GOOD BLOOD DOESN’T LIE: THE FORGOTTEN FAMILY -The Dordins
By John Capel

During the racing season 2005, a well-known fancier came to me and suggested that I should compile an article on what he called the "forgotten family". Like a sucker I instantaneously fell into the trap and gullibly asked, "What’s the forgotten-family?"

"The Dordins," he replied"They’re winning everywhere." It was news to me.

The following night a leading fancier phoned me at home and I congratulated him on the high placing he’d taken the previous Saturday. "Yeah, it was another Dordin" he said nonchalantly.

I began to ask other fanciers, and the message was similar, echoed just as I’d been so confidently advised. When I asked John Brislin, he confirmed that they were still winning for him.

I visited Adelaide (Australia) recently, and Fred Di Mella, who comprehensively won the SAHPA’s Aggregate during 2005, showed me a magnificent blue cock which had bred 6th in the last two SAHPA South-line Derbies from Boorooban (560km). He was an inbred, pure Dordin, absolutely untainted by any other family within his pedigree!

So this family of birds of great substance is still in full flight within Australia, maintaining its eminent position as a quality source of birds which have the wonderful attributes of flying from the first race on the program to the last one, while maintaining a degree of beauty found in few other families.

One of the most frustrating things to be experienced within pigeon racing is the champion producer pair whose youngsters won’t produce. Suddenly the owner finds himself in a dead-end. This does not seem to be the case with the Dordins, for their character is so programmed within their genetic composition that they, like the Janssens, seem to maintain their prepotency through many generations, even when unraced. Furthermore, they apparently remain a wonderful family of birds for crossing.

It is this last mentioned feature which has, in a way, brought about their thinning within Australian lofts. It is now easy to find them crossed with other pigeons, but less easy to find the original product, untouched by the admission of other families. However, this is not to say they don’t exist within Australia. It is important to note that the pigeon racing community still has the opportunity to utilize the results of Pierre Dordin, a man who might properly be described as a genius with pigeons.

Dordin was a man from the nineteenth century. He was born in 1898, in a country which would twice taste war during his lifetime. At the age of just sixteen he joined the French Army, eventually becoming one of the youngest serving officers during World War I. He was to win the Legion d’Honneur and the Croix de Guerre. Following the first war he attended University to take a degree in pharmacy, which would ultimately become his profession. He was a highly educated man, and his intelligence translated into his hobby, and it would become apparent as he crafted one of the greatest families of pigeons ever seen.

Dordin qualifies as possibly the greatest fancier the world has ever seen, for the following reasons: first, he was an intelligent, highly educated man, being a university graduate, with qualifications in pharmacy; second, he had the skills to create a definitive and distinctive family of pigeons, which consistently performed at the highest levels. Three International victories attest to this; third, he seems to have been a superior trainer of race birds; fourth, he was interested (in an educated way) in both individual and flock behaviors exhibited by racing pigeons, and conducted numerous experiments, which were quantifiable; fifth, he left records of how and what he achieved, and details of his philosophy, which determined what he did and how he went about it; sixth, he seems to have enjoyed the foresight to preserve his pigeons so that they survived the six years of the Second World War.

I’m not certain that anyone else in Europe matched him in these categories, and in the field of pigeon administration he was spoken of almost in reverence. When he died in 1979, he held several executive positions, some having control over pigeon management on behalf of more than ten thousand colleagues. Some of these positions had been half for more than fifty years. Numerous tributes followed the news of his passing, and Dr. Tim Lovel wrote:

From Claude Masurel, himself ninety years old "Our Federation will have to resolve the very difficult problem of his successor, for to us he represented the maximum of qualities. He was a perfectionist not only in the affairs of our Administration, but also in the practice of pigeon racing and in the breeding of the birds themselves." Source: Pierre Dordin. The Complete Fancier. By Dr. Tim Lovel. 1985. Pg 81.

The basis for his family seems to have been a Hansenne cock "Luron" (winner of 1st Libourme by twenty minutes in 1929), and his sister, then the speed pigeon "Ecaille de Commines", grandson of the famous Napoleon de Commines, and birds from Felix Reys, probably of the Grooter line. Whatever they were at this stage, Dordin was to turn them into something extraordinary.

Then in 1939 came World War II, and Dordin appears to have had the foresight to hide pigeons in various places, some of them quite far from home. Some were seemingly stored minus their rings. Whatever his methods of concealment, when war ended and pigeon racing resumed in France, Dordin immediately produced two aces: Vulcain (1946) which won eighteen prizes from his nineteen long-distance starts, and Gaulois (1947) champion of France in 1952. Then in 1953 came "Gavroche" (a triple National winner) followed a year later by "High Life," Dordin’s first International winner.

High Life was regarded by Dordin to be "a perfect standard type  indefatigable flyer". Then both Gavroche and High Life went to the stock loft and became the key figures in the future direction of the family.

In 1955 came the important "Indemne", (the St. Vincent National winner bred from Gavroche’s sister) and the red-checkered "Incandescent", a son of High Life and even better in the stock loft than as a race bird. He bred two National winners in the one nest, and sired three Ace pigeons: and it just got better and better. Dordin had created a true strain, about which it was written:

That which is remarkable above all for this loft of the elite is the regularity and the continuity of these extraordinary successes consistently as the years pass. The explanation is very simple: it rests essentially in the absolute certainty of a solid strain, the birds being bred with skill and perseverance over many years by one of those artists in pigeons fancying who, sure of the valour proved in the strain which he cultivates, rests closely attached to his chosen type to maintain or even improve the ensemble of those qualities that make an individual whole. Source: C. Potier "Dordin in 1950". Pierre Dordin. The Complete Fancier. By Dr. Tim Lovel. 1985. Page 17.

It is enough to say that the racing record of the Dordins in Eurpose was phenomenal. What cemented their greatness was their ability to go elsewhere and do likewise. Probably there was no better advocate for this family than English champion Jim Biss, who sadly passed away in 2005. Biss was to eventually purchase from Dordin many of his great champions, and denuded the loft to the point where the aging Master was never able to recapture his earlier greatness. Jim Biss was a man who had no time for humbug, and on one occasion made this simple observation:

"On the selection for stock: the simplest and best way is to decide firmly to obtain it from a family with a long and continuous history of success and is still winning. Families that are based on a brief burst of success only, or on the achievements of one or two "sports" should be avoided. The acquisition of stock is an aspect of management that is particularly prone to the complications already referred to, for some of the so-called guides for assessing the worth of a bird are no more than fads or fantasies." Source: Jim Biss: "Hillside Lofts" 1982 Stud Book. Pg. 58.

It was this "Mr. Basket" who, in league with Pierre Dordin, actually created this famous family, for there was no suggestion of saving the Dordin birds from the severe tests he believed led to a great strain. It thus becomes evident that the Dordin pigeons passed the test in every way imaginable.

Put to the test in this country they similarly passed with flying colors. Grenville Evans’ 700 mile winner showed their power over distance, and there were plenty of others of similar quality. So why don’t we hear more of them? My queries to many fanciers led me to believe that their great crossing abilities led to them quickly disappearing in a flurry of concerted crossbreeding. Rather than being mated back into the Dordin family, they were mated to other families and gradually disappeared as an entity.

But not quite, for some were taking another tack, and the good news is that within Australia they survive, intact, to this day, still winning. Consequently there is absolutely no reason why clever fanciers could not take the fragments, which still exist and create, yet again, something absolutely special. And it’s happening here’s how:

Melbourne’s Diamond Valley is the hotbed of long distance competition within the Victorian Homing Association. They really test with "Mr. Basket" up there, with plenty of the members still keenly engaged when racing gets to 1000km and beyond.

In 1991, Centre member Stephen Kearsey purchased a latebred blue pied cock at a sale conducted by John Brislin in Sydney. He was to become that most important of pigeons, for in his fertile years (he’s now fifteen), he produced producer pigeons and plenty of them. John Dismore, for example, had a son, which produced one pigeon that won 1st and 2nd Federation at 400 and 500km respectively. Such birds are rare.

The old cock bred for Stephen until recently, when age seems to have overtaken him. In recent years, his owner sought to extend the line of this excellent Dordin producer by borrowing a Dordin-line hen of commensurate quality.

He didn’t have to go far to find one, and borrowed from George Vella a mealy pied hen, quite advanced in years. A VHA Federation winner herself over 480km, she had gone on to become an ace breeding hen. George bred her from a hen he purchased at a sale, one of the main reasons being her Dordin heritage. Kearsey mated the mealy pied hen to his champion Dordin producer cock to breed a young cock, which in three years has produced the following:

BBPH: 1st VHA West Wyalong 480km 1999. 1028mpm 6497B

BBPH: 2nd VHA Parkes 600km 1999 1305mpm 4782B (and dam of 1st Club 700km this year in the Diamond Valley Club not an easy place to win!).

They’re pretty good performances, and that’s only the best of them! There are plenty of others. What is shows is how good fanciers can restore and perpetuate winning genes: they share champion birds between each other, and consistently upgrade their own flock as well as that of the person with whom they share. As a result, Stephen Kearsey has upgraded both his race and stock loft by cleverly exploiting available genetic material.

Now if you think this is coincidental, consider this: following the success of this experiment, George Vella then borrowed a brother to Stephen’s blue pied cock from John Brislin. He mated the borrowed cock to the same mealy pied hen, and bred two young cocks. In their first year in the stock loft they each produced Federation positions. Pierre Dordin often said "Good blood doesn’t lie." And indeed it doesn’t. However, there’s a difference between birds on the top-shelf and those immediately below, a big difference. The Dordins were, and obviously remain, top-shelf pigeons, and still have a contribution to make because of their inherent qualities, developed by the Master (whose name they carry), but transferable into the lofts to which they ultimately go. Dordin would write "Qualities and faults being essentially hereditary, the value of the loft depends upon its breeders." A good breeder is always produced by:

1. A line of winners in competition: pigeons who win severe sporting events because their mental and physical abilities are superior to that of their opponents.

2. A line of impeccable constitution: from the winners, the selection of the breeders is directed to those who have the strongest constitution: strong bones, above average size, good muscles but not excessive, silky and supple plumage, good wingspan, perfect balance.

Source: paraphrased from the article "The Selection of Birds for Breeding" by P. Dordin. Appeared in the Hillside Lofts Stud Book 1982. Pg 12.

Many of the Dordin pigeons in Australia were at various stages larger in size to what local fanciers had become accustomed, and there is little doubt that more than a few fanciers were put-off by this perceived fault. However, not all of them were large. One of the Master’s great favorites was Papillon, considered a "small pigeon indeed" (Papillon means "butterfly" in French). He was sometimes described as "a little pigeon, very fast in middle distance races," and was an interesting bird in the colony because he remained in the loft when Dordin died. The small champion was eighteen years old at the time.

Jack Smith (now seventy-eight years young) showed me the Dordin hen which club mates would often tease him about because of her size. I handled her and remarked to her owner that I didn’t consider her a large pigeon. He agreed. All I could feel was a superb hen, placed in the VHA’s top ten at 1000km, dam of 800m placegetters, and still in excellent condition. I would love to have handled her when she was racing. Yes, she had plenty of chest, but a large pigeon? Not really.

A few days later I handled a magnificent mealy hen at the residence of Moorabbin (VHA) fancier Russell Campbell. Her mother was a Dordin, mated to a Wickham cock to produce this mealy hen, which flew the VHA’s 1000km race on three successive occasions, winning 8th Federation in her first attempt. That’s a pretty good hen. She was identical in body shape to Jack Smith’s hen. I began to imagine the "what-if" of mating her with a son of the Kearsey Dordin cock, or some other such cock untouched by any other strain.

Coral Saggers told me "When they first came to our loft they were like chooks, but Keith soon cut them down to racing shape. They’re viewed here as real hard day birds, and keep flying when the day is a long one." In that statement, Coral was simply echoing Dordin’s description of his own birds  "Pigeons who win severe sporting events because their mental and physical abilities are superior to that of their opponents." The Selection of Birds for Breeding by P. Dordin. Appeared in the Hillside Lofts Stud Book 1982. Pg 12

Keith told me that when he originally gained his first Dordins, he was amazed by the amount of work they would take. As the racing season progressed they came up closer and closer to the front of his returning team, however when the 700km stage arrived there was little in the loft which could beat them. When he crossed them with his Jurion family they were even better. In speaking with the fanciers who have enjoyed much success with Dordins (and there are plenty of them) it became apparent that the prosperity to cross them eventually led to increased race success through the hybrid vigor, but a lessening of breeding success. However, what Australian fanciers were doing was not much different to what Pierre Dordin was doing, except that the Master would immediately cross the resulting performed pigeon straight back into his own family.

Keith Saggers deliberately maintained the purity of his Dordins by close inbreeding, selection for stock, and race-testing to long distances. He found this program cut the size of the birds, so that they were better suited to Australian conditions. He has kept the vigor, looks and abilities intact and they still perform, especially when crossed with his Jurion family. His second placing in the VHA’s 600 mile (1000km) event just a few years ago was bred on this exact cross.

John Brislin shared details of a few birds, which had raced well for him. Consider these:

• "6645" 4th Produce in 1974 at a high velocity (2353mpm), a difficult task given John’s northerly loft location. She was a daughter of a Dordin cock mated to a hen from Doug Ince.
• "49800" A blue checkered cock, hatched in 1978. He was a very big pigeon, but won the VHA’s 700km race at a velocity of 925mpm, (12 hours, 40 minutes on the wing) winning the Oakleigh Special race on the way, and taking home an $1800 prize, good money in 1979. His dam was Dordin, but his sire was the Young Bird Derby winner (Bill Pritchard’s Hanssene/Logan/Wegge on one side, Tom Meehan’s Ameel on the other) from a few years before. Size didn’t seem to worry him. His brother won 3rd in the VHA’s Produce from Mt. Hope (580km, 1037mpm) and went on to bree an 800km federation winner.
• "4224" A Blue Barred hen, winner of the VHA’s 800km event in 1984 at 1505mpm. Her mother was Dordin (with a dash of American Grizzle), and her sire was Hanssene/Logan/Wegge.
• "The Dubbo Winner" of 1996, 700km with a very strong side wind. I remember this race well, because it was believed that John’s chances of winning, given his loft situation, were remote. Not only did he win the event with this hen, but her brother finished 6th in the same race. Three years later another sister won 2nd VHA at 800km. They were bred from a Dordin crossed with a Wickham, the Dordin being a direct offspring of John’s famous producer cock "48888", known to fanciers the length and breadth of Australia.
• "BBH 38664 & BBC 23033" Sister and brother which in 2005 won 4th VHA Dubbo (700km) and 6th VHA Wyalong (480km) respectively. Their sire is a 1999 Dordin cock from John’s pure-Dordin breeding program, and their dam is a Wickam/Clerebout hen.

So there’s six good race birds and over an extended period. "Did they make it into your breeding program?" I asked John. "No" he replied. "I raced them out or sold them. Only the purebred Dordins are used for the ongoing program."

They are the ones which breed the super crossing birds which produce the big winners, and the irony is that they are every bit as good today as they were when he got them. That’s because John is a master breeder of pigeons, and his results parallel those of Keith Saggers because they do the same thing: keep the lines pure and outcross for racing success and these are not ordinary fanciers: these men race to win Aggregates in big competition. The only perceivable difference I could find was that John selects birds showing characteristics of his original Dordins, whereas Keith will usually select on eyesign.

The genetic make up of his birds was important to him. He seldom inbred closely and then only deliberately to fix a quality that he wished to strengthen. He would select on paper 4 or 5 hens that might make a good mate for a certain cock, rejecting others as "too closely related". Then he would make the final choice in the loft. Usually his pairings were distant within his family, as reference to his many pedigrees clearly proves. This was indeed line-breeding in the hands of a master (my emphasis). Source: Pierre Dordin. The Complete Fancier. By Dr. Tim Lovel. 1985. Pg 23.

Jim Biss believed inbreeding would leave the family deficient and he wasn’t afraid to say so. It seems he may have believed and followed only the first step of what Pierre Dordin seemed to do bring in an excellent, high quality cross whenever he deemed it warranted. But Dordin then crossed back into the family. Biss seems to have gone the other way and crossed them further, and he was soon looking for better pigeons again.

On a visit to Biss in 1993, Jack Smith was told that the new Belgian pigeons Biss had obtained were now "leaving the Dordins for dead", in the same manner that the Dordins has superseded the earlier Biss pigeons. "That might be so," said Jack. "But show me a result as good as that National from Rennes when the Dordins allowed you to take the first five places." Jack told me that Biss turned, looked around at him, and wistfully replied, "You might be right."

And so the Dordins continue in Australia, and the family remains vibrant, effective and available. This is not a family which was at its best in the first half of last century, or the century before. The Dordins were at their zenith from 1946 into the 1970’s during the lifetime of most current fanciers. If they were at the top of the tree as recently as that, then their genetic pool should be able to be tapped for maximum performance today by fanciers clever enough to know what they’re doing.

One man who has made an art form of tapping them is of course John Brislin, a fancier who has won the VHA’s Aggregate five times, and on every line the VHA flies, with the latest one just last season that means sustained excellence over a long period. John is unapologetic about the fact that he is still winning with them against all of the imported names of recent years. John related that the young cock with which he won 6th Federation this year came directly from the race point, straight into the loft, showing the best attributes any racing pigeon can possess speed, tenacity and integrity this is a "modern family".

When John and I shared lunch with Keith Veall recently, I asked Keith what qualities had made John such a good fancier. John was getting some coffee at the time. Keith recalled "When he was a newcomer to the sport, John would stay back and work at anything within the clubrooms. He was always a good worker and a great listener. He became talented in everything, and every facet of the sport it was obvious early that he would become a very good flyer." And then with a sudden, impish smile he mischievously added: "And if he keeps doing what he’s doing, he’ll end up as good as me!"

When Keith eventually left us to return home, John and I spoke about some of those "facets". John revealed that he considered the first requirement of the champion fancier is "patience". How poignant, I thought. What was the name of Pierre Dordin’s loft? Wasn’t it Villa Patience?

Jim Biss made the point some years ago that Dordin’s lofts were not named "Villa Patience" by accident it was a conscious decision by the Master. Pierre Dordin and John Brislin never met. They should have.

Reprinted from:
Australian Racing Pigeon Journal