Each decade delivers its superstars. The oldest known pigeon club in South Africa is the Durban Pigeon Club that was formed in 1897. Going forward, the South African Homing Union was established in 1939 when the country had a pigeon population of about 60 000. The South African National Pigeon Organisation (SANPO) was formed in January 1989. Today it has around 4 000 members of which an estimated 500 focus on One Loft Racing.
Gys Louw, well-known South African attorney, racing pigeon champion, and partner with Mark King of the team Pigeon Palace, once sent this WhatsApp message: “Golden TT is the best pigeon in the history of South Africa.”
Golden TT, with a ring ID number of ZA 7336, was bred in 2007 by the Tshwane partnership of Johan King and his son Mark. Besides Golden TT being a top racer, she became a super breeder, likewise her brothers and sisters on national and international level
Raking in millions
A quick search indicates that winnings and sales with Golden TT genetics have passed R10 million, and counting.
Just look at these examples of the prize-winning stakes and international buyers’ interest in this gene pool:
- Julia winning US$170 000 (about R2,9 million). Winner of AfrikaPro Final 2022;
- Lara sold for €112 000 (approximately R2,2 million), a new South African record, and was the best-performing pigeon in the AfrikaPro series She was sold online at the PIPA international auction house hosted in Belgium.
International accolades
- Turbo Kittel was the winner of eight South African medals, and crowned Top 3 Ace FCI, ranking best All-Round Pigeon in the World. He was bred by Banie Deetlefs in partnership with the late John Du Preez;
- Cyclone, the brother of Turbo Kittel, contributed to the Banie Deetlefs Syndicate by winning the AfrikaPro series 2023 Black Jacket Best Fancier. The competition was won in 2025 by Team Palace;
- Dart, Ace Pigeon at the Victoria Falls World Challenge Pigeon Race, is a grandchild of Golden TT.
T-Rex now in the US
Blue Bar Male 90692 ZA-18, sire of Turbo Kittel, was bought by the Mike Ganus Family Loft in the US for R242 000 and named T-Rex. It was bred from a full brother and sister mating, the same parents that produced Golden TT.
The discovery of Golden TT
We need to understand the values and limitations within a pedigree. In the animal kingdom, be it wildlife, horses, cattle or parrots, a pedigree that demonstrates a high-performance hit rate not only influences the price tag, but indicates the way forward with your breeding plan. Following the data from the starting birds, you should be able to determine the strength in competition and the passing-on powers of the quality from generation to generation. The pedigree provides important pointers, but you still need the ‘fancier’s hand’ going forward.
- Breeders’ expertise
South African Champion Charl Stander, who bred the parents of Golden TT, and fanciers before and after him who led to the discovery of Golden TT, gave thoughtful analysis of the pedigrees used and suitability of the matings to maintain the ‘golden thread’ within the lineage’ correctly applied to the demographics of the location and demands of races.
- Phenotype vs genotype
A key female in the Golden TT line was downrated by a so-called expert based on its physical features, but Stander followed his knowledge of the pedigree and optimised her genetic protentional, knowing the value of her lineage. The pedigree does not describe the ideal phenotype of each bird as a guide with selection. The prescriptive analysis of the racing pigeon featured in the show pen holds some merit in that many show champions indeed are top racers and breeders, but there are many that are not. This makes the genetic composition more important than a prescriptive phenotype. - A racing pigeon pedigree is not just a piece of paper
Some fanciers refer to a pedigree as just ‘a piece of paper’ written in an attempt to promote the selling price. Whilst this happens, it’s not comparing apples with apples that justifies throwing the pedigree out the window. How would you know the actual performance indicators without a pedigree background?
- A comprehensive pedigree is equated to a Pigeon Bible
The pedigree should reveal the breeding record and performance history of four to five generations It reveals if the pigeon is linebred, inbred, crossbred, or a mixture of the aforementioned. An all-inclusive pedigree discloses the race distances, weather conditions and strength of competition.
- Pedigrees in the old days
When I started getting involved with pigeons in 1968, old-timers who we used to address as ‘uncle’ kept omplete records of their pigeon breeding since 1938, which was 17 years before I was born. Some fanciers just kept the pedigree information ‘in their heads’ without a pedigree history of the pigeon stock they bred from. It was said to be a Putterie, a Catrysse, a Janssens, and so on, and that was it. Pigeons were offered from Europe in those days with a five-generation pedigree that only contained numbers, with little reference to performance; these days that will be considered a high-risk option to buy.
- Limitations of a pedigree vs progeny testing
We don’t have X-ray vision to know which generation, which specific pigeon or mating have inherited the passing-on power that will optimise the highest strength of quality. Therefore, we need to have regular progeny testing done and experiment with different matings.
More about Golden TT’s family
The sire of Golden TT Sire is Moneymaker, which was bought by Mark King from Charl Stander after a short racing career as a Youngbird scoring a commendable 2nd Combine in a 500km race.
- The sire of Moneymaker is SA GRPA 7232-00, a Bakkie Winner in 2001 for Stander bred on the parental side of a half-brother and sister mating, both children of De Sierens, a grandson of a National Winner imported from Belgium by the late André Carelsen. The dam of SA GRPA 7232-00 is SA NRHU 4524-95 via the late Dicky Pretorius bred from a Twilight cock by the late Bob Bouwer and the hen Annamarie of the Isaac Powell lineage that Pretorius obtained via the late Athol Wood. The sire of Annamarie is a son of In Full Flight, bred of Sea Cottage famous within the Powell lineage.
- The mother of Moneymaker is SA GRPA 7253-00, a three-times Winner and Long Distance SANPO Bronze Medal Winner for Stander. 7253’s sire is Turbo Tom SA 18790-86, a two-times 1st Federation Winner and Ace Bird in 1988 for Champion Banie Deetlefs. 7253’s mother is Dynamite SA NRHU D4638-96 via Dicky Pretorius from the same lineage as the sire of Annamarie, but more inbred to In Full Flight, Nile Maiden and Sea Jane (sister of In Full Flight) via Wood from the Powell base.
The mother of Golden TT’s sire is Twilight Pearl SA PWF 058-05, raised by a foster pair at the King’s Loft from an egg bought from Stander. Twilight Pearl won 1st Federation at the age of six months against older birds.
- The sire of Twilight Pearl is SA PSPU 8792-03, a Double Union Winner and brother to a SANPO long-distance Gold Medal Winner.
- The mother of Twilight Pearl is SA PSPU 5919-03, a Double Union Winner and SANPO middle-distance Bronze Medal Winner. 5919’s sire is SA 11263-99, bred of Turbo Tom and SA 86347-94, winner of Cradock with 15 Minutes Lead and a granddaughter of Turbo Tom. 86347’s mother is SA 10700-91, inbred by Powell. The mother of 5919 is SA NRHU 4524-95, bred from a Twilight cock by the late Bob Bouwer and the hen Annamarie of the Powell lineage.
Important notes
- SA NRHU 4524-95, a Twilight hen of the Powell lineage, is the mother of the sire of Moneymaker and the mother of the dam of Twilight Pearl. It places 4524 in the position of parental and maternal granddam of Golden TT.
- The mother of the dam of Moneymaker is SA NRHU D4638-96.
- The paternal grandsire of 4638 and maternal grandsire of 4524 is the same pigeon SA TRPF 3311-78 of the Powell lineage.
- 4524 was mated to the double grandson of De Sierens to breed the Bakkie Winner that sired Moneymaker.
- 4638 was directly mated to Turbo Tom to breed the dam of Moneymaker.
- To breed the dam of Twilight Pearl, 4524 was mated to SA 11263-99, son of Turbo Tom when mated to its granddaughter.
- SA YSC LIM 4046-09 that sired two SAIPR One Loft winners was bred of SA 11263-99, son of Turbo Tom mated to 7253 SA GRPA 00, daughter of Turbo Tom and D4638-96.
- The imported De Sierens cock Belg 3080246-91 is twice in the.pedigree through its double grandson.
- The Twilight Cock SA 35824-91 is twice in the pedigree through its daughter SA NRHU 4524-95.
- The presence of Turbo Tom is found once within in the paternal and twice in the maternal line of Golden TT, making it a valued contributor to the gene pool, being a son of Afbeentjie of the Thomas Cock inbred of Ronnie Croxford’s Perfect Pair. The dam of Turbo Tom is SA 330487-82, the Putterie (Van Engela) hen that Deetlefs selected when he was invited by Frans and Dawie Fouché to attend the sale of Johan Serfontein in south-western Transvaal. Deetlefs stepped aside when Dawie bought her and her champion daughter. Thankfully she was offered to Deetlefs in the car on the way home.
- SA PSPU 5105-02, Bakkie Winner in 2002, was bred by Stander from SA 15599-99 Afvlerk and ZA GRPA 7224-00 (Afvlerk was bred of Turbo Tom and SA NRHU D4638-96). ZA GRPA 7224-00 is a daughter of SA NRHU 4524-95.
- 1st Klapmuts One Loft Winner ZA LIMD 8826-08 was bred of SA 60354-05, also of Turbo Tom and SA NRHU D4638-96.
Conclusion
All birds in a pedigree are important. The influence of the lineage of the late Isaac Powell through Dicky Pretorius, the Twilights of the late Bob Bouwe, and Banie Deetlefs’s Turbo Tom from Ronnie Croxford’s Perfect Pair lineage had the greatest influence. The linebred injection from Norbert Sierens provided a timeous cross.
