THE RACING PIGEON 29 MARCH 2024
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race them until they are seven or eight years old because they would be 10 years old before their ability is fully revealed and the bird is getting toward the end of their breeding life. So you will see from this that it’s very evident that Wulfrum and Hugo buy into the ‘Racing is silver, breeding is gold’ ethos. Another topic that I wanted to put to Hugo was, why do long distance birds tend to fail to win good prizes at the shorter distance races. Does he think that the marathon bird is more one paced? Hugo smiled and replied, “I think it is more to do with motivation. The short and middle distance enthusiasts tend to try and get the best Some 2012 Results Pau National (15 birds sent) 28th, 38th, 39th, 41t, 61st, 88th, 100th, 113th, 140th, 237th, 281st National Hens (12 birds sent) 16th, 20th, 21st, 23rd, 32nd, 43rd, 72nd, 130th International 8,382 birds (15 birds sent) 63rd, 90th, 91st, 98th, 187th, 351t, 423rd, 489th, 640th, 1,572nd International Hens 2,032 birds (12 birds sent) 25th, 31st, 32nd, 36th, 56th, 99th, 179th, 457th Barcelona National 6th, 12th, 125th, 144th, 219th, 324th, 427th St Vincent National 57th, 58th, 76th, 86th, 96th, 170th, 194th, 195th, 249th, 252nd, 283rd National Hens 23rd, 37th, 39th, 71st, 78th, 103rd Marseille National 7th, 10th, 27th, 29th, 115th, 132nd, 174th, 179th, 196th, 266th, 337th, 357th, 384th, 422nd National Hens 2nd, 14th, 70th, 73rd, 114th, 146th, 159th, 169th Narbonne National 12th, 35th, 51st, 109th, 142nd, 170th, 180th, 189th, 197th, 205th, 275th, 279th, 303rd, 311th, 314th, 329th, 362nd
Inside one of the sections, it’s feeding time.
countered by saying, “We should send him he is obviously fit” The bird was duly entered in the 500 mile plus race. The result…he was their first arrival and won a very early National prize. Hugo chuckled, “So perhaps the feed is not so important as many of us believe?’’. With regards to young birds which are incidentally never put on the ‘Darkening system’. They are raced but never judged on their results. As the flights are purely flown on an educational basis. All they must do is be consistent to remain for the following year. The birds that are inconsistent or regularly spend nights out are removed. The yearlings though are worked hard and expected to perform or they are ‘culled’ regardless of pedigree. As a general ‘rule of thumb’ the old birds are retired after they have successfully achieved three good results in the International races. The thinking here is that the sooner they are moved to the breeding loft the better because they want to breed from them while they are still relatively young because it’s nice to find out the superior producers while they are still in their prime. What a pity it would be to
out of their birds by motivation and jealousy which excites the bird to give their best efforts. The long distance racer doesn’t
do this as they treat the shorter races purely as training flights and so there is little by way of motivational inducement attempted on their birds as they want them to remain calm whilst in transit as the distance increases the long distance bird comes into its own”. I have asked Hugo how he motivates his birds for the big International races? And once again a big grin appeared on his face. “We believe that motivation is of very little importance in the long races. In fact it can actually have a detrimental effect!” I pressed a little more as I wanted an explanation to what Hugo had just said. Once again Hugo smiled before he continued, “Mike it is very simple. When the bird is entered in a long distance race the stay in the basket can last for several days. Barcelona in particular often requires a confinement of more than a
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