All material Copyright © 1996-2007 by Silvio Mattacchione & Co. unless otherwise noted.
Thomas Mattacchione:
Long Distance and Super Long Distance racing Pigeons
 |
|
Thomas's
Loft with 3 sections
|
When Thomas decided that he wanted his very own racing pigeons we discussed it many times. He really did not want to offend my feelings but he finally said it straight up, “Dad I want my own birds, not your birds. Your birds are yours and I really want birds that will be mine”! Birds that I can work with and develop. You can help me Dad but they are mine!” It didn’t end their either he wanted his very own loft and thanks to the carpentry excellence of our good friend Mr. John Maares he has a great loft. His own, not his Dad’s! The loft was designed and built by John Maares at his home and once completed Cliff Jones loaded and trucked it to our farm in Port Perry. I might add that both of these good friends donated their time and ability free of charge for Thomas!
Well that was only the beginning now Thomas had to decide the type of racing pigeons he wanted. Were they to be sprinters? Middle distance? Or Long and super long distance racers? Well Thomas decided that he wanted long distance and super long distance racers. I told Thomas that we would study families from all over the world and that even if it took 2 or more years we would ,only buy the very best that we could afford ,because in the end purchasing the best would also be the most economical. I had learned this lesson myself only too well.
The Research
Now the real research work began, we decided that we would not purchase local birds or for that matter any birds from Canada at all. Thomas and I decided that we would look for a small team, unknown, backyard flier who raced only in National competitions exclusively. Someone , who had been successful , for at least a decade. Someone who was totally unknown , outside his own country. Someone who had developed his own family and most important of all someone who was winning at the super long distance.
I laughed and told Thomas that what we were asking for was, almost a miracle and it would take us a very, very long time to find such a fancier as their were agents and fanciers from all over the world looking for this very same person. I told him we might never find such a person, but we would try. So where do you start? Now Thomas and I needed a miracle to find what was possibly, a non existent person.
We Hit the Jackpot
 |
|
This
photo shows all seven imported pair shortly
after arriving in Canada in Dec. '02 |
Well, I am a researcher and as such I used every avenue open to me. Remember that we had planned this effort for two years. Much to our surprise we did in fact locate this very person , and we still cannot believe our good fortune. The middle aged fancier we found has quite a record, actually a tremendous record. To top it all off, he dislikes publicity and does not sell birds. Well this was great news and terrible news all at the same time. Needless to say we persisted and when he realized that these birds were for Thomas he agreed to breed and export the entire 3rd round ( a total of 14 birds). Since he has a very small team we got them directly from his very best breeding pairs! The family that he had developed was a cross of van Wanroy, van der Wegen and Jan Arden. The birds had originated from several good friends of his including Anton van Haaren and his brother Jo van Haaren as well as from the Barcelona specialist Cor Pijnappels who raced the real old Jan Arden pigeons.
 |
|
Typical
Hen, as you can see the birds are mostly
dark check pieds and dark checks |
This fancier insisted that he was not interested in publicity nor sales. His long distance story had begun some fifteen years previous. As his physical condition had been getting worse (he had a heart-failure and had open heart surgery),the excitement surrounding short- and middle-distance racing was too much for him and he decided to specialize in the long distance races.
This suited him very well as he only had to prepare his birds for 5 or 6 special National races per year against the very best long distance lofts of all of Holland.
He was able to build his own family of birds that perform
exceptionally, especially, over the past 10 years. I will not bore you
with the details of his past winners, but will rather only fill you in
briefly on his current racers. Please keep in mind that all of the races
and performances listed are for National races only, competing against
thousands of lofts and thousands of the best long distance pigeons in
the world today.
Remember that if you see a 110th prize against 15.000 birds then realize
that you have shown 14.890 of the best birds your tail in a National race.
Outstanding National Results
I will briefly list some of his current birds and their performances. I find it, and you may also find it really very interesting, to note the age to which these birds are still winning. An age by which most birds are long since retired or long since lost!
 |
|
Pictured
above are typical cock and hen. These
birds will be mated in 2003 for the first time. |
NL93-9309731 this cock won a.o. the title
of 10th GOLD CRACK against 8500 lofts.
Sire is Wanroy-v.d.Wegen and Dam is Aarden.
In 1994 he won a 61st against 1214 birds and a 175th of 1336 birds
In 1995 he won 11th against 5151 birds (1027 km) and a 36th against 3706
birds (1030 km)
In 1996 he won 141st against 5355 birds (1032 km) and a 102nd against
3021 birds
In 1997 he won 92nd against 5335 birds and 12th against 3484 birds
In 1998 he won 121st of 5228 birds
In 1999 he won 288th of 5400 birds and 174th of 5839 as well as 258th
of 3392 birds
In 2000 he was transferred to the breeding loft .It is remarkable to see
the age that these birds are still competing successfully!
 |
|
This
long distance family is essentialy very
calm and well mannered in the loft. |
NL95-9575839 Sire is Wanroy-Aarden and
Dam is a direct daughter off 1st National Dax 1990.
In 1997 this cock won 35th against 20.073 birds ( 1025 km.)
In 1998 he won 13th against 13.781 birds ( 1025 km.)
In 1999 he won 1023rd against 5400 birds ( 1025 km.)
In 2000 he won 967th against 5144 birds and 340 against 4017 birds ( 1025
km.)
In 2001 he won 307th against 5181 birds ( 1025 km.)
In 2002 he went to the breeding loft.
NL96-9603101 Sire and Dam are both Wanroy
Aarden v.d.Wegen
In 1998 he won 160th of 15.178 birds and a 197th against 997 birds( 1025
km.)
In 1999 he was lost from the 1st race and came back months later
In 2000 he really started showing what he could. He won 407th against
5144 birds( 1025 km.)
And 122nd against 4717 birds and 56th against 3154 birds( 1025 km.)
In 2001 he became 1st ACEBIRD 5000 lofts and 2nd GoldCrack of
8500 lofts
He won 20th against 6005 birds and 19th against 5181 birds and 192nd against
5229 birds (I hope you realize that only the very best birds can compete
successfully in 3 such National races in 1 season. Remember each race
was 1025 kilometers)
NL92-1553592 is a full nephew of #101
and won
In 1994 -310th against 1550 and 599th against 6039 and 228th against 3075
birds ( 1025 km.)
In 1995 -33rd against 7789 birds and 221st against 5151 birds.( 1025 km.)
In 1996 - 10th against 5355 birds and 39th against 19.876 birds. ( 1025
km.)
In 1997- 970th against 15.335 and 76th against 12.372 birds. ( 1025 km.)
NL82-1224150 is still the 4th best Fond pigeon
of ALL TIMES IN HOLLAND. He won a.o.
29th of 23.188 birds
31st of 12.277 birds
64th of 1636 birds
83rd of 14.361 birds
132nd of 12.186 birds
167th of 6.643 birds
199th of 5.220 birds
217th of 13.721 birds
273rd of 26.527 birds
375th of 19.405 birds and so on. All these prizes are won in National
races which you can see as thee numbers of birds are tremendous.
NL99-9977371 is a son of the best bird of all
times 1-day Fond (700 km on the day)
the father won a.o.
1st 650 km, 1st 720 km, 3rd 586 km, 7th 650 km, 17th 686 km, 27th 624
km, 77th 679 km and so on all against 4000 to 5000 pigeons average.
NL93-4092171 this cock won 2x in first 10 in the National a.o. a 2nd National against 15.456 birds and a 7th against 6300 birds.
Well I could go on but I think it is apparent what these birds can do when it comes to performing in long-distance National races.
 |
|
Typical
colour and confirmation of
Thomas's long distance hens. |
Thomas and I were amazed to find that these birds are never raced as youngsters (they are only trained out to 200km) and only lightly raced as yearlings but as two year olds they are required to carry a full load which can entail as many as 3 or 4 National races in one season (remember that means 3 or 4 races of 1025 km or 650 miles each race).Now that takes an exceptional long distance racing pigeon!
Needless to say Thomas is very excited to begin his breeding program with the assistance of his new mentor and ace at the long distance National races. Thomas is only 14 and if he persists, with the exceptional quality of super long distance National championship blood there is no telling how much he can and will achieve by the time he is my age! I am very excited for him. It is not often that a young fancier can start with some of the finest distance blood in the world!
Racing Pigeons Section Contents
Background on Silvio Mattacchione, his pigeons, his loft, and inbreeding program.
A group of articles and editorials addressing various aspects of the sport of pigeon racing and the history of Silvio's line of Spanjaards/Janssens pigeons.
Buy fantastic pigeon books online! Selections include The Will to Prepare by Robert Kinney, Rotondo on Racing Pigeons by Joseph Rotondo, and The Pigeon Guide by Dr. Jon Esposito and Shannon Hiatt.
Some of Silvio Mattacchione's own winning stock is for sale.
Sivio Mattacchione offers a wide range of racing pigeon consulting services and consults with owners as far away as Australia, Mexico, Taiwan, The Philippines and the United States. Each consultation is tailored specifically to meet the client's needs, and is conducted in as thorough a manner as possible.
Good causes supported by Silvio and the racing pigeon and parrot communities.
Clever pigeon pictures constructed of keyboard strokes by artist Jerry Downs.
Links to other racing pigeon sites including those of clubs, products, and information resources.
An easy way to navigate a series of pigeon web sites!
Silvio's e-mail, mail, phone, and fax contact information.