Les J Parkinson reports on;
The “Golden Triangle” legend’s in the pigeon world
For many years, I have watched the legacy of three pigeons that are known as the “Golden Triangle” set up by the late Gust Taveirne who was later joined by Frans Rigole. The three pigeons concerned are "Witslager Desender" "Een Witpen" and "Blauwe Angouleme" they are the foundation of many top class winning pigeons. I have heard stories about many pigeons and the line that has followed them into pigeon folklore. What has prompted me to start this article was because I saw an article on a line of pigeons that are nowhere near as good as the “Golden Triangle” yet they are mentioned on a regular basis in the fancy press. This goes back to the old saying that pigeon men are like the ladies they follow fashion far too often instead of good pigeons. We are always looking for something better, no not “We” the majority are always looking for something better even though there is a winning team down the garden. I have had some good National results with these pigeons and so have many others but for some reason they have never become the fashion and therefore not had the credit for producing winners that they deserve. There are two UK National from these lines but there was never credit given to them, I bet there are not many lines of pigeons that have won more prizes in the National type races then these have done. There will be a few fanciers mentioned in these notes who have achieved some excellent results but when they and other continental winners have had a report in the UK they have never mentioned the line of pigeons that they partially owe their success to. There is a list of winners on the internet with list of well over 30 achievements that are from this line and we know that there are about another 10 that have not been included.
"The Golden Triangle"
“WITSLAGER-DESENDER” winner of; 1st National Ass Taube Fond 1975 K.B.D.B. 3rd National St. Vincent 3,735 birds. 5th National Cahors 2,825 birds. 10th National Montauben 2,155 birds. 20th National St Vincent 2,155 birds. 37th National Cahors 3,704 birds Etc. And 100% Huskens Van Riel. This pigeon was another of the “Golden Breeder’s” and is responsible for a “Dynasty” of winning pigeons at National level. 1st & 2nd National Limoges of Roger Florizoone. The very famous “Felix” line of Roger Vereeke also the “Bambino” line of Vanhee plus the “Vital” line of Noel Lippens that is the grand-sire to Vandenabeele’s National winner “Bliksem” plus many more pigeons in Europe and not forgetting the “Blois” of Gust Taveirne. Descendants of “Witslager Desender” won the following top results: 1° + 2° National Limoges 7,083 birds at the lofts of Mr. Roger Florizoone. 1st National Limoges in 1987 was a grandson of “Witslager-Desender”. 1st National Ace Pigeon K.B.D.B. Young Birds 1983, called “Picco Bello” was a grandson of “Witslager-Desender”. 1st National Tulle known as “Kleine Felix” owned by Roger Vereecke was also a descendant of “Witslager-Desender” Gust Taveirne gave the “Witslager-Desender” to Mr. Vereecke for a period of 2 months and out of this world famous “Felix-Line” came another Top Winner called “Little Barcelona” winner of 79th Barcelona International 20,129 birds. 51st Barcelona International 24,908 birds. 16th Barcelona International 24,139 birds. Also descendants of “Witslager-Desender” won the following prizes at the lofs of Gust Taveirne himself: 1st National Brive 11,943 birds and was 75% “Witslager-Desender”. 8th National Cahors 7,528 birds 100%. 8th National Pau 2,180 birds 75%. 13th National Brive 11,943 birds 75%. 13th International Pau 7,760 birds 75%. 14th National Brive 23,510 birds 75%. 14th National Bordeaux 5,076 birds 50%. What is the story behind “Witslager Desender”. Well the bakery of Gust and his father had to be renewed and they needed a bigger space to make it more professional so they needed to buy a piece of land which was for sale just next to their house. Price for this land was 15.000 euro. For several nights Gust couldn’t sleep because he knew that the Number-1 pigeon of Belgium, 1st National Ace Pigeon K.B.D.B. Long Distance called “Witslager Desender” was for sale, his record can be seen above. So instead of buying the piece of land, Gust wanted to buy to Best Pigeon of Belgium, “Witslager” means “White Wing”. When he arrived at the house of Mr. Desender he noticed that Mr. Desender was drinking champagne together with a Japanese pigeon fancier as if they were celebrating something. Gust felt very bad because he thought that the “Witslager Desender” was already sold. But when Mr. Desender told him that the pigeon wasn’t sold yet, Gust took the huge amount of money of 600.000 Belgian francs out of his pocket and spread it on Mr. Desender’s table just like with a card game. At the same moment the Japanese fanciers was drinking his glass of champagne when he saw what Gust was doing he almost got crazy and started shouting “I am the buyer and nobody else”. Gust asked Mr. Desender if he was happy with this amount and the pigeon was put the pigeon in his basket and went away. Again the international pigeon world was in shock becasue this was so muck money to spend on a pigeon at that time. Gust wasn’t bothered becasue he now realised that he had done the best deal in his pigeon carreer, the reason was because the “Golden Triangle” was closed. He had two 1st National Ace Pigeons and one Olympic Pigeon in his loft. Gust was also aware that he had set the strong foundation to breed top winners. And that’s exactly what happened becasue even today after more than 40 years Gust and his new pigeon partner Frans Rigole are breeding 1st National winners and top-pigeons out of the combination of the “Golden Triangle” of “Blauwen Angoulèmer” x “Eén-Witpen” x “Witslager Desender”.
“Blauwen Angoulemer” was a winner of 1st Olympic Pigeon at the Olympiade in Düsseldorf, Germany and a direct son of the legendary “Oude Naessens” The “Blauwen Angoulemer” won following results: 2nd National Brive 2,845 birds. 3rd National Barcelona 5,901 birds. 2nd Provincial Angoulème. 3rd Provincial Angoulème. 6th Provincial Angoulème. 10th Provincial Angoulème. “Blauwen Angoulemer” won in total 25,000 euro’s in prizemoney and represented Belgium at the Olympiade in Düsseldorf, Germany. The bloodlines of this pigeon were Stichelbout at father’s side and Desmet-Matthys at mother’s side. Someone told Gust Taveirne that the famous “Blauwen Angoulemer” 635/67 owned by Mr. Germain Imbrecht was for sale. In all pigeon magazines this pigeon was called “The Wonder of Bornival”. When Gust Taveirne visited Germain Imbrecht to buy this extremely good pigeon he went back home after a while because he didn’t have enough money in his pocket the price was 400.000 Belgian francs or in present day money 10,000 euro’s. Around midnight the same day Gust drove back to Bornival in the french part of Belgium and put 400.000 Belgian francs on Mr Imbrechts table just like with a card game. Gust took the “Blauwe Angouleme” home and the next morning the international pigeon-world was in a kind of “shock” because what nobody had been expecting acutally happened. Word soon spread that Gust Taveirne menat business as had bought the “Blauwe Angouleme”. In the following years “Blauwen Angoulemer” 635/67 became an excellent breeder by TaveirneRigole and is grandfather of worlfamous “Witpen Kennedy” of Gerard and Michel Vanhee, grandfather of the 1st International Barcelona winner hens ‘86 at the lofts of Mr. William Dirickx. Other descendants won following top results: 5th National Limoges 11,503 birds at the lofts of Mr. Antoine Landuyt. 9th National Dax 3,276 birds. 41st National Perpignan and 5th International Pau, these last 3 winners are owned by Ivan Delrue but are bred in the lofts of TaveirneRigole. 1st National Marseille 1,450 birds. 2nd National Marseille 2,696 birds. 2nd National Brive 18,416 birds. 3rd National Marseille 3,137 birds. 3rd International Marseille 15,584 birds. 3rd National Montauban 7,352 birds. 5th National Brive 4,719 birds. 7th Narbonne 6,092 birds. 8th National Cahors 9,043 birds. 9th National Dax 3,276 birds. 9th National Cahors 11,090 nrds. Tere were also at least another 28 top 100 positions in National or International races
“Één Witpen” was a winner of 1st National Ace Pigeon K.B.D.B. Long Distance in 1969 and the owner of this pigeon was Theo Marchand. The “Een-Witpen” was a of the following prizes : 1st National Angoulème 1,314 birds. 2nd National Cahors 6,292 birds. 4th National Cahors 4,513 birds. 11th National Bordeaux 1,619 birds. 62nd National Brive 2,236 birds. 1st Clermont 287 birds. 2nd Angoulème 810 birds. 2nd Angoulème 672 birds. 4th Dourdan 318 birds. 5th Dourdan 845 birds. 5th Angoulème 984 birds. 5th Dourdan 229 birds. 7th Angoulème 1, 180 birds. 7th Dourdan 508 birds. 7th Dourdan 216 birds. 8th Dourdan 680 birds. 9th Dourdan 608 birds. 11th Dourdan 676 birds. 14th Dourdan 702 birds. 22nd Angoulème 1,120 birds. As well as 1st prizes in races from 100 Km to 300 Km races. It was because of these performances that Taveirne-Rigole pigeons are winning first prizes on all distances. The “Eén-Witpen” had on the sire’s side the following bloodlines: “Witpen” Hector Desmet , which was a son of the worldfamous “Opgeblazene” from Stichelbaut. Then on the dam’s side we find a daughter of the legendary “Figaro” from Catrysse. Insiders even confirmed that “Eén-Witpen” should have been 1° National K.B.D.B. Ace Pigeon in 1967 as well, if the owner would have enterred his results. One of the top references of the “Eén-Witpen” as a breeder is “Manu” 1st National K.B.D.B. Ace Pigeon Long Distance 1998, of which the grandmother is a direct Taveirne-Rigole-pigeon the line of “Eén-Witpen”. Clashing with the Ace pigeon bloodlines of De Rauw-Sablon (sales program 2003 De Rauw-Sablon & Erik Limbourg). When Etienne De Rauw and Frans Sablon decided in the seventies to accept the challenge of the National long distance game under the joint name of De Rauw-Sablon, something which would directly inaugurated them to the top of national long distance races. They thought long and hard over the stock that they were bringing in to build a team to achieve their aim. Results were analysed, pedigrees were deliberated on until they finally came to Andre Rosseel in Oostende and Jef Deridder in St.Ulriks-Kapelle. Thoughts at the back of their minds were that Ace Pigeons descend from Ace Pigeons, the ‘life-like’ Ace pigeon blood from Rosseel and Deridder moved to Lebbeke. With Rosseel there were descendants of the ‘Black Gyselbrecht’ 2nd Nat Ace pigeon long distance KBDB ’70. The ‘Eénwitpen Theo Marchand’ 1st Nat Ace pigeon long distance KBDB ’69 and the line of the‘Wringer Vermote’ 1st Nat Cahors ’71. This was the basis of sensational results in the long distance races and this pigeon all came from the breeding loft of “TaveirneRigole” who where the owners of the birds and friends of André Rosseel. For Jef Deridder it was the world famous ‘AS’ 1st Nat Ace pigeon long distance KBDB ’84 who put the wick to the fire. The crossing of the TaveirneRigole blood with the Deridder blood caused an enormous ‘explosion’ in Lebbeke! Because a combination of the ‘full bloods’ of both top pedigrees resulted in the famous ‘Ace Pigeon Couple’, famous in the international pigeon sport as the “Dream Couple” De Rauw-Sablon, formed by the “Golden Breeding Pair” “Albert” 911/90 x “Paola” 926/90. The pieces of the puzzle were now perfectly together because generation after generation a phenomenal list of “Ace Pigeons” started to appear and are still being bred up to National level. The basis of “De Rauw-Sablon” team are original “Taveirne-Rigole”pigeons. Not only by De Rauw-Sablon, because their sport friends Marcel Aelbrecht, Jules Mannaert, De Graeve-Van Geert, David Vermassen, Louis Van Den Eynde, Freddy & Jacques Vandenheede, Johan Van Damme and last but not least Erik Limbourg himself, were also reaching the National podium on a regular basis. There are not many real toppers believe in the existence of real breeding couples, so it must be said that this “Dream Couple” has to be the exception to the rule. The domination that this “Golden Couple” of breeding pigeons has demonstrated and apparently knows no boundaries and has pigeon loving Belgium scene in its grip.
These lines have been winning for over 40yrs and they are not letting up even after all these years with as mentioned a prime example being National winner "Bliksem" of Gaby Vandenabeele. He is only one of many winners at the highest level and is from the line of "Vital" who is a winner of 1st National Ace Pigeon Long Distance KBDB with a co-eff of 0.49%. Like so many more winning pigeons that "Vital" features in mainly on the continent but they have also won well here in the UK especially in the longer races. "Vital" also won, 2nd National Montauban 6,814 birds. 9th National Cahors 8,078 birds. 83rd National Brive 23,510 birds. 6th National Narbonne 6,513 birds. 75th National Montauban 6,721 birds. "Vital" was raced by Noel Lippens and is the line of "Blois" of Taveirne-Rigole. There is no doubt about the fact that "Vital" has a great legacy with his line being used by many to improve the distance of their pigeons. "Vital" is sire of many top pigeons including being the father to Figo Olympiad pigeon South Africa who is one of many pigeons that have won from these lines.
Begining to Present
Over the years, the team brought in new pigeons bred from the best available to blend into their existing family that continue to produce winning lines against the more fashionable pigeons. These have always been steady in producing winning lines and they have always looked to bring in the right lines. They have been very selective and could probably have brought in some of those fashionable pigeons but they declined for the best part of 3 decades in favour of quality lines that were very often generations down from the "Golden Triangle" of the 70's. At times, they must have been tempted but their aim was never fashion but searched out quality pigeons that suited their own lines. Most fanciers do go for the modern-day winners no matter what they are and they do in fact ruin what has been a good winning team for probably many years. However, this last 12 months has seen them bring in a small team of the more fashionable pigeons and it will be interesting to see how they go on against the established lines.
Every line of pigeons comes from somewhere so I asked about the connection with the modern day De Rauw-Sablon pigeons and why it has only recently been mentioned that a number of years ago; they used the Gust Taveirne pigeons. The current team never knew as it was about 8-10 years ago, so they never took these lines into account and therefore they were not published. This came about when their good friend Luc Sioen told Frans, “Do you know from which lines the De Rauw Sablon dynasty is offspring” They obviously didn’t know so Luc told Frans that when he prepared the auction for De Rauw-Sablon he found that the pigeons of Andre Rosseel “Eén Witpen”. Gust had a very good relationship with Zwarte Ghyselbrect (Madeira) and found “Wringer” Andre Vermote were at the base and that all these lines are all-in the lines that Gust gathered together and bought into his loft. Every year there were exchanges from Rosseel and Gust in the years before because Gust bought in during that period some very expensive top class pigeons plus the same exchanges were done with Noel Peiren and Gust. They went on to say, “When I was at Marcel Aelbrechts place this beginning of the year we also talked about it , but we must be honest, it’s a long time ago” Even so this has been reported and therefore worth a mention because it once again highlights how the pigeons of the now Vanneste-Rigole partnership have and are still being used by some of the premier lofts on the continent.
I have grained a great deal of information from Guillaume Vanneste who married Frans Rigole's daughter some years ago, Guillaume had not had pigeons before but he has blended into the running of the lofts very well and is now a major part of what goes on especially at the show's where he is ever present on the stands. He is also very enthusiastic and as we know new enthusiasm coming into anything brightens the day. What this does show is that there is a place for many in pigeon racing; the problem is getting them started. Yes, I must add that although Guillaume did not have pigeons or take any interest anywhere with them he is related in some way to the legendary Henri Vanneste so perhaps there was a little sparkle in there somewhere.
