The best pigeons from the Derby National Malta 2018 returned home after a journey of 1165 km. Of the 2430 registered at the start, three managed to record the best time and thus climb the podium. Breeder Dan Matache from Tecuci has, for the second consecutive year, the best pigeon from this stage. In 2016 he won the first place in the Breeder category, in 2017 - the first place Breeder and the first place Pigeon, and this year - the second place Breeder and the first place Pigeon. How did you come to this performance? Dan Matache says that “the secret lies in quality birds. You have to compete with the best pigeons. Okay, it also matters that the birds are healthy, well fed. All these aspects push each other. But in my case, I tell you that I found that the breed is very important, because I have pigeons for so many years, I feed them with local food, I train them as all other pigeon lovers train, but only the quality ones manage to become champions " . On the second place is a pigeon that belongs to the breeder Mihai Aslan from Botoșani, and on the third place, a pigeon that belongs to a breeder from Tecuci - Florin Apostu. More details about these birds in the following lines.

RO-6711715-15 is the pigeon that ranked first. It is a female from 2015, which, as I said above, belongs to the breeder Dan Matache, who competes with his wife. "Before we got married, his name was Văideanu, we wanted to keep this name in the memory of our grandfather. We had a special relationship with him, he supported us in some things. He was not passionate about pigeons, but only about family and love for the family ", explains Dan Matache.

Dan Matache, with his wife

As for the winning pigeon, it “comes from a Roger Wijnands pigeon and a Jef van Wanroy (mother) pigeon. She flew naturally, because she had been sitting on a small chick for a few days, and she was regularly trained around the farm, morning and evening, as late as possible. I use local food, nothing special, because I think that the secret, if we can call it that, lies in quality pigeons. I have pigeons as a child, I have been competing since 2005, and it took me a while to understand this. For me, the beginning was quite difficult, because I had contact with frivolous people and raised poor quality pigeons. So, if I were to give advice to those at the beginning of the road, I would tell them to take quality pigeons, because this is the shortest path to performance ", explains Dan Matache.

Second place - a male flying naturally

In second place is the pigeon RO-2068527-17. It is a male that belongs to the breeder Mihai Aslan from Botoșani. "I have had the parents of this pigeon for three years now from a breeder who has invested a lot of money in pigeons, named Alexuc Cristi from Botoșani. I don't know why he gave up this sport and then I bought 80 pigeons from him. He didn't give me a pedigree, I don't know what he was originally, but look, he's very good. He flew to ntural, because no one taught me how to play. It was the method I had at hand. I use local food, ie grains, rape, oregano and vitamins. I train them for a distance of 50 km and let them fly around the farm. Otherwise, nothing special ", explains the breeder from Botoșani.

Third place, a male with Wijnands origins

The third place was awarded by Florin Apostu from Tecuci, with the pigeon RO - 512267-16. It is about a very good male, who also took the 18th place at GOLDAP this year. "It comes from a male that I received from Dan Matache, from the Wijnands pigeons, and the mother is from Moise Dinu, from Carteus. It flew naturally after sitting on eggs for 12 days. She was trained both with the A. S. C. Voiajorul Tecuci Association, of which they are part, but also in private, between stages, at least twice, over a distance of 30 km. The association trained with Rădăuți-Prut, and then the program of the season, the cross-country and marathon stages. I wish I could give them more in terms of food, but I didn't get the chance. I use local food, ie rapeseed, wheat, corn, peas. I also tried Beyers products, they are very good, but I can't afford to use them all the time ", says Florin Apostu.