04/05/2017
A GOLDEN TALE : I wrote this article the second time I saw Bernie. It was however, in our first meeting that I suggested that he should call his birds Ormoc Gold. At that time, when I asked him what's the bloodline of his birds, he said he just calls them "cabiara" or gold in Bisaya. I suggested Ormoc Gold, so that no breeder from any other place can claim that theirs is the same gold, because the real Ormoc Gold is only in Ormoc.
After winning the Thunderbird Dakak Challenge in amazing fashion, the Ormoc Golds can now be regarded as one of the best original Filipino bloodlines that made a name in the big league of Philippine c**kfighting.
The 4 Gold Abuhins fought in the Dakak Challenge all receive accolades and were loudly applauded by the crowd just like the 2 White Golds fought by Bernie in the World Slashers cup last January in his 7th and 8th fight wherein he finished with 6.5 points.
A TOUCH OF GOLD
Husband and wife Bernie & Belen Tacoy and their three children used to live inside a gamefowl barn. An attic of sort above their head composed of four slabs of plywood hanging from the nipa roof served as their bedroom. Bernie who earned his living then by being a c**kfights handler and gaffer could hardly make ends meet. Until lady luck appeared to him and changed their lives to something they had never even dreamed of.
TWIST OF LUCK
Bernie Tacoy has been into gamefowl breeding since he was a teenager, but it was not until five years ago when he hit the jackpot, in the same manner that Boy Primalion did. Primalion, as every Filipino c**ker knows, is the breeder of the Zamboanga Whites – a strain of fightingc**ks that dominated the competition for almost eight years during the 80s up to the early 90s.
Five years ago, a guy gifted Bernie's uncle with a gold-colored hen. However, his uncle not being fond of off-colored gamebirds was not interested and did not bother to breed the hen and left the poor bird in a corner pen.
Tacoy probably saw something in the golden hen that he asked his uncle's permission for him to breed it. His uncle agreed, so Bernie got a broodc**k to pair with the gold hen. From then on, what followed was a strain of gamefowl that Tacoy has never imagined he will have. It was like hitting a gold mine.
Out of the first batch of fourteen roosters he was able to produce from the gold hen, 13 won. From then on, there was no turning back for Bernie. Convinced that he had chanced upon the elusive nick or cut that other breeders spend years looking for, Tacoy did what was necessary to preserve the strain that he discovered.
FRIEND AND MENTOR
Bernie recognizes Rusco Noel as his mentor. Noel is the former handler of his uncle. As a young lad, he would hold the rooster, while Rusco puts on the knife. Likewise, he would bring atop the rueda and handle the pe**er c**k every time his uncle would fight.
Noel, provided Tacoy with his first breeding stocks and taught him the basics and intricacies of gamefowl breeding. Later, when Bernie's uncle died and he was already breeding in commercial scale and was better off already, Bernie got Rusco Noel to train roosters for him and as a business partner. Today, Noel has return to breeding gamebirds on his own getting his broodstocks from Tacoy.
ORMOC GOLD
The strain that Bernie developed is so versatile that he is able to cross it with other bloodlines he would prefer, but the gold color and its fighting qualities are always retained coupled with the qualities that he wanted from the line he chose to infuse. The Johnny Jumper Kelso c**k that came from Rusco Noel proved to be the best line to breed into the gold with more than 90% winning percentage.
He proudly calls his gold strain of gamebirds as the Ormoc Golds.
Nowadays, the Ormoc Gold strain of rooster that Tacoy mustered has been making waves in Leyte and neighboring provinces. The Midas touch that the Ormoc Gold brought to the Tacoy family has practically changed their lives.
The barn wherein Bernie and his family used to live is now a two storey concrete house with furniture, appliances and air-conditioners; the farm which they used to rent is now their own, not to mention the sugar cane plantations; ricefields and fruit trees orchard they were able to acquire thru their sales and winnings form the Ormoc Golds.
Tacoy admits that the Ormoc Gold is God's blessing, because the superior strain that other breeders takes years to produce, that is if they are lucky enough to get the right combination of bloodlines, was handed to him in a silver…or a golden platter.
The Ormoc Golds was a touch of gold that brought a good life to the Tacoys, but the threat to the competitors that the Ormoc Golds threaten to bring is bad news.
