The Van Reet pigeons were brought in to the United States by none other than Frank McLaughlin in the early 1990s as a huge investment into the best pigeons of the family.
For a back story, Van Reet sold many of his best pigeons to Dean Pallatt. Right away he started dominating the club and federation races so badly that he was kicked out of every club. He even at one point was limited to one pigeon per race and still would win 1st against thousands of pigeons, winning one race by 12 minutes and one race by 20 minutes.
Frank went to Dean and bought some direct Van Reet pigeons and some children of the biggest winners that were available. Some pigeons that we know of today, "Brian" "Mary" "The End" "Red Tide" "The Fog" "Leyton Express" "Good News" and many more were bought from 1991 to 1999 from Dean. These pigeons have been responsible for hundreds of wins across the United States, the UK and other areas of the world.
Many generations down the line, these Van Reets are still potent on the race course and in the breeding loft. "The Freak" for example, is bred from the old line Van Reets on the mothers side. The Freak was 1st AU Convention by 23 minutes in 2012. She may be one of the best breeding hens in the USA now. The Freak is a granddaughter of "350 x 985". 350 is a son of Champion breeder "Good News" and 985 is bred from the best pair of Van Reets "Brian x Mary".
2021 was a big year as far as investing into the Staf Van Reet pigeons from Frank. Along with the Freak pigeons being part Van Reet, we also added two goldmines of the Van Reet Family. Some of the last ones left in fact. We added a 2009 and a 2008 son of Brian when paired to a daughter of Red Tide. They are old but gold and will finish their days here at LandingStrip Loft.
We also went out and brought in some of the best inbred Van Reet pigeons we could get our hands on. They are time tested and are going to be the staple of my loft for years to come, and we will never stop trying to bring in the best Van Reets possible. 2022 will be our first year breeding and testing these pigeons and we expect them to dominate the course like they have for the last 30 years!