We are Ryno, Armand, and Marius Annandale, a father-and-sons racing team based in Bloemfontein, South Africa, with roots in the sport going back to 1991. Over the past 13 years, we’ve worked to build a unique family of pigeons, blending various strains into our own line through one simple principle: let the basket do the selecting. We’ve consistently bred our best-performing birds to one another, shaping a colony focused on one thing — results. At the core of our breeding loft are two brothers, “MARIUS” (ZA BPFD 5741-20) and “VIKTOR” (ZA BPFD 2844-22), both descendants of what we call the “R150 000 Pair.” To strengthen our foundation, we’ve introduced proven National-performing blood, including “BLACK ENERGY,” a direct son of “MR. MEDALS” (1st National Ace Middle Distance SA 2018, Hendrik Huyser), and “URSULA,” a direct daughter of “TURF QUEEN” (2nd National Ace Overall SA, James van der Linde). Together, these four pigeons form the base of our colony. We focus on breeding medium to smaller-sized pigeons that carry no unnecessary weight—birds that can recover quickly and race hard between 400–700 km, especially in tough headwind conditions, where we believe the true champions reveal themselves. As first-time entrants into the prestigious AfrikaPRO One Loft Series, our goal is to enjoy the opportunity to be part of this incredible race series, and more importantly, to test and develop our pigeons at the highest level—until we one day achieve what we’ve set out to do: breed a Blue Jacket winner.