CPL Race 1 Yearlings Goes to Fourie & Olivier, Team Judels Lead Stats
CPL Race 1 Yearlings 263 km from Hanover. Team Judels claimed Velocity News Fancier of the Race, while Comb Van't Oeveren & Van Den Bos led the Follow Up Ranking.
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The Race
Central Provincial Loft's Race 1 Yearlings released 924 pigeons from Hanover across 263 km, with 236 fanciers competing. Fourie & Olivier claimed the win, while Team Judels was named Velocity News Fancier of the Race and Comb Van't Oeveren & Van Den Bos led the Follow Up Ranking.
Liberation & Race Conditions
Pigeons were liberated from Hanover at 09:00 into freezing conditions, with temperatures between 1°C and 3°C under partly cloudy skies. Wind blew from the west-southwest to southwest at 22 to 25 km/h, creating a cross-headwind as pigeons oriented northeast toward the Free State.
By mid-race, near Colesberg and Philippolis, temperatures had climbed only to around 6°C. Wind strengthened from the southwest to 25–28 km/h, turning into a direct headwind over the flat terrain. Skies cleared to fine, dry conditions as the cold front pushed east.
At arrival in Bloemfontein, temperatures reached 10°C to 12°C under mostly clear skies. A southwest wind peaking at 27.8 km/h persisted to the finish, with visibility excellent throughout the closing stretch.
Top 10 Arrivals
Fourie & Olivier claimed victory with FOURIE 329 2025, clocking 1383.36 m/min. Diamond Pigeon Stud followed in second with 'Pakistan', ahead of Team Judels' 'Peregrine' in third. MB Racing's 'Distance Queen' took fourth, with Burger & Gouws' BPFD 392 2025 rounding out the top five.
Lui, Jason's NJ 289 2026 finished sixth, followed by Heerden Lofts' BWD 2516 2025 in seventh and Quatro (NAM)'s NAM 10283 2025 in eighth. Loft Einkamerer's 'Kazro 348' took ninth, with Burger & Gouws' CPL 181 2025 closing out the top 10.
Velocity News Fancier of the Race
Most Efficient Fanciers of the Day
Of the 236 fanciers who competed in CPL Race 1 Yearlings, 88 basketed the minimum four pigeons required to qualify for ranking.
Ranking is based on Efficiency Rate: the percentage of each fancier's own basketed pigeons that finished inside the top 5% of the race — position 46 of the 924 pigeons basketed in this race. Fanciers with fewer than 4 pigeons basketed are excluded. Ties are broken by average velocity across that fancier's top 5% finishes.
Four fanciers tied at 25.00% — Williams Family Loft, Strauss Hokke, Fanie & Sunday and Visagie Hokke — with the order settled by average velocity, Williams Family Loft's 1360.45 m/min the fastest of the group. A second three-way tie at 20.00% between JT Family Lofts, Diamond Pigeon Stud and Comb Van't Oeveren & Van Den Bos was resolved the same way, JT Family Lofts' 1377.58 m/min leading that group.
Please Note: This table can scroll from left to right*
Team Judels takes Velocity News Fancier of the Race with a 50.00% Efficiency Rate, landing two of its four basketed pigeons inside the top 5%. By raw count, Fourie & Olivier placed the most pigeons inside the cutoff of any fancier, with three
The Follow Up Ranking
This ranking identifies which fanciers had the highest concentration of their basketed pigeons landing inside the top 10% of the race — position 92 of the 924 pigeons basketed in this race — relative to how many pigeons they had participating. This metric is the Follow Up Rate, a measure of how many pigeons a fancier brought home in succession relative to their total pigeons in the race. Fanciers with fewer than 4 pigeons basketed are excluded, and ties are broken by average velocity. This ranking does not decide Velocity News Fancier of the Race.
A tie at 33.33% between Shahzad Family Loft and Gary Page was broken by average velocity, Shahzad Family Loft's 1351.35 m/min ahead of Gary Page 1346.67 m/min. A further tie at 28.57% between Banie Deetlefs and Van Waveren/Malan went to Banie Deetlefs on a faster average of 1362.04 m/min.
Please note: This Table can scroll from left to right.*
Comb Van't Oeveren & Van Den Bos leads the Follow Up Rate at 60.00%, with three of its five basketed pigeons landing inside the top 10% — this does not affect Velocity News Fancier of the Race, which Team Judels holds from the Top 5% ranking. By raw count, Fourie & Olivier again placed the most pigeons inside the cutoff of any fancier, with four
Looking Ahead
Fourie & Olivier leave Race 1 with the strongest all-round showing, taking the win and backing it up with the most pigeons of any fancier inside both the Top 5% and Top 10% cutoffs. Team Judels will head into Race 2 as the fancier to beat, holding Velocity News Fancier of the Race honours and sitting second on the Follow Up Rate. Diamond Pigeon Stud and Comb Van't Oeveren & Van Den Bos both showed real depth across their teams, the latter topping the Follow Up Rate without cracking the race's top 10 arrivals. Whether Team Judels can hold its Efficiency Rate lead as the series continues is the question now facing the rest of the loft.
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