The Rome Pedigree
Selecting the best and breeding better for 50+ years
If you follow the race programmes of the various National organisations in the British Isles, the name Robert SR Rome of Annan will be very familiar. Over the last 50 years the loft has been competing with the very best in the Scottish National and has won far more than its share. In National competition the loft has won 4 x 1st, 6 x 2nd, 3 x 3rd, 4 x 4th, 2 x 5th, 5 x 6th, 4 x 7th, 8th, 2 x 9th, 10th National plus hundreds of other prizes outside the top-ten National. Add to this 13 x 1st Section with the SNFC plus winning the South Section Averages and Open National Averages on many different occasions and that is Consistency with a Capital C.
National success started for Robbie Rome in 1963 from the Young Bird National when he had a cavalry charge to the loft to claim 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 7th, 11th and 23rd Open from 2,073 birds. That was over 50 years ago and since then the Rome loft has been the loft to beat at National level. Robbie has always concentrated on acquiring the best bloodlines with the aim of breeding better. It is important to know that Robbie has never been interested in ‘plodders’ or birds that only came to the fore at the longest race. Now, Robbie has always sought birds that can win first race to last race but those that excel at distances between 300 and 600 miles. That is why the Rome loft has always exceled at Club and Federation racing inland up to 300 miles to the South coast of England as well as being at the front from the French National races. Robbie’s last racing season was in 2014 and he once again had the cavalry charge from SNFC Clermont (457 miles) and won 2nd, 6th, 47th, 53rd, 108th Open from 1,169 birds. We all know that there are not many lofts that can get to the top and stay there, Robbie has certainly proven otherwise as these results over 50 years show.
Now, you cannot sustain this level of success over 50+ years without exceptional bloodlines and skills to reproduce generation after generation of winners. Robbie started in the sport in the same fashion as many by gathering a few birds from local fanciers only too willing to help out a new starter. It was with these that he started polishing his skills as a young fancier. Robbie had a head start in pigeons, coming from a farming background he clearly has possession of a fantastic stock sense which history has shown. When I was in Belgium earlier this year, I was fortunate to spend some time in the company one of Robbie’s friends and mentors, Silvere Toye. I asked Silvere what he himself attributed to his own generations of success and he said it was having a good eye and being able to spot a good pigeon. I asked if luck was involved and he replied “No, because someone else could get lucky before me and get the bird or bloodlines that I want. Silvere said “There is no room for luck in breeding, but plenty of room for luck on a race day”.
Robbie has had this same philosophy. His ability to identify and source exceptional birds has been absolutely central to 50+ years of success winning races, first to last and exceling in big competition I the National races. In particular, Robbie has been able to identify those lofts which are about to become great lofts and on many occasions has been able to source the winning genes before others have even visited.
Alongside the obvious levels of stock sense that Robbie possesses, he also demonstrates a phenomenal level of fanciership. These skills have been honed through time and by learning from the best. As early as 1955 Robbie was travelling to Belgium to visit the top lofts of that era, on that initial trip one of his travelling companions was SB Cooper from Snaith a household name who was flying a phenomenal pigeon in to an unforgiving loft location. Robbie and SB (Bert) hit it off straight away and struck up a great friendship that lasted until Bert’s death in fact Bert Cooper was best man at Robbie’s wedding to Eileen, is there a greater honour? These two became travelling companions and visited many successful lofts in Britain and abroad. They went back to Belgium quite a few times together and I have no doubt Robbie benefitted from each trip. If you have had the pleasure of being in Robbie’s company you will know that he is a man of few words. He clearly follows the philosophy of ‘God gave me 2 ears but only 1 mouth, so I will listen twice as much as I speak’. There is little doubt that when he found himself in the company of the likes of Delbar, Dordin and Goossens he listened intently and took everything in. He brought a lot of knowledge back to Annan and a few birds as well and put things in to practice.
Only a fool would have had a close friendship with the likes of SB Cooper and not have acquired stock from his world-class loft, and Robbie Rome is no fool. The very best Cooper bloodlines were brought back to Annan and it was these that underpinned the early successes at National level that were achieved at the Annan Loft. These bloodlines at that time had won more than 1,000 1st prizes for many fanciers across the British Isles.
Passing on the baton Robbie with Rob Jnr another safe pair of hands.
Put simply, the success formula involved Robbie putting together a sound set of skills that he honed over his time in the fancy and applied these to the birds he housed. As I mentioned, Robbie has only ever been interested in exceptional birds, those that can win from first race to last. Over the years Robbie has sourced what he believed to be better birds than he had himself and brought some of that blood back to try. Of course, Robbie is a strict selector of birds, his farming approach means there is no room for average birds. Only very rarely has his eye for a good one let him down, and this approach has propelled and sustained the victories gained by the Annan loft.
Having started this with the Cooper blood with much success, Robbie continued the same philosophy and this saw him bringing in direct Goossens blood in 1968, a decision that sustained the performances of the loft through in to the 1980’s and produced such top drawer performances as ‘Mary Ann’ who was 1st Section and 2ndopen Young Bird National and Robbie came oh so close to topping the National out of Sartilly with ‘Superstar’ in 1982 but his hesitation on the trap meant he had to settle for 2nd Open. In 1983, Robbie achieved his third 2nd National prize when his fantastic hen, Beryl lead a clock full of early birds from the inland National from Dorchester.
Left-Right: Rob Jnr, Eileen, Silvere Toye, Robbie Senior at Silvere’s loft in 1985
The successful formula was applied again after visiting Silvere Toye in 1985 and it was here that Robbie realised that he had his hands on birds that could improve upon the Goossens family. There is no doubt that the Toye birds crossed with the best of the performers from the existing family gave Robbie a whole new box of toys to play with. These birds thrived at National level and the loft put together in quick succession a string of top performances that would be the envy of many. This period also saw the greater involvement of Robbie’s youngest son (Robert J Rome, known as Rob) and as the saying goes ‘wood comes from trees’. In other words Rob proved to be a chip off the old block and working in tandem with ‘The Master’, Robbie, the Rome name continued to be at the fore. This period in the lofts history saw a real purple patch with the energies of both of the Rome men being focused on an exceptional gene pool that reflected the very best in 35 years of performance breeding and strict selection. The long awaited 1st Open National came in 1996 from Sartilly and they had a second one close behind to be 3rd open. The National winner ‘Spartacus’ represented the formula and philosophy that Robbie had carried through from the 1960’s. His breeding is the best of the Toye loft, the vintage lines of Dikkop, Tarzan and Peter Pau being well represented. Indeed, the father of Spartacus was a fantastic endurance racer, ‘Emperor’ who had that same year won 6th Open from the SNFC Kings Cup race from Rennes. His mother was a direct Toye pigeon which carried the same Vervisch (Van Bruaene) line of “Joost”, the base of probably the best extreme long distance loft of Belgium today, DeSmeyter-Reistaen.
In 2002, a 1st National (hens) was won by the Rome loft and in 2003 a third 1st National came when the Rome loft fulfilled a life-long ambition to win 1st Open SNFC Grand National, King George V Cup and the fiercely coveted Gold Cup from Reims with ‘Champion Reimus’. This stunning cock has become a key corner stone in the stock loft. ‘Champion Reimus’ has proved to be truly prolific breeder and has helped the Rome loft and many other fanciers achieve continuous success up to National and Classic level. He is another fine example of Robbie’s philosophy. Reimus was bred by Freddie Gray and is a combination of a number of outstanding families (Andre Roodhooft, Jackson & Andrews, Rod Adams, Martin Ali, Frank Tasker) which Robbie sourced with the aim of complementing and improving the stock base.
Champion Reimus a key cornerstone of the Rome loft
In 2007, a 4th National win came with 1st National Cock from Maidstone and the winning continued over the following years. Indeed, in both 2010 and 2011 Robbie won the Best Average all National races (SNFC) South Section. Unfortunately, with the declining health of his wife Eileen since then Robbie found very little time to give to the birds. However, in 2014 with an improvement in health he was able to afford the necessary time to the birds once more and this saw him back in form and doing what he does best. From Clermont with the SNFC he was 2nd, 6th, 43rd, 57th and 108th Open National. The 2nd Open hen was ‘Rita Ruby’ and with her other wins that season she also collected The SHU Friendship Trophy for the Best Yearling of Scotland. The 6th Open hen was one of the lofts best hens, ‘Faradew’. She is quite a pigeon, having already won 2x1st and 4x2nd inland. In 2014 alone, she won 22nd Open National Kings Cup Alencon 474 miles, velocity 731ypm and 3 weeks later she was 6th Open Clermont 457 miles, velocity 1300ypm. “Faradew” is a fine example of the Rome pedigree - any distance, any conditions, any velocity. Her wins in 2014, won her the Ace Old Bird of Scotland, the Dewar Trophy for the best combined performance of an Old Bird in Scotland that year. I should mention that these birds had seen very little of the race basket in the preceding 2 years and that ‘Rita Ruby’ herself would have been unraced or trained as a young bird- this just underlines the quality of the Master fancier that is Robbie Rome and the quality of the birds.
Doing what comes naturally finishing at the top.
2014 was to be last year that Robbie competed, and although he always held out hope that things would improve for Eileen to allow him to participate again this has not been the case. Robbie is an all or nothing fancier and I know he would not be happy with the prospect of maybe competing. He has decided to devote his energies to helping care for Eileen and with Rob Junior settled in England with his own successful loft the decision has been made to sell the team he has gathered around him. This has not been a decision taken lightly and I know that he has been mulling over this for the past 18 months. Any time spent with Robbie allows you the privilege of being with a skilled fancier who bristles with a keen intellect and knowledge of the sport.
The very best of P and D Houfflijn the final strand in the Rome Strain.
In deciding to step back from the sport Robbie is letting go a legacy and a lifetimes work. From the 2nd National and cavalry charge of the 1963 Young Bird National right through to the 2nd National and cavalry charge at Clermont in 2014, Robbie Rome has continually strived to race against the very best with the very best blood available. He has used his instinct and intellect to track down the best that was out there and bring it back to Annan. His legacy is the sum total of his efforts, starting with the Bert Cooper birds, George Goossens, the Toyes and more recently the Houfflijn, Vandenabeele and Georges Carteus birds.
Is legacy too strong a word to be using? I don’t think so. You need only to look at how the Rome bloodlines have performed in many other racing lofts right across the UK to realise the quality of the Rome pedigree. For as long as Robbie has been applying the formulae others have been benefiting, winning at Club, Federation, Combine and National level in Scotland, England and Wales. The success strike rate for other fanciers is phenomenal and Robbie’s generosity and know-how has put many fanciers on the road to success. These birds know only one thing to get to the front and stay there, they thrive in races when velocities are around 1,000 to 1,200 ypm, you know those sort of races when many lofts don’t even get one. And the performances of the lofts most recent stars, ‘Faradew’ and ‘Rita Ruby’ show that these birds win in every year of their lives. The birds have been winning 1st prizes at all distances, in all conditions and all velocities which is how they have been selected for 50+years. And, just in case you are interested these birds have won 2 cars for The Rome loft and you don’t win those with fantails!!
Readers will know that Rob Junior in his Cheltenham loft has been competing in National racing and over a four year period gained 3 x 1st, 6 x 2nd, 3 x 3rd, 1 x 4th, 4 x 5th and 3 x 6th National Section positions with the NFC plus many more prizes in the top ten. Three years on the trot (2014-2016) Rob has won the NFC Trophy for Best 2B average in Gloucestershire from Tarbes, 606 miles. In 2015 he was 1st, 11th, 17th, 21st, 23rd National Section from Tarbes with the NFC and was the 3rd placed loft for the F.G Wilson Challenge Trophy, which is awarded for the best average from Ancenis and Tarbes. In 2015, Rob also won 10th Best Average from all NFC Old Bird races. In 2016, Rob started the season with only twelve old birds (as he was expecting to move home) but nevertheless still managed to win 1st NFC Champions League (Section I) and 7th Overall for most points in all 5 NFC races. His super endurance hen, ‘Valentina’ flew all 5 NFC races, every 2 weeks, from 180 miles up to 606 miles and won 3rd Mark Gilbert International Trophy for the best OB performance over the 5 races.
Some of the most recent highlights of the Rome pedigree in other lofts are Fishlock Brothers 2 x 1st National; Mel and Sue King 1st National Section 2015 plus multiple 1st prizes at Club and Fed; Alan Butler 1st MNFC Sect 2013-2016; Neil Wordsworth 1st Amal Messac 450 miles 2016 plus multiple 1st at Club, Fed and Combine; Freddy Gray 1st & 2nd Fed Bourges 580 miles 2014, 1st Fed Reims 480 miles 2015, 1st Fed Reims 2016 and lots more to boot.
Another corner stone pair in the Modern Rome Strain.
The dispersal of these birds will afford people the perfect opportunity to get some of this family, they are an all-round family that are winning along the line out to Tarbes with the NFC and they are regularly on the clock from 600+ miles in the Classic and National races across the British Isles. As if that wasn’t enough Robbie Rome is directly responsible for a legacy of winners in Trinidad after supplying one particular bird to Ronald Greene. This Rome bird is famous in Trinidad particularly from the most difficult races crossing 3 stretches of water. Such was the impact that the bird made on racing there that Ronald Greene flew over especially to visit and see the Rome family for himself, and believe me he didn’t go away empty handed.
With the Annan racing and stock boxes closing this winter we will see the end of an extraordinary era in racing in Scotland, Robbie’s skills and hard work will live on as they continue their winning way for any fanciers fortunate enough to acquire stock from the auction. Personally, I will raise a toast to this quiet spoken, talented stockman from South West Scotland every time I am in the Ostend Bar that has a picture of Champion Reimus, the Gold Cup winner, on the wall behind the bar. For your part you could do much worse than buy a bit of this legacy, nothing would give Robbie more pleasure to know his work continues. Remember, when they are gone they are gone.
Bogtrotter
