Gaby Vandenabeele

HISTORY

Gaby Vandenabeele, a living legend

It is difficult to imagine and describe the achievements of Gaby Vandenabeele pigeons over the last 30 years. Vandenabeele has achieved almost 100 provincial victories in his own loft (94 to be exact), as well as six national awards. The list of successful results is incalculable if one takes into account the prizes won by his pigeons in other lofts. His pigeons are part of the history of Belgian pigeon racing. The names of his best breeders, such as Kleinen and Wittenbuik, are known in every pigeon fancier's corner of the world. These famous birds are in demand in Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Denmark, England, Japan, China, Taiwan and even the USA.

There are no secrets in Dentergem (Belgian municipality where Vandenabeele's pigeon lofts are located), only the extraordinary nature of the birds.  Despite his successful career, Gaby keeps his feet on the ground. He does not boast a large loft behind his house like many breeders of his reputation, but keeps 50 widowhoods, 30 breeding pairs and 120 young pigeons. In 1976, the first pigeons moved to Gaby's loft came from his father, Gentiel, who was also a fantastic fancier in the western part of Flanders, when it was all about middle distance racing. The basis of Gentiel's pigeons was built from birds coming from famous fanciers like Valère Desmet-Matthys (Nokere), Pol Bostyn (Moorslede) and Lucien Verstraete (Deinze). So it is understandable that his parent birds were at the base of Gaby's colony.

Lineage: Kelinen, Bijter and Groten

Three lines, the Kleinen, the Bijter and the Groten became the pillars of the colony's success in Dentergem. Over the years, the Kleinen pigeon has established itself as the strongest breeding pigeon and it is for this reason that the successive birds have almost all come from this bird. Kleinen was the number one breeder for many years. He never took part in a race but still produced great offspring that became great racers.  Kleinen's sire, the Zitterke, had been on loan from Jozef Delodder of Zulte, after winning a first prize from Orleans in very hot weather and strong wind. The Zitterke could only stay for a short time in Gaby's loft and, at that time, he did not have a suitable female for this male in his own team. The best females had already been matched, so Gaby went to visit his good friend Gilbert Van Parijs, who at that time was a very strong competitor.

Gilbert immediately offered him his Ameyeke to pair with the Zitterke. This pigeon was one of his best females. As a pigeon, the Ameyeke had excelled in flying like no other and would later prove to be a perfect breeder as well. So the famous Kleinen comes from the pair of Zitterke and Ameyeke. Kleinen got its name because it was rather small, although it would later reach a medium size. Paired with Goed Jong 76 from Gaby's father's line, the Kleinen would soon give birth to Picanol, a true outlier who achieved the title As Paloma Provincial at one year of age. Later he himself, too, would go on to become a great breeder in the breeding cadre. One of his best daughters, Sissi, became the foundation bitch of one of the most famous Dutch fanciers, Ad Schaerlaecken.

These direct descendants took Vandenabeele to the top in Belgium. Champions such as Picañol, Fideel, Turbo and, of course, the incredible Wittenbuik, all direct offspring of Kleinen and who really dominated their opponents in a number of races, made Gaby a benchmark. Fideel (2nd b. Limoges 6,991 p. in 1985) was very close to winning a national first prize but Gaby's first national victory was won by his pigeon Rambo, who took a Bourges national first against 13,116 birds in 1988, the time when his now famous Wittenbuik was born. 

At this time the Vandenabeele lineage started to develop, rapidly, and Gaby was recognised, internationally, as a great pigeon breeder.  Wittenbuik was extraordinary both as a breeder and as a racer. The story of this pigeon has been widely followed in the press. Next to Wittenbuik is Bliksem. They are two very talented birds whose direct descendants have played a key role in many lofts all over the world, making the Vandenabeele lineage one of the most successful breeding lines in the world.

Rudy and Super Romeo

It was some time before Gaby found a new leader in her loft. She had several excellent breeding pairs but it was Rudy, a direct son of Bliksem, who turned out to be a pigeon of extraordinary class. After a successful career as a racing bird, he joined the breeding team.

He won the following prizes:
- 18th Argenton 2,401 p.
- 19th Bourges 1.279 p.
- 28th Argenton 5.134 p.
- 76th Tours 2.791 p.

Quickly, he became a new breeder ready to follow in the footsteps of his progenitor Bliksem. One of his first great offspring is Super Romeo, winner of the 1st National title as a KBDB long distance pigeon in 2013. Super Romeo joined the breeding team as well. Besides Rudy and his son Super Romeo, the lofts in Dentergem had other exceptional breeding stock and very successful racing birds. It would take a long time to analyse all of them, Benji and Lion King are only two of the many top pigeons of this loft.

Creating his own lineage, crossbreeding talented pigeons

When creating a new breed Gaby has always focused on his own champions (the lines of Kleinen, Wittenbuik, Bliksem, Rudy, Super Romeo and several others) to come up with a new team. He only competes with males. He managed to make the most of his own successful bloodline, which has managed to excel in many races over the last 30 years. His top breeders are used for artificial insemination of his best females, allowing Gaby to breed a large number of offspring in a short period of time. Gaby is a fancier who never stands still, he is always looking for improvements to strengthen his breed and to stay ahead of his opponents.