One of the biggest legends in modern pigeon racing is the Van Loon icon ‘Silver Shadow’. This fabulous winner of 6x 1st is not only famous for his performances; maybe even more he is famous for the many supreme descendants he bred. ‘Silver Shadow’ is a grandson to the Van Loon wonder pair ‘Lous’ x ‘Suzanne’, a silver line of top racing cocks.

In the middle Nineties ‘Silver Shadow’ grabbed great fame winning a/o 6x 1st and in big competition a/o:

 Some of the best direct children to him are:
- ‘Anaïs’; 1st from 4,670 b. and 7th Nat. NPO Orleans 18,184 b.
- ‘Sylvana’; 44 prize cards in 3 years time
- ‘Spice Girl’; 1st from 6,574 b., 10th Nat. NPO PS Maxence 25,987 b., 1st from 3,378 b., 10th Nat. Orleans 14,395 b.
- ‘Armstrong’; 1st yearling in combine 2000 winning 1st from 8,498 b., 1st from 496 b., 10th Nat. NPO Vierzon 8,015 b.

Some of his most famous grandchildren are:
- ‘Miss Antonia’; 1st Nat. NPO Bourges 10,040 b., 33 prize cards in 3 years, 1st from 2,218 b., 2nd from 2,173 b., 5th from 5,825 b.
- ‘Rosa Mota’; Olympiad pigeon Lievin 2003, 2nd from 5,825 b., 17th semi Nat. 11,725 b., 3rd from 2,599 b., 6th semi Nat. 3,353 b., 42nd semi Nat. 8,440 b.
- ‘Lion King’; 1st from 1,648 b., also 2nd from 7,979 b.
- 1st Nat. middle distance racer of Italy 2000
- etc.

In 2002 Bertus & Albert Roording purchased their first ‘Silver Shadow’ offspring and amongst them were two grandchildren to this icon, ‘Slim Shady’ and ‘Dante’s Eye’. They grew out to become fabulous racers, ‘Slim Shady’ was crowned 1st acebird short distance in combine 2004 (750 members) and ‘Dante’s Eye’ won 4x 1st prize. Both champions also bred 1st prize winners already and are founding fathers of Roording ‘Grey Empire’.

By now the Roording breeding loft – with 10 pairs – is one of the best and most inbred colonies of champion ‘Silver Shadow’. They have now in the breeding loft:

- 8 grandchildren to ‘Silver Shadow’
- 7 inbred great grandchildren to ‘Silver Shadow’

They are crossed to a/o the supreme Van Loon lines of ‘Chicago’, super breeder and father, grandfather and great grandfather up to National winners.

To cross them, Roording still uses some of their old Janssen 05 based pigeons, their top racer ‘Costa’ (Zoontjens, 1st acebird short and long distance) and a/o granddaughter ‘Kleine Dirk’ (Koopman, 2x 1st National), sister ‘Lion King’ (Bob de Leeuw, 3x National top 10) and daughter ‘Troyes’ (Gerard Boesveld, 1st Nat. Troyes 1995)

Silver Shadow - Van Loon master in breeding 

Miss Antonia - 1st Nat. Bourges winner

Chicago – Van Loon breeding star