Kittel), Nikolaas, Daniel Dehon (with Best Kittel, bred by him) and Thomas
Records are meant to be broken, although one has to wonder if we can get our pigeons even better, even faster. Top class pigeon Best Kittel showed in 2017 that there is still room for improvement. He delivered some exceptional results, with which he was able to set a new record on his way to his national ace pigeon title sprint KBDB.
Best Kittel, the best sprint pigeon ever
He is the most gifted pigeon ever to have raced around Belgium. Best Kittel won a title of 4th Ace Pigeon Sprint KBDB as a yearling in 2016, showing a first hint of his enormous potential. He gave it everything he had in 2017, outperforming the rest of the country with a title of 1st Nat. Ace Pigeon Sprint KBDB, which he won with the lowest coefficient ever, achieving the lowest percentage (of 0.89%) in the history of pigeon racing in Belgium in a national sprint championship!
-Best Kittel BE15-1029362
1st Nat. Ace Pigeon Sprint KBDB 2017 (with a record coefficient of 0.89%) 4th Nat. Ace Pigeon Sprint KBDB 2016 1st Ecouen 1,082 p. 1st Ecouen 841 p. 1st Pont 623 p. 1st Pont 548 p. 2nd Pont 1,166 p. 2nd Pont 1,154 p. 2nd Pont 639 p.
These prizes were won in the lofts of Daniel and Mee Hae Dehon-Demonseau from Thulin (BE), very close to the well known release site from Quiévrain-Pommeroeul, in the province of Hainaut. The sprint competition is stil very alive in this region, which is home to many sprint fanciers. This is also the home base of sprint champion Marc Capelle (Baudour), winner of 3 x 1st Nat. Ace Pigeon Sprint KBDB in 2002-2008-2014 and triple winner of a 1st Nat. Champion KBDB 2012-2013-2015, as well as a six time winner of a 2nd Nat. Ace Pigeon Sprint KBDB. In ohther words, there is some fierce competition in this Belgian province.
The Dehon-Demonseau combination (with national chairman S. Van Bockstaele) celebrating their
title of 1st Nat. Ace Pigeon Sprint oldsKBDB 2017 with Best Kittel
Not a coincidence
The achievements of Best Kittel are by no means a coincidence. His family has been winning several national ace pigeon titles, and his pedigree is a fine combination of ace pigeons. Ace pigeons breed ace pigeons, and their race winning abilities are an integral part of an ace bird’s bloodline; any experienced fancier can tell you that, and it has been said in numerous race reports as well. Best Kittel clearly illustrates this: he comes from a pairing in straight line to stock sire Méchant BE05-9081201, as a youngster of a son x granddaughter Méchant.
If any pigeon fancier would master the art of creating breeding pairs that are 100% guaranteed to deliver national ace pigeons, that man (or woman) would probably be a millionaire. Still, breeding ace pigeons is not really matter of coincidence but rather a matter of luck. As a fancier you can try and increase your luck by pairing two gifted pigeons, or ideally two race winners or two ace pigeons. It all depends on what you have available. A carefully thought out pairing will increase your chances of success, and could make the road to the top a bit shorter.
When the team from Thulin decided to pair the two parents of Best Kittel, they did not expect (or hope) to be getting such a fantastic, record-breaking racing bird. But that does not mean this pair had been put together just like that; there was a clever breeding strategy behind it. The two parents come straight from the team’s number one provider of national ace pigeons: stock breeder Méchant. They are in fact a son x granddaughter, making for two super class pigeons.
Le Méchant, a key figure in a fantastic ace pigeon dynasty
Méchant won himself a title of 1st Prov. Ace Pigeon Sprint KBDB in 2007, before developing into the all-important breeder that would play a fundamental role in the success story of team Dehon-Demonseau in recent years. He is truly an invaluable stock breeder. He was paired to two different hens (Super Breeding Hen BE05-9080824 and Mother Niko BE06-9009750), and their descendants have won quite a number of national ace pigeons KBDB. Méchant’s descendants have won:
1st Nat. Ace Pigeon Sprint KBDB 2017 olds (with Best Kittel) 1st Nat. Ace Pigeon Sprint KBDB 2015 olds (with National Ace 2015) 4th Nat. Ace Pigeon Sprint KBDB 2016 YL (with Best Kittel) 6th Nat. Ace Pigeon Sprint KBDB 2017 YL (with BE16-973, a youngster of National Ace 2015) 6th Nat. Ace Pigeon Sprint KBDB 2007 YL (with l’As) 13th Nat. Asduif Snelheid KBDB 2017 Oude (with BE14-372) 14th Nat. Ace Pigeon Sprint KBDB 2017 YL (with BE16-976)
Does it get any better? Méchant is the grandfather of not one but two 1st Nat. Ace Pigeons Sprint KBDB in three years’ time: Best Kittel and his nephew.
-National Ace 2015 BE13-9039279
1st Nat. Ace Pigeon Sprint KBDB 2015 Winner of 5 first prizes, 4 second prizes, etc.
This National Ace 2015 was sold to China in the spring of 2016, but not before breeding one final pair of youngsters. One of those youngsters is:
-6th Nat. Ace BE16-1053973
6th Nat. Ace Pigeon Sprint YLs KBDB 2017
These pigeons have some excellent origins indeed!
The parents and the pedigree of the amazing Best Kittel
Father Best Kittel BE09-9004414
A fantastic breeding bird and a direct son of the top pair that consists of stock breeder Méchant BE05-9081201 (1st Prov. Ace Pigeon Sprint KBDB 2007) x Super Breeding Hen BE05-9080824. They are the grandparents of two 1st National Ace Pigeons Sprint KBDB: Best Kittel and National Ace 2015.
As his name suggests, Father Best Kittel is the sire of Best Kittel (1st Nat. Ace Pigeon Sprint KBDB 2017 and 4th Nat. Ace Pigeon Sprint KBDB 2016), but he is also the grandfather of a 14th Nat. Ace Pigeon Sprint YLs KBDB in 2017. This clearly shows that this set of top class bloodlines continues to give talented descendants. In addition, Father Best Kittel is also the full brother of two very successful racing birds, namely:
–L’As BE06-9009721: winner of a 1st Prov. and 6th Nat. Ace Pigeon Sprint YLs KBDB 2007, winner of 4 first prizes
–Father National Ace BE06-9009720: the sire of National Ace: 1st Nat. Ace Pigeon Sprint Olds KBDB 2015. Like we said earlier, National Ace is in turn the sire of a 6th Nat. Ace Pigeon YLs KBDB in 2017.
In addition, Father Best Kittel is also the grandfather of top class hen Shakira, another outstanding racing hen with a proven record. Take a look at what this hen did in the five (!) races that she competed in over the course of her racing career:
-Shakira BE15-1011404 was raced five times as a youngster, after which she never raced again
1st Nanteuil 1,738 p. (on 22/8) 1st Nanteuil 1,401 p. (on 29/8) 3rd Nanteuil 1,431 p. (on 08/8) 5th Nanteuil 1,289 p. (on 16/8) 14th Melun 1,664 p. (on 01/8)
This is an exceptional ace pigeon bloodline indeed. This young bird completed just five races, and she wins a 1-1-3-5-14 against more than 1,200 pigeons. She finished in the top 1% in each of these five races, which is quite a rare feat.
Mother Best Kittel BE14-1034371
This is a fantastic hen. She was still a one year old hen in her first year in the breeding loft when she bred Best Kittel. In addition, her own nest brother BE14-1034372 won a title of 13th Nat. Ace Pigeon Sprint KBDB old birds in 2017. It shows that Mother Best Kittel is quite a gifted hen, and her pedigree reveals that she originates from several ace pigeon bloodlines as well.
Mother Best Kittel is a granddaughter of stock breeder Méchant. Her sire – Grandfather Best Kittel BE10-9065094 – is a half brother of Father Best Kittel and of National Ace 2015: 1st Nat. Ace Pigeon Sprint KBDB 2015. He is a half brother, because Méchant happened to be paired to Mother Niko BE06-9009750 at the time. And she is:
- the dam of a 1st Nat. Ace Pigeon Sprint olds KBDB 2015 (National Ace 2015) - the dam of an 8th Nat. Ace Pigeon Middle Distance KBDB 2014 (Niko) - the grandmother of a 6th Nat. Ace Pigeon Sprint KBDB YLs 2017
And to further add to the number of super class bloodlines, Mother Best Kittel stems from Inbred Bliksem BE10-2211349 from her mother’s side. Inbred Bliksem is a direct Deno-Herbots, and a daughter of the pairing of grandson x granddaughter of the ionic Bliksem of Gaby Vandenabeele.
Creatin a super class pigeon breed
It is something we have seen so many times in the past: an exceptional ace pigeon (for instance Best Kittel) that develops into an exceptional breeding bird later on. They become stock breeders that really have an impact on the races, breeding new champions, first prize winners and ace pigeons. One thing’s for sure: a talented pigeon the likes of Best Kittel has an unusual combination of bloodlines that allows them to achieve exceptional results, and to stand out from the others. They become the number one in their discipline, simply because winning first prizes (or a combination of speed, endurance and orientation) is an inherent characteristic for them. And if you can get the most out of their genes, you might be able to create of a new world class breed. Think of such illustrious names as As Vandevelde, Kannibaal, or New Freddy. Each of them had been a 1st National ACe Pigeon KBDB, before developing into an exceptional breeder.
And this is what the PIPA Breeding Loft of Thomas Gyselbrecht has in mind with Best Kittel. They want to initiate a new breeding project with Best Kittel as the stock breeder, being a world class sprint and shorter middle distance racing bird. This record-breaking crack is possibly the best sprint pigeon in history.