April 16, 2015 Update

This is an article written by JOHN VANCE, with permission to copy and post on my website 16/4/2015 I personally did not know John Vance before he wrote this article.

This is a testament on how my pigeons have performed for Fred

I have known Fred “Breezy” Bruzzese for several years, he is the owner of Jojo's International Janssens, and competes with a highly successful family of birds from the Janssen Bros., Wout Smuelders, DeKlak, Gerrit Spanjaards, and the Borgman Brothers.

Fred is known for consistently placing his Janssen's in the top 10 positions, of the Central Jersey Combine, usually in races from 100 to 250 miles. Like in 2008, when he placed 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th & 6th against 222 lofts and 3964 birds @ 100 miles, 2nd against 3711 birds @ 150 miles, 9th against 2885 birds @ 250 miles, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th against 2560 birds @ 150 miles, and 6th & 7th against 2548 birds @ 250 miles. In 2007, Fred was 1st, 2nd & 3rd against 3685 birds @ 100 miles, 3rd, 4th & 5th against 3136 birds @ 100 miles, and 1st & 2nd against 3113 birds @ 150 miles.

Fred has proven time and again that his Janssen family consistently scores top 10 positions in the largest combine in the country, competing against 2500 – 4000 birds per race, from 100 - 250 miles. So, in 2009, when Fred won the Tri - State 400 and the Greater Elizabeth 500 mile One bird derby, I took notice as did many in the Central Jersey Combine.

However, 2009, turned out to be just a warm-up for 2010, when Fred pulled off the “Hat trick” winning: 1st in the Hoboken 500 mile One Bird Derby (winning by 6 minutes and 20 second), 1st in the 500 mile King of the East Coast race (winning by 15 minutes and 53 second), and 1st & 2nd in the Tri - State 500 (winning by 10 minutes and 51 second). You would have to go back many years to find another instance of one fancier winning three “special” 500 mile races and doing so with the margins that Fred's birds had accomplished.

After Fred's 2010 results, I had to find out what had changed with his breeding program and or loft management, that would produce such results in the 500 mile “Special” races. So I called Fred and this is what I learned:

The Birds

In 2003, when Fred bought the original Jojo's International family of Janssens, he acquired the complete loft of 211 birds. Prior to purchasing the loft, Jojo's International was one of the most dominating lofts in North America, either winning outright or breeding the parents of:

1st & 10th AU Convention Race Tampa, Florida ~ 1673 birds 315 miles 104 lofts.
1st Las Vegas.com One Loft Race
1st, 4th & 10th George Crum Memorial 375 birds 55 lofts
1st Paterson Air Derby 370 miles 90 lofts and 463 birds
1st Paterson Sprint Futurity 250 miles 63 lofts and 503 birds
1st Thunder Bay. One Loft Race, 310 Miles
and at least 14 x 1st Central Jersey Combine

After acquiring the complete loft of 211 Jojo's International Janssens, Fred decided, to keep only the core breeders, and to sell all the descendants of those breeders. It wasn't hard to find buyers, he first let a friend come over and buy whatever he wanted, then two fanciers from Canada came down and purchased 70 of the birds, then Charlie Barbiere auctioned off the rest in two groups dispersing these remaining Jojo Janssens across the USA and Canada. What Fred was left with was a nucleus of 40 core breeders, and it is the children and grandchildren of these birds that Fred has raced since 2004.

Success was immediate, the first time Fred raced his new Jojo's birds he placed 2nd, 5th, 41st & 49th Central Jersey Combine against 3209 birds. The following Old Bird season he topped the Central Jersey Combine twice: 1st against 3108 birds @ 200 miles & 1st against 2940 birds @ 200 miles. To put frosting on the cake, Fred won “Equal 1st” Vegas Connection, in 2004 and “Equal 1st” Vegas Classic, in 2005.

For some fanciers, this might be the end of the story, acquire a successful family of birds and through good loft management continue their winning ways, but for Fred, this was only the beginning.

Several years ago, Fred purchased a second family of birds which he now calls the “Dominator” family. This small family of birds had won many of the money races in the Tri - State area and had helped propel at least one CJC competitor to Hall of Fame status. So, when Fred heard from Charlie Barbiere, that this complete loft was for sale, Fred immediately visited Paul Johnson of White Rock Loft and purchased all 81 birds.

As he had done with the Jojo's International Janssens, Fred decided to keep a core of 11 birds and sell all the children and grandchildren. It is these 11 core “Dominator” breeders, that he crosses on his Jojo's Janssens to produce many exceptional race birds.

Now let’s look at the breeding of the birds that pulled off the 2009 and 2010 “Special” wins.

08 ARPU 36721 BB H (½ Jojo's x ½ Dominator)
5/23/09 Won The 400 Mile Tri State Special By 19 Minutes
5/31/09 11th 500 Mile Tri State Special
6/06/09 Won 500 Mile Elizabeth One Bird Derby 8+ Minutes

Sire is Jonge Maximus (100% JOJO JANSSEN) a son of Captiva (Is full sister to CASANOVA Hen CU-97-27674) and Maximus who bred the 1st and 10th place winners of the 2001 A.U. Convention Race, winning over $40,000. Dam is Erica a daughter of 2 direct Grondelaers imported by John Lucchese. Erica and her full sister Althea have bred 1st and 3rd AU Champions along with World Trade Race winners and countless other winners.

3489 08 TRI BB C (¾ Dominator x ¼ Jojo's)
4/18/10 2nd ~ 150 miles CJC Combine vs 3247 birds
5/24/10 Wins 500 Mile Tri State Special by 10.5 Minutes

36745 AU 08 ARPU BB C (¾ Jojo's x ¼ Dominator)
5/09/10 2nd ~ CJC Combine 250 miles vs 2846 birds
5/15/10 Wins Hoboken 500 Mile One Bird Derby by 6+ Minutes

Sire is 100% Jojo's Janssen Inbred Suzy Q (Mother of Captiva) and Jojo's Spanjaards Janssen Line. Dam is a Janssen x Dominator cross. Her grandmother won $10,000 in a Special race. Again 75% Janssen!!

08 MOC 812 BB H (¾ Jojo's x ¼ Dominator)
8/17/08 6th ~ CJC combine 100 miles vs 3694 birds
6/22/09 12th ~ Alfonso Abenante 600 Mile 3 Bird Derby
5/09/10 3rd ~ 250 mile club race
5/24/10 Wins The King Of The East Coast 500 Mile Race By 15+ Minutes- Only 7 Day Birds

Sire is a son of Captiva (daughter of the famous Suzy Q). Captiva is also the grandmother of ARPU 36721 who won the 400 and 500 mile specials in 2009 (see above). Sire is also the grandson of Smuelders Terminator who won 5 X 1st ~ 100% Jojo Janssen. Dam is a Dominator x Jojo's cross that won a 300 mile young bird race.

Not only did Fred pull off the “Hat trick”, but he continued to place multiple top 10 combine positions throughout the 2010 OB season including: 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 6th against 3247 birds @ 150 miles, 2nd & 8th against 2846 birds @ 250 miles and 4th against 2641 birds @ 250 miles.

Fred also had the 2nd place bird in the 500 Mile Tri State Special:
08 ARPU 36742 BB C (100% Jojo's Janssen)~ His Sire is a son of the famous ADRENALINE” (Gr. Son foundation pair De BULL& SAPPHIRE) ( ADRENALINE is a half brother to the JONGE SPANJAARD same mother daughter the BULL & SAPPHIRE)who bred the 1998 and 1999 SPRINT RACE WINNERS and many top breeders. His dam is “Jewel” who has bred many Futurity winners and top breeders. Jewel is a daughter of "CAPTIVA".

You may have noticed that "CAPTIVA" is the grandmother to three of the five birds listed above. "CAPTIVA" is the daughter of the famous “Suzy Q”, who was the daughter of “Suzy Wong”. That is three generations of exceptional breeders, and now we find Jewel (daughter of "CAPTIVA") established as the next generation of this line of exceptional breeding hens, carrying the bloodlines of Borgmans' “Dikke Duif”, the Janssen Bros. “Oude Merckx of 67", “Raketman” & “019”, De Klak's granddaughter Merckx of 67 “Blauw Witpen Klak”, Gerrit Spanjaards famous “058” and Wout Smeulders Champion “Terminator” son of “637”. This four generation line of exceptional breeding hens is a performance proven blending of the best of the Janssen bloodlines.

So, now you have the story about what is working for Fred Breezy. It turns out to be nothing new or different, in fact, it's the same old story told time and again in our sport. Develop a family of highly competitive birds (the Jojo's Janssens go back 25 years) and “up your game” by judiciously crossing in a second performance family to produce exceptional racers. In Fred's case, crossing the Dominator family onto his Jojo's family, produced his three 500 mile “special” wins in 2010.

Congratulations Fred, winning three 500 mile specials in one year, that really is a “Hat trick

Written by JOHN VANCE