At 57 years of age, I have been very fortunate in my life to be successfully involved in various competitive sports – HUMAN AND ANIMAL. Only in the pigeon sport have I ever heard of evaluating athletes by “EYE SIGN”. I have never witnessed nor heard of coaches, owners, general mangers or parents looking into the eyes of their players, young children or livestock with a “jeweler’s loupe” to see if they were going to be a good performer, top breeder, sprinter, long distance athlete, etc.
I have owned, raced and bred horses. I have gone to several top sales and auctions, and I have never heard or witnessed an eye sign theory to select racing or breeding stock in horses.
The same applies in dog racing, fighting chickens, dog fighting or other types of animal competition that is legal or illegal. Nobody has any theories or evaluation procedures with eye sign. WHY? Because they would be laughed out of the sport for such a theory. It is ridiculous for those sports or competitions, and it is just as silly to believe they can be used in the pigeon sport to help with success.
I read advertisements about eye sign specialists, racing eyes, sprinting eyes, distance eyes, eye sign pairing and mating, graders, teachers and scientific research about eye sign. Only in the pigeon sport do some fanciers believe and practice these methods. Of course, there are other methods we also use in the pigeon sport for evaluation and culling that many have faith in, such as wing formation, strong or weak back, soft or hard muscle, throat configuration, color of toe nails, short or long keel, and maybe 20 more physical characteristics that are used as methods of selecting breeding or flying stock.
In all of these theories never do I hear mention the one major requirement necessary for the racing pigeon to be successful: The ability to find his way home, “HOMING ABILITY”. The intelligence and navigation skills to be 100-600 miles from home and race and navigate to return home to his loft the same day. Without this ability to home and navigate, all the other qualities mean nothing. Yet the graders, teachers, master breeders, specialists, etc. never seem to be concerned about this one aspect of our sport.
Can they grade intelligence, heart, determination, motivation or desire just by handling a bird, opening his wing, looking at the throat or looking into the eyes? PLEASE GIVE ME A BREAK! YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS AND REALLY BELIEVE THIS IS POSSIBLE! To spend your money and time applying these methods to achieve success is foolish.
Like I said before, only in the pigeon sport do these experts exist (self proclaimed experts). WHY? Because we in the sport look for any short cut to success. There is none. The only way to be successful in this sport is the old fashioned way, to work for it, and earn it.
The sad thing about these so called experts graders and eye sign experts is that I truly believe they think they have the ability to select birds by their methods.
Only in the pigeon sport can they find individuals gullible and naive enough to listen and sometimes practice their methods. No other sport or competition would consider such theories with a straight face.
We talk about our sport being on the decline, and there are many reasons for it. What a shame if a new flyer gets involved with one of our eye sign experts, and spends his time and money on their methods. After a few years, if he stays that long, with little or no positive results, we lose another potential fancier and maybe a few of his friends.
Yes, I am being hard on these individuals because I TRULY BELIEVE THEY ARE HURTING OUR SPORT for some small financial gain or a personal ego trip, or both.
As I have said in many other articles, you have the best graders in the world, the training basket and race day. By training and racing your birds you will be evaluating yourself as well as evaluating and culling your birds.
You as a trainer may need some improvement in different aspects of the sport: feeding, training, medication, trapping and loft management. It is hard for us to accept the blame for poor results or heavy loses. We much rather blame the birds, the weather, the transport company, or some other area, but not our own abilities or methods.
To select breeders and flyers is a very simple procedure. PERFORMANCE should be your only criteria. Does the bird come from a winning family, generation after generation of excellent race results? If the answer is yes, then the bird is worth taking a chance on in the breeding or flying loft.
Performance means the type of results necessary to compete in your area: speeds, distances, weather and land conditions. If the bird’s family has shown that it can be competitive, that is all you need to know. Forget about his eyes, wings, back, muscles, throat or keel.
Occasionally I will go to a auction, especially if it is sponsored by an excellent flyer and offers birds with race records. I see these domestic birds, some with multiple diplomas, sell for much less then birds with foreign bands and no race results. The excuses are that he is to long, has no chest, has a weak back, has no breeding eye, etc. FORGET THOSE THEORIES! The bird has already proven itself in race competition with multiple diplomas. He has the ability, and he has already proven it. You would have no problem taking a chance on breeding this bird with another performance bird with the same ability.
“SAME ABILITY” means proper breeding: speed to speed and distance to distance. If the bird has multiple diplomas at various speeds and distances that is even better. You really should not care about eye sign, or how the bird handles.
The sport is changing everyday. New ideas and theories are advertised, sold and practiced. However, the basic principle still applies: no homing ability and navigating skills, no positive results. You cannot find these abilities by looking into the eyes. Regular training and racing and selecting breeding and flying stock for performance results and bloodlines is the only path to success.
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Article Written by: Bob Prisco
BOB I DISAGREE WITH YOU. I HAVE A FRIEND IN SOUTH AFRICA TOL FOURIE WHO HAS A PIGEON WHO WON 9 RASES FROM 400 KM UP TO 800 KM. SHE COULD NOT BREED ONE CHAMPION,BECAUSE SHE GOT NOTHING IN THE EYE. HAVE YOU LOOK IN THE EYES OF A CHAMPION RACER, THY HAVE GOT CIRCLES IN HIS EYES AND I BELIEVE IN THAT. THATS WHY HE IS A CHAMPION AND HE CAN ALSO BREED GOOD PIGEONS.
Good report,and I agree with you on most points,except you did not mention about breeding off a bird that wins a blow home race or tail wind race,I do not breed off birds that win a blow home ,only if they can win again on a hard race ,then I kow the bird is a good one.I have seen many a fancier breed off such a bird ,that wins a blow home big race ,and it does not produce,I had one such bird,won me a 800km classic race by a huge margin @ 1500 m.p.m ,never did anything again before or after that.
My family of birds come from a long line of top performers and I only breed off the winners,in this family I always get 2x and 3x winners in a season or two,and over all distances ,from 300km to 800km and at any speed ,fast ,hard races.So I don’t have to worry about other families or types of birds .
I only select on the “motor” throat .
I am from South Africa,and our conditions here are very harsh,lots of rain and strong head winds and we fly large distances and towards the end of our season it gets very hot at times,so our birds need to be very hardy.
I am not really an eyesign man, but I do try to have an open mind on the matter.What I do know is that the really good racers and breeders in my loft have excellent eyesign, along with very bright and colourful eyes. Of course one could go out and find barn pigeons with eyesign too.
I have also judged many racing pigeons in shows, without exception the winning birds always have excellent eyesign.( Please note I do not judge racing show birds especially looking for eyesign factors).
Whether this is just coinsidence I dont know, but all I can really say on the matter is a crosseyed racing pigeon will be as useless as a one eyed or blind pigeon.
What a good racing pigeon needs is balance, by that I mean that it has strong features in every aspect, it is no use for arguements sake say breeding birds for wing size only, or perhaps birds with large bodies and tiny tails,the birds have to have balance in their makeup.
So my advice is to always keep an open mind with pigeon racing, there is always something to learn,I have had pigeons for some 48 years and I am still learning about them!
totally agree! your the man
Well first of all the article is not comparing like with like as horses or livestock or children are not expected to navigate their way home from hundreds of miles at a time and they have no orienteering skills built in in anycase, so there is not the same to see in their species eyes.
That being said I do believe that a good eyesign man could pick out the village idiot by looking in all thei villagers eyes, lol.
Breeding best to best can be ok but only works for a short while and then your birds slow down, unless you are constantly bringing in new stock and outcrossing. In any case many biirds that race well breed rubbish in every nest while their siblings that race rubbish breed winners, when you look at the eyesigns of these birds in nearly every case the sibling that breeds winners in different nests has a great breeding eye.
I believe that eyesign is a very useful tool to sort out which birds to mate to each other to give the best chance of breeding winning pigeons and pigeons that will in the future breed winning pigeons in a hard working racing team.
I have on many occasions witnessed an eyesign expert pick out all the best birds in a racing loft just by looking at well taken photographs of pigeons eyes and pick out the best breeders of winners by the same method, so this is proof that there has to be something in it.
If by using eyesign you can identify a few future good breeders before you risk losing them to whatever reason chasing 20 quid prize money in a tin pot race or a training toss then that has to be a good thing, let the birds that do not have breeders eyes can do the racing. This will save you lots of time and money and enable you to build a proper family of pigeons instead of just guessing and outcrossing and hoping.
Kevin , you have a lot of theories – How about posting your race record for us to see how they work for great results. Also , the eyesign expert must have a great race record also.
Bob Prisco
Bob I have recently relocated to the Algarve in Portugal 3 years ago and Made friends with a Portuguese Fancier called Antonio Dias. Antonio had a stroke shortly after we met and My wife and I took over his pigeons to look after them until he could manage them.
In this time I went through the birds looking at Eyes, wings etc to grade them for the different distances. I used Eyesign as the main tool and selected birds to Race From Dax France international with andaluzia Spain, to us in Portimao 620 Miles I timed in the 7th bird into Portugal and the longest flying bird in Racetime.
This was the only Race of great distance I entered and I sent 3 birds they raced in my friend Antonio dias name.
Now in 2012 because Dax was too tough for the majority of the birds in 2011 the federation dropped it from their Test but we still had Barcelona National, I sent birds again selected via eyesign and Timed in %th section again timing the longest flying bird in the liberation. this time in my own name Kevin Spencer, the only Englishman to time in from 2012 Barcelona National of Portugal. Check it out online you will see a picture of me holding the bird on the Oficial website.
This year for 2013 Antonio is back and has control of his pigeons, I have bred 40 birds selecting the parents of these birds via eyesign and they are in their new loft location in a place called Lagos. I have a racing partner to split costs with and I fully expect the birds to do exceptionally well. Time will tell but if you want to follow my results they will be in my blog on http://www.algarvepigeonracing.webs.com from March onwards.
Oh check out Somerset One loft race results for 2012 and look for the pigeons rung “Port” they are also mine and my race partner in the UK. Good luck for the 2013 season Kev.
Hi Bob that should read 6th section Barcelona National 2012 see below
http://www.fpcolumbofilia.pt/barcelona2012/main025.htm
Scroll down and you will see me holding the bird.
Not bad as I had never raced pigeons over these big distances before I came here to Portugal. The birds had Super Eyesign before they went to these 2 races (that is why they went) and super Eyesign when they returned.
I have bred a few off them and other great Eyesign couples and the future is rosey for my 2013 full race season.
I am looking at the race results for the “Barcelona 2012”.
You flew in zone 5 , 950 km and longer.
Their were 188 birds from 29 lofts , you sent 10 birds .
You finished 6th ( which would qualify for a diploma in USA – 1 DIPLOMA FOR EVERY 5 LOFTS)
They only listed the top 10 birds in your zone , could not find overall results from zone 1-5.
You indicated all 10 birds had SUPER EYESIGN – how did the other 9 finish ?
You said most birds can win up to 485 miles but most will not fly 600 miles or longer. I find that not to be the case. Most families of birds today would have trouble flying 500 miles in a tough head wind race. But if they can fly 485 miles they will fly 600 with no problem.
Those birds were the only birds to home in race time at the over 590 miles zone, my bird flew the furthest of any bird in the liberation as with Dax the previous year. I used this as an example as I have been in the country less than 3 years and these were not even my birds. They had done nothing at this level for years.
Now to educate you about how racing works here. Our birds although they are showing to fly 620 miles actually fly more lie 750 miles due to the birds following the river all the way from Spain into Portugal and arriving in the middle of the country then make their way back from there. Yes there were as you say only 188 birds were sent to this race by the best long distance flyers in the country as they were the best birds that they had. only 9 made it. Now then you will notice of then 9 birds 5 were from Lisboa and only 4 from Faro (algarve) The Lisboa birds although in the straight measure fly a similar distance in reality fly 150 to 200 miles less due to the way the birds come.
As regards you stupid staement about 485 mile birds doing 600 that is laughable, we race 5 or 6 club races from 500 miles and thousands go from the Algarve and everyone times in. Not so in the biggest pigeon race of the year in the Whole Country as you can see or will you try and argue with the result.
These birds in June flew this in a tough 25 mph cross wind with temperatures between 42 and 38 degrees Centigrade. It takes a special bird to come home to the South of Portugal from Barcelona and 485 mile birds are not them. Lol.
I have just noticed that as you said there are 10 birds, technically the race was closed after 9 birds were clocked but one more arrived just before the clocks went in and according to the strict rules the race was over but they must have allowed the 10th Brave bird on the result as a reward for its Guts and bravery who can argue with that.
This is not the top 10 by design it is because Only these few birds were in race time from the best Great long distance fanciers and their pigeons specially prepared and aimed at The countries biggest prestige and only National race from the start of the season. I was honoured and proud to be the only foreigner to time in and for it to fly the furthest in the liberation (albeit it actually flew 150 miles or more on top of the recorded distance , Which is already the furthest in the liberation) again was a true feather our caps.
Now the Portuguese have world class birds so it shows how hard it is to clock from further than 500 miles in Junes hot conditions as its normal for everyone to time in a few from 500 miles.
The Faro (Algarve birds) fly 150 to 200 miles further than the actual measure due to the way the birds come home. This can be seen again and again if you look at previous Barcelona nationals. This was my 1st attempt here as was my Fantastic result the previous year when I Clocked the longest flying bird From Dax France over the same distance finishing 7th in the Algarve from the Algarve and Andaluzia International race. Only 12 birds in racetime from 300 plus sent after a holdover and again Temperatures in the High 30s early 40s Centigrade.
Due to the geographic position of Portugal we can not join in with the International with Europe so the Portuguese birds are unknown and untapped to a large degree by the rest of Europe and the world but a Portugues pigeon won the Derby Arona Tenerife OLR in 2012 against the rest of the world from the few entered from here due to most people being skint, lol..
Well let’s address my “stupid statement”, we fly 485 miles for 500 and 573 miles for 600. We fly the same birds in both races and they WIN in both on a day .
When you get into races that require 2 days because of distance or weather- not only do we need homing ability but also survival skills to stay out over night safely and return the next day.
I do not laugh at your statements or call them stupid .I may not agree with most of what you say or practice ,but it is your time and money.
You can’t believe that their are birds that fly only 500 miles and not 600 miles.
Just maybe it has to do with the handler and the way he prepares his birds for each race. We all have a lot to learn in this sport and we make mistakes like any other loft and handler. We don’t look for short cuts – we train our birds , fly them in toughest competition we can find and evaluate our birds and ourselves to improve.
But you have found a new way “eye sign ” , you said you can’t wait 3-4 years for results.
You need to know now who the best racers and breeders are. Well at 68 years old , I have seen fanciers like you with your ideas come and go. Mostly go , but time will only tell .
Theres no fool like an old fool, always keep an open mind and you will never stop learning. your furthest race is only 485 miles you have a family of middle distance pigeons your own stats prove it you have a strike rate of 45% in 100 mile to 200miles, then a similar although slightly less 40% strike rate from 200 to 300 miles then a dramatic fall in strike rate to just under 15% strike rate in the races from 400 miles to 480 miles (8 top 20s in 4 years) these are from your own results from 2008 to 2012.
You are the one who is calling other people about their beliefs not the other way around. Many birds will fly up to around 500 miles but it takes a special bird to clock in a tough 600 mile plus race.
You are the one making stupid statements because you are arrogant enough to rubbish a whole countries National race results while bragging about your own decent but nothing special middle distance results. Anyone would think you were trying to sell pigeons.
BOB, IF YOU DON’T USE THE EYE, *** WHY DO YOU HAVE ONE POSTED AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE OR STRING.??????
AND IT’S NOT EVEN ONE OF YOUR OWN BIRDS.???? BIRD BELONGS TO NICK BRENT FROM AUSTRALIA.!!!!!!
Strange thing,after a good performance a dull eye becomes full of hidden mysteries suddenly.Signs and deep wonders never noticed before until the bird performed.What a joke!
lol
I totally agree with everything he said
down to earth comment, well said
I don’t believe in eye sign as it has been proved that the basket and racing will tell you what is and isn’t a good bird, by breeding best to best you will improve the birds and no colour of eye will make a difference.
pete. diss, uk
The basket will tell you which birds are good racers, thats all.
Yes , you are correct the basket will tell you which birds are your best racers. So , NOW I GO TO MY BREEDING RECORDS AND FIND WHO ARE MY BEST BREEDERS.
It is the only “sure ” way to more ahead in this sport – the race results don’t lie and the breeding records complete the process.
If anyone thinks they are going to improve and select birds by “eye sign” instead of proving and testing your birds in competition your in for a lot of disappointment along with wasted time and money. But it is your time and money and you can spend it anyway you want.
When you are trying to breed birds to win at very long distances they are usually 3 years old before they show their potential. I am talking 600 miles and more. Our shortest race is 175 miles and I need to have a good Idea of what my best breeders are quicker than 3 years later for obvious reasons. eyesign works for” me” with these super long distance pigeons by highlighting birds that will probably breed well long before I risk losing them to hawks or plain bad luck. The birds with racers eyes will do the racing and if they race well will be crossed with a proven breeder of winners to keep the Working spirit in the DNA of the offspring.
Each to their own, this season I have bred 40 late breds from these birds and taken with me the ones I wanted with the great eyesign its no suprise that all the best racers bar one have super eyes and even the odd one out has a decent eye if mated to a hen that has the strengths he lacks.
These birds will win at short races around 350 miles but exel when going further than 500 miles. That being said I also agree that good racers should be tried in the stock loft but I like to pair them to a bird who has proven to breed winners with a super eyesign. By the way you have great results at the Middle distance and I do not knock you or your way of selection but our birds and race styles are completely different.
Remember that most birds can win at up to 450 miles if fit and healthy and motivated, not many come home from 600 miles or more whatever shape they are in or how well they are motivated, especially in 38 degrees centigrade heat. Horses for courses they correctly say.
Good eavening again, i just finished reading the coment from CVS and really liked it, and since i am into eye sign i was hopping you could help me out understand this more deeply. You can reed my coment if you may its next to yours. My e-mail is [email protected], please take this serious i do want to lern more. thanks John. Fontes
I will try to impart to you what I believe to be the truth as I have learned over the past 45 years. That does not mean I can explain it in a way which allows you to grasp my “concepts”. But I will try! I am happy to help you all I can.
I am not here to convince the unteachable or to preach to the chior, but rather to offer insite to those who have an interest in learning all they can to move them closer to their goal.
I am also happy to let those who thumb their nose at even the possibility there is something to this own their opinion…I know these are the same people who are out to buy the next latest and greatest “strain” to come along, spending their dollars to buy new birds to get back to the top of the race sheet.
Hi ;
It has been 10 years since I wrote this article. Therefore , I am now 67 years old and have not changed my beliefs about the information provided in the article.
I would like to see the “eye sign believers ” published their race results to back up their theories .
You can check our results at http://www.priscoracingpigeonloft.com and the CJC COMBINE WEBSITE.
We fly under the loft name “BROTHERS LOFT”.
Coming from a family of pigeon flyers,I have been around pigeons all my life…My dad said he never liked a pigeon with a open slit in it`s mouth…Some guys I know swear by you have to have a open slit bird to win races…I still wonder who is right…My dad won alot in New York…Won the BCA with a little BCH back in the 1960`s…I know she had a closed slit…I know she had a real colorfull eye…My dad didn`t care what color eye,as long as it was very colorfull…A great Italian man I met in 1983,who helped me get started with racing pigeons,did NOT beleive in eyesign…After a few months of reading about eyesign,I asked my good friend Joe,to let me handle/see his long distance pigeons….He had a wonderfull RC family of Sions…..Well,one birds after another was given to me to look at…They all felt the same,had the same size,had the same wing,and the same GREAT eyesign…I said to my friend,”I thought you didn`t beleive in eyesign” ?? He said I don`t,but I beleive in the “BASKET”…The basket will tell me who has the best wing,body,eyesign,and “BRAINS” to find it`s way home…Since then,I let the “Basket” tell me what birds to keep….I must admit,I have never handled/looked at a good pigeon that did not have what I call VG eyes/eyesign…In combination with all the other traits that are wanted in a good pigeon,the eye has some merit in helping the bird home in races…I have purchased YB`s that have been top 50 AU Convention race winners,and also top 25 One loft race winners…They may have different bodies,and some difference in wing structure,but good eyesign is apperent in all the birds,no matter what color….
I have replied to your post about results and I think they are outstanding for 2 years in charge in a new country. As I say if you are interested you can follow my blog on the afddress I left you in a previous post for my 1st proper season here with my own 2012 latebred birds bred from matched eyesign pairs beginning racing in the Algarve Portugal in March 2013.
Bob Prisco I have analyzed your results over 4 years from 2008 to 2012 and have come to the conclusion that you do indeed have a good team of Sprint and middle distance pigeons your results show this as in races from 100 to 200 miles from your results in the top 20 in the combine or fed are 45% from 200 to 300 miles you score 40% of the time and from 400 to 480 miles the percentage drops to just under 15% so there you go.
I have some birds in the UK in Blackpool still and they race against and around the same birdage as your Combine we call it the Federation in the UK and these birds are Staf van reets. When I was flying there they counted the top 20 birds in the Fed same as your Combine and the strike rates are about the same as your birds.
We entered some of these birds 12 in all against 1000 other peoples pigeons in the race at the Somerset OLR in the UK 2012 under the name Mistral Marauders and they flew very well making top 10 in every hotspot race coming 2nd and 7th in the semi final before fluffing their lines in the final best bird coming 75th i think but that was a funny race as its over the English Channel and not many Ybs crossed on the day.
We will try to win again in 2013 but they flew great in 2012.
In the Algarve in these short races 175 miles to 350 miles between 5 and 7 thousand birds go sometimes more and as I say I have bred a team of latebreds that will fly as yearlings in 2013 in these races, most are bred for 500 miles plus in the future but they should do well over the shorter trips although their strike rate percentage will go up the further and harder the races are. I will post the results of these pigeons on www,algarvepigeonracing.webs.com for your pleasure.
Never really analyzed our results , we have 10 YB. RACES A YEAR IN “CJC” at distances 100-300 miles. We have 10 OB. RACES A YEAR of which we only have one 400 mile race and one 500 mile race. If my math is correct , 18 of 20 races are from 100-300 miles ( 90 %) 2 of 20 are at distances 400-500 ( 10 %).
Our birds have always been able to fly 100-500 and when asked they are excellent at 600 miles.
But we can only fly the races that are scheduled. Just maybe our % is lower at 400-500 because we only have 2 races a year. DO THE MATH and see what you come up with.
Bob Prisco. You fly a card that is a middle distance card however you want to dress it up, your furthest race is 485 miles end of story. Your card almost mirrors the card in the West coast Federation in the UK England my home town.
I have some birds there managed by my race partner Ken Cardwell, that we enter in the One loft races that we have just begun to send to again in the UK where the Ybs fly over water. from Belgium back to England around 270 miles since I am living here in Portugal Ken Cardwell races them.
The club and Fed results for these birds Staf Van reets brought to the UK from Staf himself in Belgium by my Friend and once club mate Bert Hession many years ago and culivated by us are almost the same as your stats against the same birdage etc although with a few more actual wins and a few races where 3 or 4 made top 20 in the same race.
These birds also bred the Acebird and car winner in the Europa One Loft race in 2005 or 2006 under the name the Westcoasters
They are sprint middle distance birds like your own because that is the results you have got with them, there is nothing wrong with that if that is what you want to win.
You cannot make claims that “when asked they will do 600 miles” as that is just hearsay. The best breeders of our colony of Staf van Reets ALL have fantastic Eyesign and every now and again they breed a great racer with fantastic EYESIGN who goes in the stock loft.
Now this is a fact in our loft in the UK and it is not really open for discussion, if you check out the results in the Somerset OLR 2012 under the name of Mistral Marauders you will see they flew great.
Our loft in the UK does not have a favourable drop either so the results are against the odds.
If your birds race only as far as 485miles and you breed best to best you will eventually end up with a family of birds that exel at that trip. That is what you have and there is nothing wrong with that if that is the distance you are happy to do well at as most modern pigeons will fly to 480 miles nowadays
As regards your other statement that people do not pick animals to breed from or to race from by looking at physical conformation, why do you think they parade horses and Bulls in around a ring so that the potential buyer can get a look at the way they move?
Whether you believe it or like it or not, Eyesign is a valuable tool to unearth a future potential Golden Breeder from a family of very good hard working birds. This is all I ever claimed.
if you take the time to read my posts properly instead of picking out little bits and twisting what I said. We will have to agree to disagree but what you say is not the Final word, its your belief and what I write is my belief.
I am not knocking you because you breed best to best thats your choice but have you ever wondered why loads of great racers only ever breed crap or average pigeons and every now and then you breed one from your young widowhood cocks and you lose that bird racing as he wasnt very good and then its son or daughter is a great racer? Good luck for the coming 2013 season.
I did say they will fly 600 miles (573 for us ) ,you say it is here say . Go to our site
and look at the race sheet “GARDEN STATE OPEN 600 MILES”
Look at the 1st , 3rd and 9th bird . I don’t know if that is “here say”. If you want I can show you a few more , but is it necessary. Everything I said , I have backed up with race results you can look at and judge for yourself.
Bob you have not clocked a pigeon at 600 miles and you have not clocked a pigeon in the top 20 of your fed or Combine at further than 485 miles for the last 4 years according to your results you have posted I can only comment on that.
Now you may well have clocked on one or two occasions in the past at 570 miles but if the card you fly is 90% sprint and middle dstance 100 to 300 miles and if you keep breeding best to best it stands to reason that you will end up with a family of birds that excel at these shorter distances. Charles Darwin proved that in 1859. Funnily enough he used to experiment with pigeons.
Once again I am not knocking your results as they are very good and I hope they continue to be good as I hope mine will be to carry on the success from the UK in to this new country I have settled in Portugal. Eyesign will be one of the main tools used here to select future breeders and I will post the results of the birds bred from Eyesign pairs on my website mentioned in previous posts starting in March 2013.
I will be trying to win in these shorter races in 2013 as my Champion Grande Fundo or Great long distance birds are now in a stock loft so I have nothing for the distance this year as I have moved area and lofts, I will also be having another crack at winning the Somerset OLR in the UK in 2013 after our lofts Mistral Marauders fantastic performances from our birds bred from our Eyesign stock in 2012 (results from Somerset OLR address in a previous post)
my new race partner here in the Algarve has a few we can try this year in the 500 mile races but instead of Knowing I was going to clock a good one I will only be hoping to. I have some birds that are like Arnie in the Terminator (old breed Pol Bostyns and Marc Roosens I have traced the family trees back to 1985). they just will not stop coming! but they are now stock. When 99% of birds cry enough these birds carry on and Clock in and they have proven it to me in my first 2 years here.
Their Eyesign says they will breed winners Time will tell hopefully this year they will show their potential and in 2015 I will find out when they go to Barcelona and Dax in near impossible conditions for 99% of real long distance pigeons, flying to where we live in the Algarve covering 750 to 800 miles in reality instead of the 620 miles on the straight measure.
The heat here is a killer and god knows why they have the longest races of the year in June at the start of the heatwaves through Spain and into Portugal where the birds must fly in 33 Degrees Centigrade to mid 40 degree Centigrade, but I do not make the rules.
Once again all the best for the coming season and I hope you have another good one.
Bob I incorrectly said I have Marc Roosens Pigeons When I should Have said I had Pros Roosens pigeons. Lol.