Who wins the race isn't always who dominates the stats. At Central Provincial Loft's Race 4 Yearlings, TOP PIGEON/BENEKE LOFTS ruled both Velocity News rankings, while KRUGER & LE ROUX took an impressive race win. MARAIS BROTHERS takes Pigeon of the Week to cap it off nicely.

CPL Race 4 Yearlings

Central Provincial Loft's Race 4 Yearlings saw 846 pigeons from 227 fanciers liberated from Beaufort West for a 485km race back to Bloemfontein.

At liberation, conditions were cold and mostly clear, with a 10–15 km/h south-easterly to easterly cross-quartering headwind. Mid-race over the Central Karoo, skies remained clear as temperatures reached 16–18°C and easterly to north-easterly winds increased to 15–20 km/h. Near Bloemfontein, visibility stayed high while temperatures dipped to 14–16°C from an 18°C high, finishing with a challenging 21 km/h easterly crosswind.

Top 10 Arrivals

KRUGER & LE ROUX claimed the win at 1090.36 m/min, leading Central Provincial Loft's Race 4 Yearlings home. SDK LOFTS followed in 2nd. ANTON & JACO claimed 3rd, with MARAIS BROTHERS close behind in 4th. FOURIE & OLIVIER took 5th, with TSUNAMI & DR PIET VAN WYK following in 6th. SRKJ came home in 7th, with SRKJ again in 8th. LUI, JASON claimed 9th, and MUNNIK/DU RANDT/KOK completed the top 10 — the entire top 10 arriving within 14 minutes 53 seconds of the winner.

The 3-minute Break-Away Winner

Bred by Jannie Kruger & George Le Roux from Bloemfontein. Both veterans in the sport and good friends are also a successful partnership in the Bloemfontein Posduif Federasie. 'JANI' fastest of 1219 pigeons on the day. The father to 'JANI' is ZA23-BPFD-2112, 2 x 1st prize winner, 9 x Top 100 BPF Fed positions including 3 x Top 5 Federation positions. The dam is ZA19-178889, super talented breeder, De-Rauw Sablon hen bred from a famous cock 'KONING' ZA09-11316 (SUPERBREEDER 810 X 40007 Hen) when mated to a direct daughter of 'SUPERBREEDER 810' when he was mated to a direct daughter of 'GOLDEN CARRELLY'!

'**JANI**' Pedigree. CPL Race 4 Yearlings winner by 3minutes!

(Left) Father 'JANI', super racing cock! (Right) Mother 'JANI' 1. Beaufort West 1090mpm 1219p. Special Victory!

Fancier of the Race

In CPL Race 4 Yearlings, 77 out of 227 competing fanciers qualified for this ranking by meeting the minimum requirement of basketing at least 4 pigeons.

Rankings are based on the percentage of a fancier's basketed pigeons placing within the top 5% of the race (the top 42 out of 846 total entries), with ties broken by the highest average velocity of those positions.

TOP PIGEON/BENEKE LOFTS is named Velocity News Fancier of the Race, topping the ranking with 50.00% of their participating pigeons inside the Top 5%.

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Fancier of the Race

Race 4 Yearlings · Central Provincial Loft · Liberation: Beaufort West · 485 km · 31.07.2026

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 42 of the 846 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.

Ranking	Team Name	Pigeons Participated	Positions	Efficiency Rate	Avg Speed
1	TOP PIGEON/BENEKE LOFTS 🇿🇦	4	26, 32	50.00%	1012.73 m/min
2	MUNNIK/DU RANDT/KOK 🇿🇦	6	10, 40	33.33%	1025.78 m/min
3	SRKJ 🇿🇦	8	7, 8	25.00%	1072.78 m/min
4	EPHPHATHA RACING LOFT 🇿🇦	8	25, 36	25.00%	1010.52 m/min
5	STORMBERG HOKKE 🇿🇦	4	28	25.00%	1008.75 m/min
6	McPHERSON, JACQUES 🇿🇦	4	29	25.00%	1008.62 m/min
7	HUEBSCH, RONNIE 🇿🇦	4	37	25.00%	997.16 m/min
8	MAROELA 🇿🇦	4	38	25.00%	997.05 m/min
9	FOURIE FORTE LOFTS 🇿🇦	4	42	25.00%	995.94 m/min
10	VOELKLUB SINDIKAAT 🇿🇦	9	12, 34	22.22%	1021.21 m/min

Velocity News Fancier of the Race — official ranking — velocitypigeonnews.com

The Follow Up Ranking

The Top 10% Follow Up Ranking measures fanciers with the highest percentage of their basketed birds finishing in the top 10% of the race, which means the leading 84 out of 846 pigeons. In CPL Race 4 Yearlings, 77 of 227 participating fanciers qualified by basketing at least 4 pigeons. Ties are resolved using highest average velocity across their arrivals. This ranking does not decide Velocity News Fancier of the Race.

TOP PIGEON/BENEKE LOFTS led the Velocity News Follow Up ranking with 75.00% of their pigeons placing inside the top 10% arrivals.

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Top 10% Follow Up Ranking

Race 4 Yearlings · Central Provincial Loft · Liberation: Beaufort West · 485 km · 31.07.2026

This ranking identifies which fanciers had the highest concentration of their basketed pigeons landing inside the top 10% of the race — position 84 of the 846 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.

Ranking	Team Name	Pigeons Participated	Positions	Follow Up Rate	Avg Speed
1	TOP PIGEON/BENEKE LOFTS 🇿🇦	4	26, 32, 72	75.00%	1001.61 m/min
2	MUNNIK/DU RANDT/KOK 🇿🇦	6	10, 40	33.33%	1025.78 m/min
3	DEETLEFS, BANIE 🇿🇦	6	13, 49	33.33%	1018.00 m/min
4	JJJ VAN DER LINDE 🇿🇦	9	51, 61, 74	33.33%	984.90 m/min
5	HOLMDENE LOFT 🇳🇦	7	57, 71	28.57%	983.58 m/min
6	SRKJ 🇿🇦	8	7, 8	25.00%	1072.78 m/min
7	SDK LOFTS 🇿🇦	8	2, 66	25.00%	1032.99 m/min
8	EPHPHATHA RACING LOFT 🇿🇦	8	25, 36	25.00%	1010.52 m/min
9	STORMBERG HOKKE 🇿🇦	4	28	25.00%	1008.75 m/min
10	McPHERSON, JACQUES 🇿🇦	4	29	25.00%	1008.62 m/min

Velocity News Top 10% Follow Up Ranking — velocitypigeonnews.com

Ace Pigeon Rankings

'Storm' led the Ace Pigeon Ranking at 1356.13 m/min for BARLU. TSUNAMI & DR PIET VAN WYK followed in 2nd. PIGEON POWER LOFTS' 'President Case' claimed 3rd, with DEETLEFS, BANIE close behind in 4th. HEERDEN LOFTS took 5th, with FOURIE & OLIVIER following in 6th. PIGEON POWER LOFTS' 'Super Sakkie' came home in 7th, with DEETLEFS, BANIE again in 8th. DIAMOND PIGEON STUD's 'Septembra' claimed 9th, and BSPC KLUB's 'JJJ's Destroyer' completed the top 10. SRKJ took 11th, with MARIUS & HERMAN in 12th and MARAIS BROTHERS in 13th. PIGEON POWER LOFTS' 'Pretty Peanut' claimed 14th, and FOURIE & OLIVIER completed the top 15 — the entire top 15 separated by just 33.42 m/min between 1st and 15t

Current Top 15 Yearling Ace Pigeons Race 4

💡

Banie Deetlefs with an impressive 2 x Top 10 current Ace pigeon rankings and Pigeon Power Lofts with 3 pigeons inside the Top 15!

Pigeon of the Week

Velocity News introduced Pigeon of the Week to identify the best pigeons week by week. It is awarded to the pigeon with the smallest average margin behind the winner across two consecutive races.

Comparing Race 3 Yearlings against Race 4 Yearlings, MARAIS BROTHERS' GRPF 2818 2025 earns Pigeon of the Week, averaging 3 minutes and 42.740 seconds behind the winner with a 27th-place finish at Race 3 and 4th at Race 4. FOURIE & OLIVIER's FOURIE 259 2025 follows closely at 3 minutes and 46.220 seconds (18th at Race 3, 5th at Race 4), while KRUGER & LE ROUX's BPFD 197 2025 completes the podium at 3 minutes and 48.585 seconds (117th at Race 3, 1st/Race Winner at Race 4).

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Pigeon of the Week · Central Provincial Loft

Two Race Comparison · Race 3 Yearlings 401km (17/07/2026) & Race 4 Yearlings 485km (31/07/2026)

Ranking date: 03/08/2026

Ranking is based on Average Margin: the mean of a pigeon's time behind the race winner across two races. Smallest average margin ranks highest.

1 MARAIS BROTHERS South Africa

Avg +00:03:42.740

GRPF 2818 2025

RACE 3 YEARLINGS 401KM · Pos 27 / 896

+00:03:14.350

1461.0135 m/min

RACE 4 YEARLINGS 485KM · Pos 4 / 846

+00:04:11.130

1080.1958 m/min

2 FOURIE & OLIVIER South Africa

Avg +00:03:46.220

FOURIE 259 2025

RACE 3 YEARLINGS 401KM · Pos 18 / 896

+00:03:11.760

1461.2433 m/min

RACE 4 YEARLINGS 485KM · Pos 5 / 846

+00:04:20.680

1079.8130 m/min

3 KRUGER & LE ROUX South Africa

Avg +00:03:48.585

BPFD 197 2025

RACE 3 YEARLINGS 401KM · Pos 117 / 896

+00:07:37.170

1438.0629 m/min

RACE 4 YEARLINGS 485KM · Pos 1 / 846

+00:00:00.000 (Race Winner)

1090.3601 m/min

Velocity News Pigeon of the Week — velocitypigeonnews.com

Looking Ahead

KRUGER & LE ROUX's win at Beaufort West sets the benchmark for Central Provincial Loft's Race 4 Yearlings, but it's TOP PIGEON/BENEKE LOFTS who leave the strongest mark on the week, topping both the Velocity News Fancier of the Race performance and the Follow Up Ranking outright. MARAIS BROTHERS' Pigeon of the Week form across Race 3 Yearlings and Race 4 Yearlings points to consistency building in that team, while BARLU's Ace Pigeon Ranking lead adds another name to watch. Whether any of them can carry that momentum into Race 5 remains to be seen.