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youngest daughter, Gaby. In 1988… the year that he<br />
won the title of ‘General National Champion of Belgium’<br />
with Thomas Peeters… he also married Gaby.<br />
He received a plot of building land in the Kruisstraat<br />
as a present <strong>from</strong> his brand new ‘dad-in-law’ Thomas<br />
Peeters… in 1989 <strong>Jos</strong> was able to start building his<br />
dream house and ditto ‘loft accommodation’! In 1991<br />
a start was made <strong>from</strong> the current lofts in Niel bij <strong>As</strong>.<br />
A loft which was a result of a well thought through<br />
study, to find the optimal combination between little<br />
cleaning, moving the pigeons about as little as possible<br />
(hens sit at the back of the loft, behind the cocks’<br />
loft), and the optimal use of space… in addition to the<br />
integration of the pigeon sport into the family life. The<br />
basis for the success story which has been laid down<br />
up until this day in 2010… was laid. <strong>Jos</strong> was ahead at<br />
all levels… he was ‘houseman’ who looked after the<br />
children, whilst Gaby carried on with her job at the<br />
bank… meaning that he had an ocean of time to concentrate<br />
full-time on the pigeon sport… he was able<br />
to open his rich ‘suggestion box’ fully… and enact!<br />
He immediately lit the fuse on his “barrel” full of ambition<br />
no challenge was too great via hard work <strong>Jos</strong><br />
<strong>Thoné</strong> paved his way to the absolute top soon even<br />
became ‘world champion’… something which he<br />
repeated 3 times! When he first went to the ‘Gouden<br />
Duif’ social evening… there hatched an idea in his<br />
‘inner self’ … I want to stand on that podium next<br />
year! And who stood there on the highest podium<br />
a year later, flaunting, with the ‘Gouden Duif’ in his<br />
hand? Yes one <strong>Jos</strong> <strong>Thoné</strong> another 4 would also follow<br />
this! In the meantime he has collected an honours<br />
list which is bursting at the seams… which knows no<br />
equal… and this at all levels! The result is printed at<br />
the top of this article in ‘capital letters’. He managed<br />
to ‘hold his own’ in all disciplines… <strong>from</strong> sprint to<br />
‘extreme long distance’… and this via a well figured<br />
out breeding system… because ‘winners’ of the type<br />
<strong>Jos</strong> <strong>Thoné</strong> are simply used to ‘winning’! Thus over the<br />
years he has created an extremely versatile colony …<br />
with a type of pigeon that is ‘world top’ in the extreme<br />
Middle Distance… in other words <strong>from</strong> 500 to 700<br />
Km. By introducing speed… <strong>Jos</strong> bred toppers in the<br />
sprint and Middle Distance… by introducing resist-<br />
3<br />
ance and endurance… he bred ‘toppers’ in the ‘extreme<br />
long distance’! In this way <strong>Jos</strong> <strong>Thoné</strong> created<br />
the ‘modern racing pigeon’… the modern ‘all round<br />
pigeon’ which is ‘world top’ in all disciplines! Pigeons<br />
with which everyone can ‘win’ all over the world…<br />
that is apparent <strong>from</strong> the cartload of references<br />
‘worldwide’ no wonder then that the name <strong>Jos</strong> <strong>Thoné</strong><br />
enjoys ‘world fame’ wherever in the world pigeons<br />
are raced! He is not only sought after and coveted all<br />
over the world… he is also the perfect ‘ambassador’<br />
for our Belgian sport pigeon! Whoever has introduced<br />
<strong>Thoné</strong> pigeons into his lofts knew within the shortest<br />
space of time what ‘winning’ meant in our pigeon<br />
sport!<br />
His life’s work will now come on the auction table<br />
We can without hesitation label the <strong>Jos</strong> <strong>Thoné</strong> colony<br />
as the best ‘all-round’ colony of Belgium… which<br />
manages almost weekly to win 1st prizes and achieve<br />
top performances <strong>from</strong> sprint to ‘grand distance’… in<br />
other words up to Barcelona!<br />
When <strong>Jos</strong> <strong>Thoné</strong> stood on his own two feet in the<br />
pigeon sport in 1991, he had the big advantage<br />
of being able to draw abundantly on the breeding<br />
source which he had himself built up and expanded<br />
by father-in-law Thomas Peeters, in other words the<br />
sort based on the world famous ‘Gouden Grijze’.<br />
With regard to long distance and ‘grand distance’,<br />
he couldn’t have imagined better starting material…<br />
after all, they were pigeons which he knew inside<br />
out, which held no secrets for him. He knew the best<br />
breeding couples like the back of his hand, and correspondingly<br />
also the capacities of these pigeons.<br />
Because look at it whichever way you like, success<br />
in the pigeon sport is based on ‘good pigeons’, and<br />
these are produced through a ‘classy’ breeding loft! It<br />
is not Bull’s-eye every time, everybody knows that…<br />
but top successes in the long term, over several<br />
years, find their roots in the ‘classy basis’ … in a super<br />
excellent breeding source. It is without doubt the<br />
‘most important link’ in the chain. Toppers of the calibre<br />
<strong>Jos</strong> <strong>Thoné</strong> know this better than anybody. When<br />
they discover a ‘defect’ or ‘shortcoming’, or when this
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