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FLYER PROFILE – VINCE CANNIZZO

This month I have decided to do a flyer profile on Vince Cannizzo of Melbourne in order to show other pigeon flyers just what can be done racing pigeons of recent European blood lines, his methods, feeding and treatments. I owe much of my information to Tony Price who wrote an article on Vince just after the 2005 racing season in which Vince smashed all previous Federation records and, until recently, was featured on the VRPU web site.

In 2005 Vince Cannizzo racing as Aussie Lofts had a record breaking year dominating the Victorian Racing Pigeon Federation (VRPU) by winning 5 x Fed old bird series races, a new record of winners in an organization which had been operating for 65 years. He also took 3 x second places among a total of 14 Fed positions overall from a possible 20 Fed old birds races. He was not out of a Fed position for 11 consecutive races, a fantastic streak of hot form. Vince also won 1 x Fed young bird winner and Open winners from Wonthaggi pre season and Deniliquin mid season. He won both the Old Bird and combined Old and Young bird aggregates.

Vince races in a central northerly position and as such is quite a short flyer. The winds in the 2005 season were predominantly north & north westerly giving the flyers in the east and south a decided advantage but this didn’t affect his results because his birds were out in front.

Vince started as a junior member in the strong Fawkner club. He lived in Fawkner and flew to a small backyard loft. He later moved to Preston where he won the VRPU aggregate in the eighties racing a blend of birds from Keven Price, David Finerty & Wally Stock. With these birds he developed his own multi-purpose strain through a focused breeding program based on shape, type & proven performance. During these years Vince soaked up as much information as he could from the old masters. He would continually quiz the greats of the past including Keven Price, Frank Ballinger, Wally Stock, George Rayner, Leo Fyffe, Ernie Lawry and Martin O’Shannassy. Vince described one of the highlights of his life occurred in the eighties when he visited Keith Wickham in Adelaide.”He was the master, I learnt so much”, Vince said. Vince is an excellent listener and picked up many leading edge ideas.

Vince left the sport due to business pressures as he had developed a multi-million dollar transport business whilst in Preston. He did try to mix business with pigeon racing and on one occasion left a loaded truck in Sydney while he flew back to Melbourne to clock in for the Derby. He finished last. He returned to his old loft & club at Fawkner in the nineties and later shifted his birds to his business premises in Craigieburn, 25 kms north of Melbourne. Vince was successful for a number of years from these locations with a blend of O’Shannassy’s, Wickham’s & Godfrey Stevens’ blood lines. Through an in depth study of pedigrees, bloodlines & stringent culling he developed a consistently good performing loft. He noted however that during the time out of the sport that the racing had improved and that the birds were performing at faster velocities. By studying the bloodlines of the winning lofts he realized that the newly imported birds had given the old Australian lines an incredible lift.

He then set about finding the best and as luck would have it he was able to compare the stock from several pigeon studs at an open convention day at the VHA premises in May 2001. After comparing the conformation, feathering, quality and shape of the birds he discovered what he considered to be the best, the Janssen’s from the Ponderosa Stud on display and bred in Adelaide by John Hofman. Vince was very impressed and he told me that he had to have all the birds that I had left on display. I took about 35 birds to Melbourne with me that day, the show opened at 10.00am and by the time Vince showed up at the trade stand it was around 11.15am. I had sold about a dozen birds by that time and I was prepared for a long day of selling and was wondering just how many birds I would have to take back home with me. Vince struck the trade stand like a hurricane and by 11.45am I was left ‘birdless” and was wondering how to fill in the rest of the day before heading back to the airport that evening. I remember Vince lamenting that he did not get there earlier because quite a few top quality birds were on display with the SOLD sign attached to their pens. Within a week Vince was on the phone wanting more. I picked out another 10 or so birds for him and among them were some more Janssen’s including “Mr Aussie” which I gifted to him for purchasing such a large number of pigeons from me. “Mr Aussie” from “The President” x a double granddaughter of the “Generaal” has been described by some as one of the greatest Janssen stock cocks in Australia. I also sent Vince over some Van Loons of the “Lucifer” x “White Lightning” bloodlines and a peculiar looking little hen that he named the “Dove Hen”. She was from “Dark Shadow” & “Surfergirl”, Van Loons closely related to the “Silver Shadows”.  Vince experimented with these birds as well as his old family in the 2002 season. Due to ill health and major surgery in 2003 Vince decided to cut back on his birds and had a reduction sale retaining only his Janssen & Van Loon purchases. This created a whole new focus for Vince. Short & middle distance racing became his new challenge.

The Janssen’s & Van Loons

When Vince first acquired these two strains he was a little disappointed as some of them, particularly the “Lucifer” Van Loons were big boned and have a big structure and he made the mistake of feeding them like his old Aussie families. He found they quickly put on condition and became so heavy they couldn’t even fly up to their perches. The lesson he learnt was that these birds need to be carefully managed to keep the weight off. He also found that they are prolific breeders, love nesting and are fantastic rearers and feeders. The youngsters are nice in the nest but become awkward and mean after weaning. Vince says don’t judge them until they are through the moult and flying the roof. The initial disappointment over their size was quickly forgotten when it came to racing as the birds proved to be outstanding racers in head, side & tail winds at all distances.

Breeding

Vince has studied several pigeon video’s and has read all the literature he could find on the great European families. He decided several years ago that the Janssen’s are the best and has gone to great lengths to study the pedigrees of his stock. He has found that birds that trace back to the world famous “Merckx 67” (a double grandson of the “Blauwe of 48”) on both sides are bringing him the most success. He has been able to ensure that he can link all his Janssen breeding stock by pedigree back to arguably the best pigeon the world has ever seen, the fabulous “Blauwe of 48”. The Ponderosa Janssen’s, Van Loons & De Klak’s are the back bone of his loft along with an Emiel Deweert pigeon which appears in the pedigrees of some of his birds.  He has bred to a type with all his team now medium sized, balanced, buoyant and all have impeccable soft & silky feathering. The above bloodlines have brought Vince unprecedented success at all race points up to 400 miles.

Tossing

During the 2004 season Vince found that the Janssen’s left the other breeds of birds behind. Vince says, they don’t bother circling when you toss them. They just go for home from the outset and they all land together at home. They are gone out of sight before I can get the baskets tied down on the ute. They always beat me to the loft. I always handle every bird prior to a toss. Never toss them if they have food in the crop as they are not well. Vince prefers to toss on his own to ensure they leave straight away and race directly to the loft. Straight line flying is the key. Vince explains that his birds are trained right from the start as babies to enter the loft immediately without feed. This is done for a purpose. When he begins training seriously, to get the birds started he tosses them three times a day from 15 to 20 kilometers for up to three days in a row. Therefore he cannot have feed in the trays waiting for them as he has to basket them again soon after each toss. On the final toss he is home well within 10 minutes of the birds arriving home and he then feeds his selected mix and desired quantity. When he tosses a little longer on his own the same procedure is followed with perhaps a little Barley in the feed trays to tide them over until he arrives home within 10 minutes of their arrival and once again they are fed his selected mix and quantity. All the birds are always in the loft waiting for him. When he tosses longer on the units the story is a little different as he is home waiting for them and they are fed his chosen mix and quantity upon arrival. Vince did point out that birds should not be left for longer periods without feed after arrival, particularly for longer tosses.        

Racing

Vince says racing the Janssen’s is incredible. Often I don’t see them coming. I hear them go swoosssh over my head. They always come in groups and all land on the board without circling; they are like little machines. I don’t need fantails, they would be a waste of time as the birds don’t circle. They love racing and win in all shapes & sizes, hens & cocks. They are very intelligent, break early and are faster than any other breeds of birds I have raced. In 2005 Vince continually had other fanciers birds landing at his lofts with his birds, dragged along by his batches and land disorientated before leaving later. Vince invites club members to watch him clock and they all report he is the perfect host and gets terribly excited on race day. Two of his club mates watched him clock from Cobar 440 miles. After 10 hours on the wing three birds arrived together, followed a minute later by three more. All six of these birds were in time to win the Federation. His club mates enthused, did you see them come!!! They were like missiles bombing the joint. On viewing Vince’s results it became obvious that as Vince is a short marker, that if the birds circled excessively at the liberation point, his results seem to drop away. Vince has a view on this. The Janssen’s love to leave straight away and race for home but if they are held back by the milling mob it seems to distract them from performing at their best. Also a slow getaway favours the long markers as once the birds do finally leave the race point they are flying at a faster velocity than the one that they will eventually record, thereby the short marker will be giving more overfly away than if the birds left promptly. In fact when I was a kid just beginning in the sport the long markers in Port Adelaide loved a slow getaway on the south east line as it would give them a much better chance of winning or finishing high up in the result. I was told back then that it wasn’t uncommon for those long markers to each send 3 or 4 “duffers” to the race in an attempt to hold the birds up for 15 or 20 minutes at the release point. Often they were successful.                

Extraordinary Results

During the 2004 season Vince raced two crack hens and both had triple fed positions. VPU 03 14019 scored 5^th Fed Mildura produce (300 miles), 16^th Fed Coombah (360 miles) and 5^th Fed Coombah. These positions were gained in consecutive weeks. VPU 03 14043 was 3^rd Fed Birchip Young Bird Derby, 1^st Fed Wedderburn & 2^nd Fed Coombah. Both these hens bred Federation winners in the 2005 season. I believe Vince’s best result in the 2005 season was on the day of his son John’s wedding. He arranged for his club mate Mick Doria to clock for him in the George Whaley event from Mt. Hope, which is NNE of Melbourne. Vince continually snuck out of the wedding ceremony to ring Mick to see if the birds were home. The wind was at times gale force from the west, a true side wind that the birds had to shoulder all the way. The birds arrived in just over 7 hours from the 360 mile journey. Vince finished second to David Finerty who lives almost 13 kilometers due east of Vince. David’s distance is 5 kilometers shorter from this point but he led Vince by only 4 minutes 42 seconds, just pipping him by 2 metres at a velocity of 1224 metres per minute (Vince 1222 mpm). Mick said Vince homed two together, they had to be well out in front of the other birds to achieve this remarkable feat of brilliance. Vince was far from disappointed and he turned up at the club rooms after the wedding in his suit and was the first to shake the hand of the winner.

Environment

Vince believes that the key to modern racing is loft environment. High humidity and draughts are the main enemy and cause of poor loft form. Melbourne weather has changed with higher humidity and more frosts, causing damp lofts. These conditions contribute to E coli which leads to wet canker and other ailments. Vince has installed a hydrometer to control his loft environment. He keeps the loft at 60-65% humidity level. Vince says that although humidity is the enemy, you can’t have the loft too dry either. A heater without the hydrometer is of no use.

Feeding

Vince is a supporter of commercially mixed, cleaned & tested grain. The depurative mixture early in the week and the racing mix later in the week, closer to basketing. He also adds extra barley and wheat to lighten the feed if the birds are not working well enough. He decides on the daily feed mix after handling his birds first thing in the morning to check their condition, prior to their early exercise. About 9 years ago now, whilst attending a Sydney Pigeon Convention, Vince was fortunate enough to visit the legendary Graham Davidson (Davo), and observe his loft and methods. Vince learnt the importance of Barley to the pigeon’s diet. Barley satisfies the pigeons hunger but does not add condition, a very important feature and a grain he now uses to get his team into peak racing form.

Medication

Vince does not leave anything to chance. Whenever his team is basketed with other birds for racing or tossing, they are isolated on their return and medicated with a mix of Turbosole, Doxy T & Megamix for wet canker and respiratory disease for two days before returning to the flock. He carries a veritable chemist shop of medications, although most of these are kept for any emerging health problem, and are rarely used. Vince says he worms the birds regularly whether they need it or not. He finds the worming medication gives them a boost. He also flock treats for Cocidiosis once a month.

Losses

Vince says unfortunately he looses most birds from tossing. Since the VRPU cut the bird limit to 30 entries in Federation races he has been unable to give the birds enough races to get them fit and is forced to toss regularly. He would much prefer to race the birds more regularly as the majority of losses are from tosses. It’s also too time consuming and wears out his car.

Epilogue

Early in 2006 Vince thought he might try one of my Silver Shadow x Lucifer & Lucinda Van Loons to put back into his own Janssen/Van Loons. Unfortunately I had only one late bred Grizzle cock to spare so I sent it over to him. He wasn’t all that impressed with him and it didn’t take him long to get on the phone to tell me. I had confidence in the bird myself so I told him to put it away for a few months and forget about it. Trust me, he will be OK. That he did, in fact he may have forgotten about him for a couple of years as I think it was only in 2008 that he mated him up. He was on the phone recently to tell me that he had just had success with two of his offspring, nest mate sisters, on the same weekend. In a bad race from Shepparton on the Saturday in which all the birds milled at the race point for an hour before leaving, he scored 20^th Fed with one of the hens. The next day on the Sunday he had entered the other hen in an Open race from Wonthaggi and he won 4^th prize Open being well out of position on the day and no other pigeon for miles around him figuring in the result.

Vince is a remarkable man. He has been battling against Cancer, among other things, for quite a few years now and has had numerous operations. It must surely be his pigeons that keep him going as a lesser man would have turned his toes up some time ago. Vince no longer has the energy that he used to have so consequently his tossing and racing have been somewhat curtailed. Most training is carried out with the birds exercising around the loft and Vince, being very smart with his birds diet, manages to get them pretty fit with over two hours training per session around the loft.