Gert Heylen from Belgium. The quiet one by LJ Parkinson - 31-07-24

Gert Heylen from Belgium. The quiet one.

You might think I am going on a bit with this article, but by the time you have read it you will realise, as I have done, how a family of pigeons can be so influential in top winning lofts. When I started up again, I was asked if I wanted to try 6 young birds off Gert Heylen stock, unfortunately at the time I was already overstocked with over 100ybs that were already flying well, and I didn’t want to hold them back. I never thought any more about them, big mistake because on my job I see a lot of pedigree's and mostly I just gather the information I need and don't always take note of the rest of the pigeons mentioned. I began to take more interest and noticed how much the Gert Heylen pigeons appeared in the breeding of many of the more popular pigeons of today. When you look at the continental racing/breeding scene you will see that Gert Heylen has been recognised as a super sprint-based fancier in Belgium for decades and the impact his birds have had on other lofts is hugely significant. To me this clearly looks like a clear case of the latest fashion in the UK is not open to the birds of Gert Heylen as they are on the other side of the channel. As always in these cases there are a few UK fanciers who have recognised the value of these pigeons and in the main have kept quiet about how good these pigeons are.  Arguably the 2 most famous cocks in the Gert Heylen family are "THE MIRAGE" and "JACKPOT". Both were super racers and they've left a legacy of winners behind them throughout Europe and the UK. If we look at "MIRAGE" first, you'll see that this 1998 cock was a winner of 13 x 1^st. One most notable grandson of "THE MIRAGE" in the UK is the sensational "CHAMPION DINO" who was a terrific racing machine and as we now know he's also gone on to become a serious breeder of winners. One grandson is "PEANUT" who is now owned by Ian Stafford. He was winner of 5 x 1st prizes and in 4 Channel races he won 2 x 1st Federation and he also won 1st Section, 1st Open UNC Reims against a lot of strong competition. Let’s now take a look at "CHAMPION DINO" a sensational racer and a winner of 7 x 1st Federation, 4 x 1st Section, 2 x 1st up to 6,500 birds competing, that takes some doing in such strong competition. He was then put to Stock where he has become an incredible breeder of winners at Federation and Section level, breeding winners every year without fail. How about this for breeding, in 2020, three grandchildren of "DINO" were all National winners including "DINO" being the grandsire of the Queen Cup winner from Roye, that is quality breeding. This bloodline has also produced the 1st RPRA One Loft Race pigeon winning £25,000, showing that no matter what the competition they are up amongst the winners. "DINO" is responsible for numerous winners including "PARKSIDE DREAM GIRL" who has bred winners galore and is responsible for birds to win £38,500 in One Loft Racing including 1st Open RPRA One Loft Race winning £25,000. Making it even better her sister bred 1st Open British Masters in 2021 as well. The last one raced from her recorded the fastest time in the UNC 20,000 birds. In 2023 another one from this family was 1st Hotspot. There is no denying these are supper pigeons, there is more to come so keep reading.

Another hugely impressive Gert Heylen pigeon is the world renowned "JACKPOT" this 2004 cock was a winner himself of 7 x 1st on the road, but it's as a breeder where he's really made a name for himself. Stefaan Lambrechts took a blue cock from Gert's "JACKPOT" cock and named him "BLAUWE GERT" now we are getting to where the latest fashion in pigeons originate from. It's this "BLAUWE GERT" cock that is the grandsire of Van Den Bulck's pivotal racer and breeding hen "OLYMPIC ROSITA". This amazing hen was an Olympiade hen in her own right and was sold for over 205,000 euro's at almost 9 years of age, that showed what confidence there was in purchasing this great hen. Now we are getting to the nitty gritty of it all because “OLYMPIC ROSITA” is the founding hen of "THE KITTEL DYNASTY" and is the direct dam of such household breeders as "KITTEL", "GREIPEL", "NEW KITTEL", "GOLD DUST" and "ANGELINA" and they are only for starters. Here are a few of the results that were achieved by this superstar of the pigeon world, “OLYMPIC ROSITA” 1st Olympic Ace Nitra 2012. 1st National Ace Superduif Speed. 1st Provincial Ace KBDB 2012. 2nd National Ace MSN All-Round. 4th National Ace KBDB Speed. 1st 1,763 birds. 1st 1248 birds. 1st 555 birds and there were many more. It was the next part of her life where she made such a big impact. Before I go any further, I must add that I am only going to mention 1sts and Ace Pigeon awards because there are far too many to include them all. She of course went on to breed such icons as “KITTEL” 1st Nat. ACE Pigeon KBDB Sprint 2013. 1st 2,089 birds, 1^st 1,792 birds. “GREIPEL”, 6^th Nat. ACE Pigeon KBDB Sprint 2013. co-winner of 1^st Nat. Championship KBDB Sprint 2013. "NEW KITTEL" 1^st 1,371 birds. "GOLD DUST" a fantastic full sister of "KITTEL" and sold for 184,000 euro's, she has been reported as the best breeding sister to ‘Kittel’ in the world. Three generations of offspring to ‘Gold Dust’ won 1^st prov. general ace bird 19,000 plus birds. 1^st prov. Golden Crack long distance 2021. 1^st s-prov. Ace bird speed overall 100-500 km 2017. 1^st s-prov. Ace bird middle distance 2017. Co-winner of 1^st National Superstar Of The Year Speed Gouden Duif 2020. There are also several other Ace Birds in the top six. 1^st prov. Niergnies 16,973 birds. 1^st Nat. IHUNFC Valentia 2,200 birds. 1^st NPO PS Maxence 12,240 birds, 2^nd Nat. 33,636 birds. There are at least another 16 x 1sts that we are not including, won against thousands of birds. I wonder how many fanciers realise the input to the big winners of today that these Gert Heylen pigeons have achieved. I don’t want to keep going on but I will include another superstar and that is “ANGELINA" a full sister to the likes of "KITTEL", "GREIPEL", "GOLD DUST". “ANGELINA” is one of the best breeding sisters to ‘KITTEL’ in the world with three generations of offspring to ‘Angelina’ have won. 1^st Nat. yearling ace bird ‘De Allerbeste’ 2021. 3^rd Nat. ace bird middle distance ‘De Allerbeste’ 2017. 1^st prov. general ace bird against 19,000 plus birds. 1^st ace bird late tour Fed. 2020. 2^nd prov. young ace bird & 4. Nat. youngster NPO 2021. With at least another 18 x 1sts.

As we move the clock forward to the present time, we can find another great example of Gert Heylen impacting the loft of the red hot Leideman Bros in Holland. The Gert Heylen hen "DARK 859" B08-6157859 was a winner of 3 x 1st racing. It is imperative to point out however that this hen is the granddam of Leideman's "CRACK 19". A YB from this cock was sold in 2023 for as much as 112,000 euro's an astonishing price for a young bird. "CRACK 19" NL14-1466919 is a winner of many prizes as well as being 1^st regional ace bird middle distance winner in 2016, so after he finished racing, he went on to be responsible for many winners. Another top fancier who introduced the Gert Heylen pigeons in 2023 is Hok Hemstra winner of 1st National Ace Bird Middle Distance NPO with NL22-8018685. This pigeon also carries the blood of "CRACK 19" and "GOED GRIJS" and went on to win. There are at least 3 generations of offspring that are credited to ‘Çrack 19’ with a small example being, 1^st Olympiad bird NL category youngsters at Broos Family Lofts. Olympiad bird Germany category A 2020-2021 at Neuhaus. 1^st National ace bird speed De Allerbeste 2021-2022 at Olaf Westhoeve. 1^st National ace late tour TBOTB/WHZB at Eijerkamp. 1^st National S2 Vierzon 567 km 7,956 birds G. & S. Verkerk. 1^st National GP Melun 4,963 birds Comb. Heeren. 1^st National S4 Issoudun 709 km 3,746 birds at Gebr. Leideman who also won 1^st NPO Chalons En Champagne 3,892 birds. 1. prov. Soest 17,538 birds. 1^st prov. Gennep 12,570 birds. 1^st I.prov. Weert 13,141 birds. 1^st prov. Deurne 4,299 birds. 1^st s-prov. Ace bird all-round 2021. 1^st s-prov. Ace bird all-round 2021. Even though there are many more fanciers who owe their success to the Gert Heylen pigeons I am going to stop with those already mentioned. With so many winning with these pigeons I find it odd that they are not front-page news, after all we want winners. Successful. Who’s the most successful with the Gert Heylen pigeons in the UK, I don’t know because they have been hidden under the radar of other more well-known pigeons from the same family who have been well publicised. I am of course referring to pigeons that have had a great deal of publicity for their winners, whereas Gert is a quiet man who is not publicity oriented, or at least that is what I am told. Even finding photos of him is not all that easy even in the modern days of racing pigeon technology. What conclusion have I come to over these pigeons. To put it in simple terms, it looks as though other fanciers have achieved a great deal with the line of pigeons from Gert Heylen and it comes over that many of Gert’s pigeons have been overlooked in the quest for publicity by others. Whichever way you look at it, Gert Heylen has produced a family of pigeons that others have built on and made into superstars. I have never met Gert Heylen but I imagine he is a fancier who will sit back and enjoy seeing how well his line of pigeons has flown for others.