1st Orleans MLS 04 and 1st + 2nd Rethel Young at Wefo-Limburg are the most recent stunts of this Dutch super loft. Their name often appears at the top of the results! Their secret: simply excellent pigeons from top lines like Gunther Prange, Jan Hooymans, Gaby Vandenabeele, Leo Heremans, and Dirk Van Den Bulck. 24 young natural talents are ready to strengthen various lofts!
Small in number
Herman and Ton Cox, both retired, got into pigeon sport through family in the early '70s. Initially active in sprint and middle-distance racing, they later became the ones to beat in the big middle distance. Among others, the ‘Harry’ line from Hooymans, ‘Kittel’, ‘Kaasboer’, and Gebr Janssen and Wiel Schoffelen (Buchten) form the foundation of this colony.
With a very select group of 16 breeding pairs, they start the winter breeding in early December. From this, 30 young pigeons are weaned from the 1st round and about 25 from the 2nd round. These young ones are both darkened and later also supplemented with light. Their motivation comes from the door system. They need to have good papers to make it to yearling status, as with only 16 widowers and 10 racing hens, the Cox brothers tackle the races with the old and yearling pigeons. They will be paired around mid-March, not darkened, and not supplemented with light.
In terms of feed, primarily breeding mix and diet mix are provided, and beyond extra grit and ‘the bottle of Gust’, the range of by-products is minimal. The attending veterinarian is Peter Boskamp.
That good pigeons do not need much is evident from their stunt this year at Rethel, when they won 1st and 2nd prize at Wefo with the 1st and 2nd marked pigeons! They were flagged as the 1st and 4th fastest pigeons in all of Limburg among no less than 45,000 pigeons. But it wasn’t just these two pigeons that created a buzz, as nearly the entire racing team of Cox made their presence known that day:
at Wefo: 1,2,57,66,82,90… and 19/25 against 1228 pigeons
at VML 1,2,50,56,81,87,95… and 21/25 against 2058 pigeons
and in the combined game MLS as many as 23 out of 25 and 1,2,14,16,28,30,48… against 598 pigeons.
The father of the ‘882’ that won first at Rethel was named ‘Mister Buchten’. In his racing career, he was a true champion and continued this trend as a breeder. In his pedigree, we find among others Herman Smulders (Ulestraten), Wiel Schoffelen (Buchten), and Gebr Simons & Zn (Ransdaal). The mother of the Rethel winner, on the other hand, comes from the line of ‘Bolleken’ of Eddy Leutenez from Kruishoutem.
The spectacular flight from Rethel confirmed that there was clearly top form present at the lofts, as the day before Herman and Ton also won the 1st prize from Orleans in the combined MLS game.
In 2021, they also achieved victory at the department against 9,487 pigeons and at Wefo against 1,243 pigeons. The hen 20-1713137 that caused this stunning performance comes directly from John Smit from Grevenbicht, with a father from the ‘Harry’ line of Hooymans and a mother from the ‘Ringless’ line of Gunther Prange.
