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Good or 'good?' (12-03-2021)

I read much less about pigeons than I used to and that has everything to do with becoming more critical as you get older. There was a time when attractively presented reports were sifted through, things were underlined, but when you saw the results at the end you thought: "Not better? How could I put my time into that? Sometimes they were even worse than average. And the report was only made because it concerned a big name, someone who was going to sell, for a friend, or someone who had scored an important victory but otherwise played badly.

 DIFFERENT
Today I do it differently. When I see a report, I first look at the results achieved before I spend more time on it. If it is not stated with how many pigeons were raced and how many prizes were won, it is ignored. If the flight results appeal to the imagination, and unfortunately that does not happen too often, only then do I start to read.

For example, the national winners of Sint Vincent and Dax used to receive extensive attention, even though it was otherwise poorly played. But the feeding method and guidance of someone who raced poorly do not interest me, even though it may include a 1st National.

 SUPER?

  1. In the media you sometimes see results with almost unreal good prize percentages. Till you have a closer look and see it was played 1 on 2 without explicitly stating this. How you can see that? For example, if there is a 120th prize against 300 pigeons. Or a 323rd prize with an entry of 800 birds.

Such prizes mean nothing of course.  

         2. Do you see further results that are almost extraterrestrial? Notice where such a man lives. That will rarely be in a 'pigeon nest'. Inspiration for this article I found in a report I saw to-day with results that were unbelievable. 

- 1st and 4th against 704 pigeons with 2 entered.

- 3rd and 7th against 1,067 pigeons with 2 entered.

- 1st and 2nd against 636 olds with 2 entered.

- 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 62 with 6 in the race. The man has exactly 1 breeding couple and only 6 racers, so you can read. That only increases the admiration. So all respect and sincere congratulations on the titles achieved. But what almost always stands out when reading such achievements? The ‘champion’ lives in a region that is not very well known for its strong game. On the contrary. You will not see the names of his club mates in the result sheets of the nationals. This man also lives somewhere near the French border. When races are finished elsewhere in 8 minutes, where he lives they last up to 20 minutes on the same day from the same release.

That is why the question arises whether these results mentioned before would also be achieved if such a ‘superman’ lived in the centre of Antwerp.

PEDIGREES
The meaning of pedigrees is relative and yet most find it interesting. I am no different and look at that too. Especially when those pedigrees do not refer to auctions but to real superbirds. And what struck me repeatedly? Of such a super both parents were imports. Famous ‘Harry’ (Hooymans) is just one of the many examples. By the way, Mattens and Sissi were the same story.

Comb Maegh A S, that is me and my partner. I had only 7 birds in the race and the 7th bird won 30th prize. When all my birds were home two third of th participaters did not even have one bird. And I did not owe that result to poor competition, on the contrary.