Article Published: 08 November 2009


Federated Board fancier cracks into top echelons of pigeon racing!!!
Engelbrecht Racing Pigeons

Ricky and Randy Engelbrecht


6th Place - Allflite (Carnival City) AF500 Main Race 2009

Many years of investment in this noble sport of pigeon racing finally paid off when the father and son combination of Randy and Ricky Engelbrecht from Kraaifontein in the Western Cape managed to crack the top 10 in the AF 500 Main Race 2009. The Allflight Carnival City Loft, arguably the best ‘One Loft’ in the country run by the van Rensburg family, manages and trains over 1000 birds from the very best fanciers around the country each year. It is therefore a great honour to be among the very few who manages to perform well at this loft and it was a young cock “Storm” (ZA FB 2008 56746) that managed this fantastic feat.

Since moving to Johannesburg in 2005, Ricky has been trying his hand at “One Loft” racing. It was through competing and getting beaten by some of the best in the country that Ricky realised that the colony, despite winning top prizes in the FBHU ‘Board races’ needed an injection of real quality. After investing in stock that have already proven themselves on the world stage, the partnership managed to put together a family of “One-loft” racers that are able to stand up to the tough national competition.

“Storm”
Looking at the pedigree of this young cock it is no surprise that he is capable of holding his own. A small pigeon in the hand, with a big heart, this cock carries no weight and with good forearm muscle, making him very well suited to the competition he was bred for.

Storm’s sire is SA FB 2003 19693, “93”: This cock won 6th Kimberley Board, 810km, with only 147 birds through on the day with over 4000 birds competing. “93” is also the sire of 38th AF 500 in 2007 and the Beaufort West 400km PDHU Open Fed Winner (at just over 4months old) – full sister to this pigeon was the 3rd in the “best pigeon” averages at River Loft before the main race in 2007. The sire of “93” is a pure Meulemans obtained from Basil Gossman, bred off the imported “Dutch Pair”. The cock of the "Dutch Pair" is imported from Bennie Ebbers (NL) while the hen was imported from Robert Venus (Belgium). The dam of “93” is “705” (Verstraete), the partnership’s foundation hen, bred off a son and full sister of the “Wondere Dunky”.

Storm’s dam was one of the Engelbrecht Racing Team’s 2008 AF 500 entrants, “Imaan”: This young hen flew the entire race program at Carnival City without throwing a single baby flight. In 14 races and tosses, this hen was in the top 50 no less that 8 times, always competing against more than 750 birds. It was however her nestmate brother, “Deutschland”, that finished in the 55th position of the AF 500 2008 final. “Imaan” and “Deutschland” are sired by a son out of Brian Sheppard’s famous 2003 International Dax winner against 20 000 birds! It is useful to mention, that the half brother of the Dax winner won 2nd International Dax in 2004. Their sire is a son of Jos Thone’s famous “Sumo”.

All the partnership’s prize winning pigeons mentioned above now reside at their breeding stud in Cape Town where they are sure to breed many more top prize winning pigeons, proving that the Federated Board of Homing Unions are able to compete against some of the best fanciers and pigeons in the country.

Some of the partnership’s highlights at Carnival City:
2006: 1st Junior Race winner
2007: 7th, 10th and 11th Junior Race
38th AF 500 main race
2008: 10th Junior Race, 55th AF 500 main
2009: 6th AF 500 main race