Today we let our spotlight shine on André Verhaeghe of Geluveld-Zonnebeke in the West Flanders province. At the 4th Hot Spot on 22 December last, his gladiator "Spartacus" managed to secure a beautiful 30th position and became the first Belgian bird of the day on this 274 km preparatory race. One has to take into account that every training race in the Million Dollar Race program, be it a 81 km, a 110 km or a 275 km race, counts more than 3000 pigeons; in André's case 3254 to be exact. Anyone will have to agree that is some serious competition and certainly given the fact that these 3254 birds come from 26 different countries and belong to fanciers who have paid 1000 USD to participate (and therefore most certainly have NOT sent junk!).

André's pigeon "Spartacus" is one of the 245 Belgian birds which have been sent to Sun City to defend the National honour of the cradle of pigeonsport; not a small responsability. It is a task however that is no problem for "Spartacus", a pigeon from West Flanders, one of the most prominent provinces on the Belgian pigeon racing map. "Spartacus" has a pedigree that once again shows cream always floats on top. The father is a black cock, ringnumber 3176166/04, which came from the loft of Reginald De Meester and which was 1st in Rekkem on St. Vincent and 13th National. A pigeon that knows where its loft is, that is for sure. The mother of "Spartacus" is 3216019/04 from the loft of Patrick Naessens. She was 5th National Young Birds Long Distance with the following results: Bourges 184th provincial against 6298 pigeons, Argenton 3rd Rekkem against 504 pigeons, 4th Provincial against 2637 birds and 1245th National against 23078 pigeons, 6th Rekkem against 326 pigeons from La Souterraine, 8th Provincial against 1926 pigeons and 787th National against 16297 pigeons.

André Verhaeghe is a very busy man. That's why for the Belgian competition his first round of youngsters always moves to Marke, where his son Chris is racing in tandem under the name Noppe-Verhaeghe. This year however, André will move to Anzegem where he will have more time to occupy himself more thoroughly with pigeon racing. So rest assured you will here more about André Verhaeghe in the not too distant future!

Text: August Daelemans
Picture: André Verhaeghe