Fanciers from across West Flanders have been keeping an eye on the young birds of Gino Clicque, which have been showing some impressive form in recent weeks. The Clicque pigeon breed was the star of the show in the races from Pontoise and La Souterraine.
Gino and his son Jasper Clicque
Regular breeding and strict selection
This is basically the only way to create a solid team of racing birds. But the more pigeons you breed the more often you will have to basket pigeons for training flights and races. This often involves taking a few risks to see where things are going.
Gino Clicque is the kind of fancier who is not afraid of taking risks. He likes to work with a large group of pigeons and he does not mind losing some of them. He made sure that his entire racing team was ready for the national race from La Souterraine on 27th of August, not only to allow his young birds to gain some experience but also to get rid of some of the less talented birds.
The race on 27th of August was eventually cancelled due to the hot weather; only the sprint races were allowed to take place that weekend. He had no other option than to basket his entire team for the sprint race from Pontoise, in which his pigeons had to cover 207km.
The young birds of Gino Clicque were obviously in great form and ready to shine, as you can tell from their results in Pontoise. Despite the fairly short distance from the release site to Gino’s loft, his pigeons still managed to win several provincial top prizes in this WVOU race:
27/8 Pontoise WVOU 10,712 young birds:
8-16-50-53-74-77-78-83-87-116-163-165-173-174-176-179-180-188-197-198…
He had 69 pigeons per 10, as well as 102 pigeons in the top 1990 (at least per 5) with 148 basketed pigeons.
This is an impressive result indeed. The team gained a lot confidence and they worked hard towards the national race from La Souterraine, which eventually took place one week later, in the first weekend of September. Most of Gino’s young birds took part in their very first national race but that did not seem to bother them; they went on to win several top prizes:
03/9 La Souterraine Club 516 young birds:
2-3-5-7-8-9-11-12-13-14-18-19-20-21-22-25-26-27-28-29-30-32-35-37-38-39-40-41-42-46-47-49… (66/131)
Prov. 3,876 young birds:
3-5-11-31-52-53-63-64-73-74-92-93-101-102-114-129-140-144-146-148-149-160-197…
The team won 39 prizes per 10 and 67 prizes with 131 pigeons.
This is a great overall result, especially for a team from West Flanders, where the weather conditions were not as good as in the rest of the country.
It pays off to have a top quality breed
Gino Clicque is really passionate about pigeon racing, and he has always been determined to achieve great results. Breeding a lot of pigeons and selecting the best ones is common practice in pigeon racing. Still, being able to achieve such prize percentages with such a large group of pigeons is not an easy thing to do, especially with so many top prizes at provincial and national level. It takes a high quality pigeon breed with a lot of talented racing birds to achieve so many great results.
It is thanks to this breed that Gino has been able to get his first nominated to finish in the first group time and time again. For instance, his 1st and 2nd nominated won a 74th and 83rd against 10,712 young birds in Pontoise, while his 1st nominated from La Souterraine managed to win a 31st provincial (7th in the club). This is easier said than done!
The team is ready to excel one more time in the closing national classic from Chateauroux, which marks the end of the season for the pigeons of Clicque. We wonder what his pigeons are up to in the closing race of 2016. They already have 5 provincial first prizes and a double national win from Agen yearlings on their palmares, can they win another top result?
Gino breeds and races a lot of pigeons, to try and find worthy successors for the champions that hang on the wall.