GIOVANNI (VAN) SANCHEZ

OF ROMFORD

by Keith Mott

I recently had a visit to my loft from two premier Essex fanciers by the name of Giovanni Sanchez and Dennis McDermott, who made the 90 minute journey to Claygate to get Giovanni’s champion blue cock, ‘Now He’s Talking’, photographed. Giovanni is better known in the pigeon racing world as Van and is a young man who owns a very small set up with very big performances. Van’s fantastic four year old blue Van Loon widowhood cock, ‘Now He’s Talking’, has won 38 prizes in races up to 230 miles, including eight times 1st club and three times 1st Federation. Some of his best positions were: 2011: 2nd Club, 17th Federation Retford (1506 birds), 1st Club, 8th Federation, 20th Amal Wetherby (5489 birds), 1st Club, 2nd Federation, 5th Amal Ripon (5104 birds), 2nd Club, 23rd Federation (1,300 birds), 1st Club, 1st Federation Newark (1330 birds), 2nd Club, 12th Federation Retford (913 birds), 4th Club, 17th Federation Wetherby (876 birds): 2010: 1st Club, 1st Federation Newark (1390 birds), 3rd Club, 18th Federation 35th Amal Wetherby (4281 birds), 1st club, 6th Federation, 25th Amal Retford (4644 birds), 2nd Club, 13th Federation Ripon (1096 birds): 2009 (3 races only): 1st Club, 1st Federation Retford (660 birds): 2008: 1st Club, 3rd Federation, 5th Combine Witton Castle (2657 birds), 1st Club, 5th Federation Wetherby (832 birds). When I asked Van about his champion blue cock, he said, ‘he is my best pigeon so far in my years in the sport, winning numerous positions at club, Federation, Combine, and amalgamation level. In the 2011 season, he managed to record seven straight weeks in the Federation results in eight races. He was 1st, 2nd, 8th, 12th, 17th, 17th and 23rd open with an average of 1,500 birds competing in the Federation’. A fantastic Van Loon sprint cock!

Van has been on and off in the sport for six years and at his present address in Romford for only four years, but has achieved so much success racing his birds north road in that short time. His loft set up is the original loft given to him by his friend Dennis McDermott and consists of an open door 8ft x 4ft apex pan tiled loft with eight standard boxes and a 6ft x 4ft young bird loft with aviary, which houses his few young birds and old hens. He told me, he believes a loft with proper ventilation that promotes the correct atmosphere to bring birds into a good condition, free of dampness and vermin is the best. About the subject of using deep litter, he doesn’t use it for the old birds, but likes it in the young birds’ loft.  

He only races a total of six to eight cock birds on the widowhood system and usually pairs up at the end of January, with the racers rearing one nest of young birds. On their second round of eggs, sitting for 8 days they are given about three training tosses from ten miles and after taking away the eggs and hens, they start 45 minutes of exercise flights around the loft twice a day. Van says he may train two to three times again while birds are on widowhood, but that is the only training they will get throughout the season. He breaks down, slowly building the cocks up at the end of the week, and shows the hens on marking night, especially to yearling cocks. The Sanchez loft only races the sprints, but has recently tried the long distances north road events with fair results. Van believes that to race the distance you need a medium to large-sized team to be able to cope with inevitable hard racing. The feeding is mostly Versele-Laga ‘Gerry Plus’ and slowly builds the racers up on a much heavier feed, such as ‘Superstar Plus’ or ‘Start Plus’.

Unlike many lofts Van doesn't keep stock birds and his young birds are bred from his racers, with a few others bred by friends to try. The main family of birds raced at the Sanchez loft are the Van Loons from a gentleman in Lincolnshire by the name of Mr Russell Hayes. He bred most of Van’s most successful racers and he himself is a top fancier in his area. Van’s main breeder and best ever racer is, ‘Now He’s Talking’ and he has only bred two cocks so far with different hens in his breeding career. Both these cocks were given to close friends to race and both turned out to be  first prize winners, with one a multiple prize winner, winning four times 1st club and a Federation topper. The other son of ‘Now He’s Talking’ won 1st club, 2nd Federation, 6th Combine Poitiers (370 miles) with 3,500 birds competing. He only keeps a maximum of 10-15 young birds and races them on the natural system from the start of the season to finish. He believes the darkness system is a must to win prizes consistently, but also believes that once natural youngsters get through the moult, their last two races as young birds could produce an exceptional result especially if well motivated i.e. paired up, on eggs or on babies. If he had the resources and time with the young birds, he would always try to be competitive. However, Van races the young bird program to weed out weak ones and educate the potential ones. He doesn't go further than 40 miles when training young birds.

When I asked Van about his past and how he came in to the sport he told me, ‘I was born in the Philippines and immigrated into the UK in 2004.  I wasn't born from a family of pigeon fanciers, but have been raised in the countryside alongside different farm animals, not to mention pigeons as my favourite. I had pigeons as pets as a boy but were mostly unrung domesticated street pigeons and my friends and I race them on bikes or on foot. Started with proper racing pigeons in 2003 in my home country, but had to immediately pack up after my pigeons were shot one after the other, as shooting is popular in the countryside, but never had the chance to race them. After moving into the UK in 2004, I've restarted with the help of a local fancier friend Dennis "Mac" McDermott through the RPRA. My first proper stock birds were a mix of different strains including Janssen, Busschaert, Jan Aarden, Vandenabeele, Van den Bosche, and my successful Van Loons. My friend Mac and a few close friends in the local club rallied round given me some young birds to help me get started. I've raced the young birds with moderate success, however, winning my first ever red card in the last young bird race of that season in our club. The game of basketball is not a popular sport in the UK but it is a definite sports interest for me apart from pigeon racing. My first successful strain of pigeons at the moment is the Van Loons and they have given me great pleasure since I first raced them properly in 2007 until now. I first raced with the Pride of Romford club with the young birds and later on moved to the Dagenham Invitation, which is a strong north road club. I have made many mistakes in the past and I still make mistakes until now but I have always tried to learn from them.  Regrettably, I have sent some of my best birds to long distance races and proved to be a very difficult one never to see them again’.

Van works as a full time nurse and his young family are interested in the pigeons, only as far as when they get bored indoors they come out to see them fly! He solely looks after the birds and says, to keep a good balance between family affairs and his hobby is very difficult, but he always tries his best to keep things in harmony. He enjoys the sprint racing at the moment, but if he had the material to race the distance, he would always have a crack at it.  Because he only has a really small team of birds, six to eight widowhood cocks, he has managed to condition them for sprinting. Usually the best birds for the long distance races are the birds that arrive from a race always fresh with minimal signs of fatigue. A pigeon that has scored in the short distance and continue to do it consistently, he normally keeps in the sprints. He believes that specializing is the best move if you have a small team.  Hence, sprinting is what he enjoys and will continue to specialize in it. He has proven his birds fly well up to 330 miles, but beyond that, he says, I’m afraid I don't have the courage to send especially my winning sprinters. He told me, ‘I enjoy the sprints and every week is thrilling for me, especially when I get an early pigeon’.

He has always actively supported his club and says, ‘I may never have held an important position due to the nature of my work, but tried my best to do my part on marking nights. The fancy is losing ground and I believe that Federations and Combines should be discussing about joining together to cut costs and heighten the level of competition. Personal issues must be set aside and think of the future of the sport’. The only advice he can give to a new starter is to try to make friends among his fellow fanciers and to enjoy the social side of the fancy. With the pigeons, try to learn all the basic systems and adapt the best system that you can manage. Acquire birds from successful fanciers and try to buy only what you can afford. Race every single pigeon meant for racing and let the basket do the selection. Good pigeons, good loft, a sound system, and a lot of hard work especially with babies. I asked Van who was the top fancier in his area and he replied, ‘Consistency has a key factor in deciding who the best fancier is and in my local area, there is B. and J. Wilson, Ling Brothers, Tony Calverly, Davey Hunt, Ron Tubey, and a few others. These fanciers have always been consistent in the last few years and they deserve to be considered top fanciers in my area’. Van believes in inbreeding but not too close. He told me, ‘I must admit that I am not the most experienced fancier when it comes to breeding but I would probably try half brother half sister pairing, grandfather to granddaughter or grandmother to grandson, uncle to niece or aunt to nephew. Having said that, I believe crosses bring vitality’. He gives the birds nothing really special during the moulting season, but usually gets a good moulting mix, with a lot of rest and minimal loft flying, to ensure every individual bird to get a stress free moulting season.

Well, there you have it, the Giovanni Sanchez of Romford story, a new up and coming sprint star in our sport.

TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT.