THE RACING PIGEON 29 MARCH 2024
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Sire of ‘Harry’ bred by Gaby Vandenabeele.
Jan with his manager Piet holding two children of their ‘Super Couple’.
Dam of ‘Harry’ bred by Gerard Koopman.
took place. The first bird sold a beautiful blue cock from the super couple was sold for 36,000 Euro (including tax) to Comb, Van Wanrooy from Geffen. Lot 6 was a direct daughter of Harry and was knocked down to Hans Eijerkamp for 13,200 Euro. However there was a hushed silence in the venue when the last lot 57 came under the hammer who was an exceptional daughter of The Super Couple. There then commenced what can only be described as a true battle royal between two of the most famous fanciers in the Dutch sport namely Koopman and Veenstra. Gea Veenstra’s husband Peiter must have had quite a shock when
she rang him in hospital to tell him she was successful with a bid of 80,000 euro (96,000 Euro with tax). Pieter was recovering in hospital from back surgery. Of course since that time the Veensta`s had a clearance
sale which raised a world record sum of 2.5 million Euro for 245 pigeons and in this sale Hu Zhen Yu who runs a shipbuilding company in China broke the world record for a single pigeon which amounted to 328,000 US dollars. The sale for Jan made 216,000 Euro for 57 pigeons an average of 3,790 Euro per pigeon with notable buyers which included Peter van de Merwe, Gaby Vandenabeele, Com Verbree, Rik Cools, and Gerard and Piet Lindelauf to name but a few. Finally a special mention must be made of loft manager Piet Brothers who arrived on 1st January 2009. Jan openly admitted he loves the breeding side of the sport but leaves the finishing touches and team prepa- ration to Piet who has done an excel- lent job since his arrival. I became aware during our visit in 2012 that Jan’s compost company was founded on the motto “only the best is good enough”. It certainly seems to me that this philosophy has been Jan’s benchmark as a sportsman in his youth and remains today as strongly as ever in the pigeon sport where he has truly excelled and this has well and truly earned him his Dutch Superstar status.
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