Are Helmut & Alfons Klaas (Rietberg, DE) the best One Loft Race fanciers worldwide?

Highlights

Helmut and Alfons Klaas have won the Sun City Million Dollar Race with one of their pigeons twice already. Could they take a third victory as well? I am convinced they will, simply because these Klaas pigeons have the quality of being able to find their way home in no time. When placed in a different loft they will feel at ease very quickly as well. They do not need a lot of time to get accustomed to the new environment as other pigeons do. In fact, quite a few pigeons will never feel at ease in a new home. Some pigeons will get used to a new loft eventually but only a few of them will do so immediately. These are the kind of pigeons you should be looking for if you want to be successful in the one loft races. The Klaas pigeons happen to have excellent origins as well, which makes them a great choice for fanciers that would like to win important races.

We drew up a list of all the important international victories of the Klaas pigeons and it was really interesting to take a closer look at the pedigrees of these winners. We begin with the first big victory, which was the starting point for the successful loft of Helmut and Alfons Klaas.

1. They took the first prize in the 11th Sun City Million Dollar Pigeon Race of 2007 with Konstantin 0507-06-860, which originates from 0507-03-994 paired to 0507-96-660. His sire 994 is a son of the loft’s stock cock 0507-97-180 that was paired to 0507-01-123, a pigeon of Steenbergen-Kösters. This 180 has won 12 prizes in 13 races in 1999, making for a total of 1,070 ace points. A number of grandchildren of this cock have won several top prizes in a single season as well. Konstantin’s dam 660 originates from breeding cock Tim paired to breeding hen Konstance. This pedigree is hard to match.

2.  The team of Kitchenbrand Lofts/Klaas takes the victory in the 15th Sun City Million Dollar Pigeon Race in 2011 with Viktor, a pigeon of Helmut & Alfons Klaas. The sire of this pigeon is Contador 0507-03-577 and his dam is Naomie 0507-08-980. Contador originates from Pantani 0507-95-511, which is in turn a descendant of top class breeding pair Tim x Konstance, which we just mentioned. Viktor’s dam Naomi was bred from a half brother of Konstantin and his dam Jewelchen 01769-07-100. She comes from the loft of Andreas and Walter Drappa and was bred from Carl x Tochter Maya. This is quite an impressive pedigree as well.

These two examples clearly illustrate the amazing talent of the pigeons of Helmut & Alfons Klaas. Every single pigeon appears to originate from a top class bloodline and the partners are usually closely related. The pigeons of Helmut & Alfons really belong to one and the same bloodline, a bloodline that has been carefully composed over the years. From 1887/1988 they have been looking for pigeons to further strengthen their bloodline, which were then carefully introduced in the breed as well. This is a pigeon breed that is almost unmatched and we are convinced that we are about to see several more big victories from these pigeons, including first prizes in important one loft races worldwide.

Results in the 2013 One Loft Races

We would like to discuss some of their best results in the one loft races this season. The Klaas pigeon family had a great start to the season in January 2013, with their pigeon Purdey winning the title of First Ace Pigeon in the grand average. He is also winner of a third prize in the main race. In addition, they have won the first prize in the Carnival City Race with a seven minute lead over a distance of 521km, as well as the title of first ace pigeon in the grand average.

They took the first prize in the Derby of Arona Teneriffa and the second ace pigeon grand average in March, while also finishing 16th in the Portugal Algareve Race in October. They have also won a 15th prize in the big Peking race in China against 3,812 pigeons, which made them the best European fanciers.
These are just a few of many top results that were won this season. Their most successful one loft race this season was without doubt the Million Dollar Race in South-Africa, where Purdey DV 05369-12-1121 won the title of ace pigeon while also winning a third prize in the final race.

Helmut & Alfons Klaas

Who are the fanciers behind this successful team? Helmut and Klaas run a butcher’s shop in Rietberg-Westerwiehe. This business was founded back in 1925 and they are already the third generation of butchers in the Klaas family. Helmut (75) and his son Alfons jr. (48) are both passionate pigeon fanciers so they can share the work in the loft. They have competed in the races of RV Rietberg for several years and you can tell from the results they were quite successful. Helmut has been a pigeon fancier for years and he was happy to see his then seven year old son Alfons join the sport in 1972 as well. Alfons is now the decision maker in the pigeon loft and he is always looking for pigeons to further improve their breed. The foundation for today’s success story was laid in 1987, when fanciers Rudi & Agnes Köhne from near Aachen were auctioning a round of young birds. Helmut & Alfons Klaas were really satisfied with these pigeons and they decided to purchase another full round of eggs from the breeding and racing loft from the Köhne family. Today, the 0507-88-196 x 0507-89-463 can be considered a truly exceptional breeding pair. Their descendants were then combined with a few carefully selected top pigeons of Kurt Weitkamp, Hardy Krüger, Bogdan Janoschka, Kerkhofs-Peeters, the Kokartis brothers, Heribert Klaas and Andreas Drapa, which allowed the Klaas family to win numerous top prizes and important victories.