Sylvan Loft / J&J Ferreira Loft Valente Loft

M & D EVANS
Biography: Myrtle Lofts

The father and son partnership of Mark and Dick Evans from Whitley Bridge, North Yorkshire is one of the most successful and consistent breeding and racing lofts in all of Great Britain. It holds records in several different organisations, and has won hundreds of first prizes at Club and Federation level with up to and over 5,000 birds competing. In the last six years the results achieved in Classic and National races have been fantastic, acclaimed as among the best achieved in British pigeon racing. Mark has his own haulage transport business, but Dick now is retired, giving him the time to dedicate to his sport.

After years of research, enthusiasm and hard work Mark and Dick have achieved their ambition of breeding a family of pigeons that will win from 70 miles through to 500 miles, coupled with the ability to perform in all weather conditions, whether it be a hard or easy day. Example of this came in 1997 Mark and Dick joined the Northern Classic in which their very first race with the club they entered 9 birds winning 1st & 2nd Sect, 1st & 2nd Open, also winning 19th, 20th & 27th Open, both first and second positions were claimed by hens. The winner from their Karel Herman family the other of Gaby Vandenabeele breeding. Also a result I must mention is the Conisborough Open. This race is open to members in all four counties of Yorkshire and attracts some of Yorkshires best. Mark and Dick have won this race on many occasions but breaking all records this year winning 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th & 6th Open.In 1998 Mark and Dick joined the Midlands National Flying Club. In the first race with the club they entered 30 birds to Thorness 203 miles winning 29th, 30th, 33rd, 71st, 94th, 117th, 126th, 138th & 150th Open when 672 Members sent 5,617birds.The second race that year was certainly the race to show this partnership in style, the race they had set out their stall for entering only 15 birds to Picauville approx. 300 miles. The birds were held over for 2 days then on their fifth day in the basket they were liberated in to a strong north, west wind and up to gale forces in the channel. Mark and Dick were winners of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 9th, & 14th Open Midlands National when 998 members sent 4,154 birds, please note this loft wants over one hundred miles over fly on the front lofts and on a strong N.W. wind. This is why this result was described by top fanciers and scribes from all over England to be the best U.K performance of 1998.

Myrtle Lofts goal is very simple, they want to breed the best racing pigeons in the world, and everything about their program is geared toward breeding better racing pigeons. This means that in the early years they spent a great deal of money and effort acquiring some of the finest genes available in the sport for the purpose of establishing a world class gene pool from which we could work. Once this was accomplished, the Evans's efforts shifted to evolving that gene pool. As they move forward in this regard, the famous birds that are the foundations of the lines become more distant in the pedigrees. However, the value of the birds produced should increase with each succeeding generation if the lofts are to be considered successful in our breeding program. Not everything sold will win or will breed a winner. However, thier success as breeders has to be measured by the success of many of thier customers who return year after year.

Myrtle Lofts do not mass produce to make large amounts of money, they only sell youngsters of the same breeding pairs we use to supply thier own racing lofts, which holds records in several different organisations, and have won hundreds of first prizes at Club and Federation level with up to and over 5,000 birds competing. In the last seven years the results achieved in Classic and National races have been described by top fanciers and scribes as fantastic, acclaimed as among the best achieved in British pigeon racing.

Their bloodlines have now won to date 21 x 1st Nationals in the last eight years

FROM M. & D. EVANS, MYRTLE LOFTS

The high demand for our bloodlines has resulted in us at Myrtle Lofts having a waiting list for young birds until August/September 2008. This demand has left it wide open for other fanciers in the U.K. to cash in by selling pigeons under our own name M. & D. Evans. We haven't any problem concerning other lofts advertising and selling our family of pigeons, providing they are selling the genuine bloodlines. Unfortunately it has come to our attention that there are pigeons being sold on the open market which are claimed to be bred by ourselves M. & D. Evans. These pigeons are not bred by us and the ring numbers have never been in our names and although they are being sold with an M. & D. Evans pedigree, these pedigrees are fake. These M. & D. Evans details have no connection with the birds being sold.

It has also come to light that some genuine M. & D. Evans pigeons which have been advertised and sold, are not carrying the correct details. These pigeons are being advertised with new fake pedigrees with generations of pigeons being removed. The only consolation for the fanciers who purchased these birds is that they do own our bloodlines but unfortunately not direct children from the champions they were led to believe.

This problem is a major concern to us. We advise very strongly that fanciers only purchase our M. & D. Evans bloodlines from lofts we are convinced are selling the genuine lines. We would have no hesitation to add our good name and we will give a testimonial to any fancier who can prove to us they are working on the same policies as us at Myrtle Lofts. Our policies are selecting the best breeders on performances and eliminating the rest. The golden breeding pairs are only selected with the final test, the basket.

There are too many get rich quick fanciers who are selling on the name of M. & D. Evans and Gaby Vandenabeele. In our opinion these fanciers aren't concerned if you win or not providing they are making money. One fancier who purchased 20 young birds from us for stock openly admitted to us that eight pairs out of the ten had bred him winners at Club and Federation level. We were delighted by this news until he told us he had resold the other two pairs that had bred nothing for more money than he paid us for the full ten pairs. In our opinion these two pairs should have been disposed of. Please understand, fanciers do not sell their best pairs unless retiring from the sport.

In the early nineties we purchased 54 direct Gaby Vandenabeele pigeons and we worked extremely hard to select the best from these bloodlines. We finally kept 22 out of the 54 and disposed of the rest. We also purchased over 80 Vandenabeeles from Koen Minderhoud and by selection we are looking to keep only the best 10 to 20 pigeons. This will ensure the youngsters we sell, contain bloodlines of the highest quality. This probably explains why our bloodlines have achieved 21 x 1st National winners in the last eight years.

We advise anyone requiring our bloodlines to only purchase young birds from a loft where we have supplied a testimonial. Never purchase any old birds unless they are being sold in an entire clearance sale.

YOUR ENTITLEMENTS WHEN PURCHASING PIGEONS

Entitlements, which we believe, can save you lots of expense, heartache and disappointment. When a vendor tells you how superior he or she is as a pigeon fancier and how good his or her pigeons are, you are entitled to see proof of the information they are advertising. Ask to see result sheets so it's possible to check loft location, ring numbers and how many fanciers and birds they are competing against on a weekly basis. When fanciers claim their pigeons are winning for other fanciers ask to see testimonials to prove the statements they have advertised.

In the last three years we have removed over 400 pages from the British Homing World and The Racing Pigeon where fanciers have clearly stated their winning performances have been achieved with our bloodlines. We also have a breeding catalogue with 130 pages giving information and facts about what our birds have achieved for ourselves and other fanciers worldwide. Any genuine fancier should not be afraid to show you this information and if you are interested in purchasing their pigeons it's your entitlement to see it.

Earlier this year, Mark approached me with a very interesting proposition. He invited me to become his partner in North America. I was both honoured and delighted with the prospect. Such a partnership will afford the North American fancier access to the same high quality, pre-potent genetic pool that is responsible for 15 x 1st National Winners over the last seven years.

I met Mark and his dad Dick three years ago, but feel that I have known them for a long, long time. From our first meeting, I was impressed with their openness, honesty and integrity. These are the kind of people that I feel good about adding my name to.

This new endeavour will provide me with the opportunity to race the same birds that Mark, Dick and their partners are having such amazing success with in Great Britain. I am looking forward to not only a productive partnership, but more so to a continuing and lasting friendship.

THE EVANS CHALLENGE

By John Marles

As many readers already know, I have accepted a North American partnership with Mark and Dick Evans of Great Britain. I take this partnership very seriously as there are, respected reputations at stake on both sides of the big pond. I met Mark and Dick in 2002 when I went to England to purchase some of their birds. I had read about the phenomenal success of these birds, but wanted to see their operation first hand and to choose youngsters from specific pairings. The three of us struck an immediate chord and a solid friendship has emerged.

In 2004/2005, with the Evans birds settled and breeding in Scarborough, Ontario, I knew that the time had come to see what mettle these birds possessed and whether they could perform in this country as well as their ancestors did in Europe. If there is any potential to be seen, then in the year of birth you should see something that would inspire you to continue with that family line. I personally believe that if the family of birds you are working with are potent you will see results right from the very start. I don't believe that it takes two or three years to acclimatize etc. I decided to place some youngsters in selected lofts in the Toronto area as well as in another province plus a group of six in Spring Hill, Florida the hot bed of racing in North America. The recipients were asked to fly them as they would the rest of their young bird teams. At the end of both young bird seasons, it was more than obvious that the M & D Evans birds had made their mark on the winning pages.

Joe Ferriera has been a successful flier in the Up North Combine (140 active young bird fliers) for many years and as such is always looking for ways to improve his stock and take his racing level up a notch. Joe, is a very small team flier by today's standards racing approximately twenty-two old birds and maybe thirty-five young birds. In 2004, he had thirty-seven young birds of which five were bred from Mark and Dick Evans stock. Four of the five were bred from a pair which carried the lines of Ebony, Benetton, Victor Reid, Jester, Carrie, Rolls Royce and Love Bird, all top producers for Mark and Dick. The young bird season consisted of eight races ranging from 180 kilometers to 530 kilometers (approx. 110 325 miles). The Evans birds beat his in seven out of the eight races. With these birds, Joe won five club races out of the eight. One bird, banded CU 2004 YR 1833, won two club races and finished four times in the top of the combine, earning her Ace Young bird in the club and Ace Young bird in the Combine. An example of her positions includes 2nd Combine, 450km, 74 lofts, 911 birds. Another is 4 th Combine 520km, 92 lofts, 798 birds. She was also 16 th Combine, 370km, 90 lofts, 1333 birds. After such an exceptional year we decided to put her in stock for one year to see if she could breed as well as she flew. Of her six offspring, Joe flew three and I flew three in 2005. Five of these youngsters scored throughout the season. One of Joe's achieved 1 st Ace bird in his club and I had both 1 st and 2 nd Ace birds in my club. At the end of the 2004 season, Joe was hooked on the Evans/Vandenabeeles. Now in 2006, almost all of his stock/racers carry the Evans bloodlines.

In the spring of 2005, I received a call from John Stevenson of Calgary, Alberta, wanting to purchase some Evans birds so that he could race them that year. To sweeten the deal I sent some extras free of charge and told him that I would replace all of them if they were not successful. They were indeed successful. Five of the six scored in club races. Four were club winners or equal firsts when John had multiple drops. John flies in a club of 20-25 members and they ship 350-450 birds per week. Here are just some of the winnings. 2005 Sylvan Lofts 354, won two club races and was 3 rd and 12 th on two other occasions which won him Ace Young bird in the three bird club. 2005 Sylvan Lofts 360, was twice 6 th and once 9 th with an average of 450 birds. On one of these occasions, this bird was equal first on the drop. John was so pleased with the performance of these birds that he has not asked to have any of them replaced.

Patrick Kleyn flies with the North Wings club in Toronto, which is the same club that I belong to. Actually, Pat has been looking after my birds for the past few years when my wife and I go to Spring Hill during the winter. His passion for racing pigeons originated in South Africa and has continued to challenge him here in Canada. Like Joe Ferreira, Patrick keeps a smaller team of old and young birds. He races both widowhood and natural systems. Although a good flier, his results have not met his expectations for a few years now. I suggested that Pat try some of the offspring from my new M & D birds for the 2005 Young Bird series. Pat trained them, along with his, and flew them in all the young bird races. At the end of the series, he had won five races, was second four times and third four times at club level, to give him first average speed in the club and more importantly, second average speed in the Up North Combine racing over 65 miles further than the short end. This combine consists of 140 members who paid their racing fees for young birds. Now, this has lit a fresh desire in him for racing in 2006.

The next fancier is Jeff Wilbur from Chatham, Ontario. This young flier had made several investments in a variety of pigeons and was extremely disenchanted with the lack of results. He was actually contemplating leaving the sport at one point. Over the years, I had spoken with Jeff about pigeon health and loft management. During one of these phone calls, I mentioned my intent to bring in some birds from Myrtle Lofts and asked if he would be interested in being involved. I assured him that I was very confident about these birds because I had done my homework on them and everything I had read about them was impressive. My discussions with Mark and Dick left me with the sense that I was dealing with honest, respectable fanciers. In the first year of racing these birds, Jeff won five club races; something that he had never experienced before. In the second year he won six of the nine old bird races. That same year, his club hosted three open money races for young birds. He won two of the three and was third in the other. In the third open race he was 1 st, 2 nd, 3 rd, 4 th, 5 th and 7 th. He also won two other young bird races. Jeff speaks very highly of the M & D Evans birds and their bloodlines now run through most of his birds.

The most competitive of the testing grounds for the Evans birds was in Spring Hill, Florida. In late April of 2005, I sent six youngsters to Rick Van Veldhuisen. Rick has become a very good friend of mine over the last four years. Rick is a most respected fancier who flies in the GHC and Unit 10. I suggested that he ship these birds to every race possible because I needed to find out if they were made of the right stuff. Of the six shipped, three scored in the GHC results. One bird, CU 05 SYLVAN 351, has been Rick's first bird on seven separate races and in the results on six of them. At 100 miles, she was 58 th from 112 lofts and 1951 birds. She was also 4 th in the Combine at 300 miles with 108 lofts and 1687 birds. She ended up 26 th overall in Champion birds. As a yearling she continued her winning streak being Rick's first bird and scoring 107 th from 138 lofts and 2358 birds. Rick has now decided to put her in the stock loft to see if she can breed as well as she flies. The two other birds which flew well for Rick were 352 and 344. At the 250 mile station, 344 was Rick's first bird and 71 st from 1926 birds. 352 was 47 th at the 150 mile race and 100 th at the 300. These performances have convinced both Rick and I that the M & D Evans birds can, not only fly with the best of them, but can make their mark in the winning sheets.

Thus, after just two years of flying the Evans birds in North America, I am extremely confident that this is the next wave of pigeons to refresh and enhance the quality of the existing gene pool. As the Janssens, Van Loons and Husyken Van Riel did in the past, the Evans Vandenabeeles are going to perform in North America as their ancestors are doing in the United Kingdom and Europe. What other breeders can say that their bloodlines have won over twenty-one First Nationals? Mark and Dick Evans hold this unsurpassed title and it is their dream for the same bloodlines to race at the top in North America.

John Marles.

Dear Mark and Dick Evans,

Over a number of years I have spent thousands of dollars on high pedigreed birds that would be competitive for me in a tough combine. It was finally in 2006 that my luck changed completely for the better.

I was made aware of the M & D Evans Gaby birds through an article written by John Marles of Canada. It was then that I knew I had to try them. I acquired four pairs of young birds. I bred them and flew their offspring. For the first time in my pigeon career I not only was competitive, garnering numerous diplomas, but one of my M & D Evans Gaby birds captured third place as the Outstanding Young Bird of the Lehigh Mountain Combine.

I am looking forward to the 2008 race season with great anticipation.

Ed Zabinski

E-Z Acres Loft






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