# South African Million $ Pigeon Race 2013 was today



## Kastle Loft (May 7, 2008)

Congrats to Don and Judy Hart of Florida, the first U.S. bird and 7th overall. Ganus seems to have faired pretty well, too.

According to their results posted online, they only have 392 birds arrived out nearly 2800 sent. I think they started the whole venture with 6 or 7 thousand birds this year. I sincerely hope that's a mistake and more birds than that are home.


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## GrizzleMan (Jan 17, 2013)

I see the results. It looks like Germany had a good number of teams and did well.


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## Crazy Pete (Nov 13, 2008)

Ganus did Ok, I wouldn't call 9 birds out of 52 that good. His first 2 birds came in before mine, so I'm probably just jealous, I'm am thrilled to have a bird home and in the money, just not enough money. Did any one else have birds in the race?
Dave


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

How many places do they pay Crazy?


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## Crazy Pete (Nov 13, 2008)

They pay to 300, our bird came in at 126.
Dave


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## Crazy Pete (Nov 13, 2008)

Ganus sent 34 paid birds at $1000 each and got 9 birds back, but only 7 in the money and won a total of $7500. Having 7 birds in the money you can bet he will be selling siblings of them for big bucks.
Dave


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## GrizzleMan (Jan 17, 2013)

Is it worth it for a typical guy to send 3 birds in it


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## Crazy Pete (Nov 13, 2008)

I think so, It's really just a crap shoot on who wins and if you do the pay out for 1st is $200,000. We didn't win much just enough to have a free teem this year.
Dave


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

Crazy Pete said:


> Ganus sent 34 paid birds at $1000 each and got 9 birds back, but only 7 in the money and won a total of $7500. Having 7 birds in the money you can bet he will be selling siblings of them for big bucks.
> Dave


Only Ganus can invest $34,000 + in the race win $75000 for a net loss of $26,500 and make money. There are people who will spend $2000 on the 200th place bird and think it was the winner. One of these days he might win the race. That will be a payday for him. Some guys can make bad investments and still come out smelling like a rose.


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

Kastle Loft said:


> Congrats to Don and Judy Hart of Florida, the first U.S. bird and 7th overall. Ganus seems to have faired pretty well, too.
> 
> According to their results posted online, they only have 392 birds arrived out nearly 2800 sent. I think they started the whole venture with 6 or 7 thousand birds this year. I sincerely hope that's a mistake and more birds than that are home.


I bet there are some fat birds of prey in South Africa. Where do all those birds go? Pigeons being prey animals, could change the local ecosystem. Making it harder year to year with an increase in birds of prey. The dark side of our sport.


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## NZ Pigeon (Nov 12, 2011)

hillfamilyloft said:


> Only Ganus can invest $34,000 + in the race win $75000 for a net loss of $26,500 and make money. There are people who will spend $2000 on the 200th place bird and think it was the winner. One of these days he might win the race. That will be a payday for him. *Some guys can make bad investments and still come out smelling like a rose*.


How can it have been a bad investment then? I hate that figure of speech, Too much of an oximoron to make any sense at all.


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## kingdizon (Jan 14, 2013)

hillfamilyloft said:


> I bet there are some fat birds of prey in South Africa. Where do all those birds go? Pigeons being prey animals, could change the local ecosystem. Making it harder year to year with an increase in birds of prey. The dark side of our sport.


poor lil pigeons. Im sticking to bay area races....
But this race is epic. Such a devastating loss in numbers though. The african predators musta thought it was xmas. Dang...I couldnt do that to my birds...im too personal with em..(maybe cuz I only have like 5)


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## kingdizon (Jan 14, 2013)

NZ Pigeon said:


> How can it have been a bad investment then? I hate that figure of speech, Too much of an oximoron to make any sense at all.


Bad investment. You have to MAKE money on the initial investment for it to be a good one. Any investment where you lose money is a bad one. Like buying 10 $5 lotto scratchers and only winning like $10. But im assuming the man who spent $34gs on the race entries can make it bacl outsidw the initial race by selling the surviving birds offspring for a lot(id bet in the thousands)...probably for years.


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## Kastle Loft (May 7, 2008)

Hey Crazy Pete, congrats on your good showing. I didn't realize Ganus had sent so many! That's some crazy money to sink into a race. But I guess he knows what he's doing. It fooled me 'cause I didn't bother to see how many he sent. I would have never imagined someone would send 34 birds. But you're right, he'll make it up easily by selling babies for years to come. 

I can't wait to read Nemelka's annual report he writes up. He always has some good insights. I sure would like to know why the Germans do so well consistently.

Looks like they are reporting about 1500 birds back now.


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## SouthTown Racers (Jan 14, 2009)

Kastle Loft said:


> Hey Crazy Pete, congrats on your good showing. I didn't realize Ganus had sent so many! That's some crazy money to sink into a race. But I guess he knows what he's doing. It fooled me 'cause I didn't bother to see how many he sent. I would have never imagined someone would send 34 birds. But you're right, he'll make it up easily by selling babies for years to come.
> 
> I can't wait to read Nemelka's annual report he writes up. He always has some good insights. I sure would like to know why the Germans do so well consistently.
> 
> Looks like they are reporting about 1500 birds back now.


David, do you have any idea what the weather was like on the race course yesterday? I was very suprized that only 300 + birds made it on the day.


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## Kastle Loft (May 7, 2008)

According to their site:

Fine and clear	Wind Little to none	19 °C (66.2 °F)	Clear

I saw their release video and it looked perfect.

Here is a link to the release video (I think)

http://new.livestream.com/accounts/1724627/events/1848858/videos/10676290

.


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## LOFT 532 (Oct 30, 2012)

It soon changed to a tail wind.


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## GrizzleMan (Jan 17, 2013)

Can you get your birds back after the race.......

Also I would take the cash if I could but they say you win the car.... I would want a truck...


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## Granny Smith (Jul 16, 2011)

The site is now showing well over 1000 clocked.


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## LOFT 532 (Oct 30, 2012)

What the story with all the DQ's?


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## First To Hatch (Jul 19, 2009)

I'm honestly impressed with the number of American birds up there, and they say the best are in Europe!!! I think this race determines good pigeons since there isn't 100+ birds on the drop like some OLR in the US


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## bbcdon (Oct 16, 2007)

GrizzleMan said:


> Can you get your birds back after the race.......
> 
> Also I would take the cash if I could but they say you win the car.... I would want a truck...


All of the birds are auctioned off after the race, but yes, you can buy your bird back. But, it can talk as long as 2 years to get them back!!!


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

If you can't beat them buy them.
http://www.pipa.be/en/newsandarticl...erage-final-update-auction-information-photos


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## irishsyndicate (Sep 19, 2008)

1st pigeon: sold to Mike Ganus for R150,000 (10 R(and) = approx. 1 euro)
2nd pigeon: sold to Mike Ganus for R75,000 Rand


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## Crazy Pete (Nov 13, 2008)

Thanks Kastle
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.521776494511745.109588.517466908276037&type=1
This is a pic of the winning bird, I think most Americans send the wrong kind of bird to the race. I've watched a lot of auctions and all I usually see is speed or middle distance birds. I really like this wing some where down the line there has to be some Fabry or Sion, this bird has a big step in it.
I like the idea that it takes so long to ship the birds back, last year we bought 2 birds from their auction and let the breed the birds for us, I'm cheep it coast almost $300 to ship birds to SA. We paid 400 Rand for 1 bird and only 150 for the other, last year 100 rand = $12.70, this year it's only $11.31. And I have the same plan for this year.
The DQ birds are either birds that came back from a previous race or a not paid for bird.
Dave


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## Josepe (Jan 10, 2011)

Yea Ganus's Deep Pockets will get fuller in the future now selling young from those birds.I wonder how many of the past winners have went on to actually produce big winners?


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## Josepe (Jan 10, 2011)

Yea a big step in the wing for sure.


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## Alamo (Nov 22, 2008)

It almost looks like the winning bird has 11 primary flights...Not sure,because they are not spreading the last 4 that much....Alamo


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## raftree3 (Oct 16, 2010)

Dave: Am I getting this right? You guys bought two birds for about $100 and left them with someone who raised the birds you entered this year? So you basically had no shipping cost, just the entry . I suppose whoever kept the birds charged you something. Sounds like a smart way to enjoy the race I'd think.


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## Crazy Pete (Nov 13, 2008)

The team from South Africa build individual breeding pens for the people that bought birds and raised them for us, and they didn't charge us any thing. Now I'm hooked we are going to do that again this year, plus we are going to send a team.
Dave


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## Kastle Loft (May 7, 2008)

Crazy Pete said:


> The team from South Africa build individual breeding pens for the people that bought birds and raised them for us, and they didn't charge us any thing. Now I'm hooked we are going to do that again this year, plus we are going to send a team.
> Dave


So what kind of birds do you like to send? Middle distance with a touch of long distance? I have some birds in my loft with similar blood to what has done well there in the past. One of these days when I grow up I might have enough money to blow on such an adventure and try out some of my own birds. Need more time testing, though. I'm sure it's a blast to watch when you have something in the mix.


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## Crazy Pete (Nov 13, 2008)

I'm going to send more of a long distance 3/4 Fabry 1/4 speed and middle. All of you here have me interested in OLR's so I have tried to breed some thing I think could compete. I hope having a little speed and middle distance will make my birds mature faster.

The thing I like about this race is that they are a lot older, the main race is the end of January or the first part of February.

My Fabry's are the old stuff that we got back in the 60's and kept them as pure as we could.
Dave


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## GrizzleMan (Jan 17, 2013)

W*hy would you have to buy your own bird back after the race..... Makes no sense at all........*


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## Crazy Pete (Nov 13, 2008)

It's all about the $$ the people that put the race on are greedy. But really why would you want the bird back, all you end up with is another prisoner and close to $200 in shipping. You have the parents just breed another to take it's place. With some luck your bird does real good and sells for $30 thousand and you get half the money.
Dave


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## GrizzleMan (Jan 17, 2013)

So say your bird sells for $30 thousand because it did well you say you only get 15 grand the other money *lands* in other hands......


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## NZ Pigeon (Nov 12, 2011)

kingdizon said:


> Bad investment. You have to MAKE money on the initial investment for it to be a good one. Any investment where you lose money is a bad one. Like buying 10 $5 lotto scratchers and only winning like $10. But im assuming the man who spent $34gs on the race entries can make it bacl outsidw the initial race by selling the surviving birds offspring for a lot(id bet in the thousands)...probably for years.



But if the flow on effect from this investment is sales of the siblings of the race birds at a high price then the investment paid off long term.

I have invested in a property which I will probably loose 20 K on when I sell it, But after all these years paying the mortgage I will have an asset worth 315,000, Was that a bad investment, IMO, No as if I did not make it I would have easily spend that money on rent, So to term an investment "bad" purely based on the INITIAL return is IMO not very good business sense.


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## triple7loft (Nov 22, 2012)

Might be several years before he can make money over here cause there has been avian influenza outbreak in several flocks of farm ostriches so countries won't take avian species from South Africa. Going on 2 years now from what I have read..........



Josepe said:


> Yea Ganus's Deep Pockets will get fuller in the future now selling young from those birds.I wonder how many of the past winners have went on to actually produce big winners?


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## franciscreek (Oct 21, 2010)

I'd be happy with the 15 grand


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## Revolution Lofts (Aug 7, 2008)

Another thing with investing such a large amount of money and larger teams in these one loft races is that the ability to win some money is great. If you send 35 birds, you have 35 chances of winning 1st place which. Or, you have 35 chances of coming in the top 5 or top 10 at least. If you send truly "good" birds, your chances may increase even more.

So for the guys with money, sending birds to OLR's is a good investment. Not only do they get multiple chances to win, but they may also sell the birds after the race for big money or their babies for years to come. 

With some good advertising, or well "smart" advertising, one can make a lot of money selling babies off of winners. Hence CBS, GFL, etc.


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## korge7 (Nov 21, 2010)

*Samdpr*

Mike G, Bought the 1st and 2nd place. For a total of 22,000 to 25,000. And I think people will pay 3,000 per baby.


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## bbcdon (Oct 16, 2007)

GrizzleMan said:


> W*hy would you have to buy your own bird back after the race..... Makes no sense at all........*


Look at it this way.....if your bird won, wouldn't you want it back to put in the breeder pen!!! Also, the breeder gets half of the money from the auction proceeds.


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## bbcdon (Oct 16, 2007)

triple7loft said:


> Might be several years before he can make money over here cause there has been avian influenza outbreak in several flocks of farm ostriches so countries won't take avian species from South Africa. Going on 2 years now from what I have read..........


You are exactly rite! David Clausing is still waiting to get a bird of his he bought back in the auction, and that was over 2 years ago!!!


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## Xueoo (Nov 20, 2009)

The better buy was the 3rd place bird. Maybe Ganus is buying for advertisement purposes. Best buy vs best investment. Best investment always win out when you're in business.


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## Xueoo (Nov 20, 2009)

Wonder if Ganus breeds thoroughbreds, or, any of the europeans? Sorry, had to throw that one in there...


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## irishsyndicate (Sep 19, 2008)

Xueoo said:


> The better buy was the 3rd place bird. Maybe Ganus is buying for advertisement purposes. Best buy vs best investment. Best investment always win out when you're in business.


The guys that owned the 3rd place was going to pay big bucks to buy it back, Mike didn't have a chance - they got up to R280,000. Plus for marketing purposes, who is going to remember that 3 birds were on the drop.

We ALL want to win the MDPR. Mike (like everyone of the big name $millionaire breeders) wants to win the MDPR really bad and is pulling out all the stops. In the process if that means buying the winners, entering 100 birds like Koopman, selling a few babies off the winners (if he will ever see those birds in the USA due to quarantine issues), have Zandy breed a few babies in SA and put them back in 2014 race - it all achieves his purpose as a shrewd businessman.

However the odds are stacked against him - because Mark Kitchenbrand has the most exclusive list of winners from the history of the MDPR - and none of the offspring have won anything significant there (for the $1 million + USD that he invested in buying the winners over the years).

This race is turning out to be a huge gambling event, because no single genetics is dominating this race. Klaas is the most successful breeder at this event - but this year's bird was not related to any of the previous two winners he bred. Koopman enters 100+ birds and had a poor showing by birds he entered himself. Hooymans enters ~100 birds this year and had some great runs in the Hot Spots. Ganus enters somewhere between 60-100 birds (nobody knows for sure) - and had his best showing in this race so far at the Finals with his "Mona Lisa" stuff.

So who are the winners - IMHO, the winners are still Koopman, Klaas, Ganus, and Hooyman, etc - because they will sell tons of birds due to this event and several thousands of birds (down from their bloodlines) are entered in this race every year - and guess what? One of these birds will eventually win the MDPR .... 

But the real winner is the MDPR - yep - with 7,000 + entries at $1,000 per entry and paying out $200,000 for 1st place - that's a lot of money not making it to the prize payout ! Sure, throw in 5 cars at $15,000 a piece - still the winner is the MDPR ! Plus they get 50% of the auction proceeds AFTER expenses.

But with such excitement, who can resist? I still will send a team or two and take my chances - and if they lose my bird before the main event, I get to play again the next year for free. It is really one of the greatest pigeon events in OLR.


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## SmithFamilyLoft (Nov 22, 2004)

Crazy Pete said:


> It's all about the $$ the people that put the race on are *greedy.* But really why would you want the bird back, all you end up with is another prisoner and close to $200 in shipping. You have the parents *just breed another to take it's place.* With some luck your bird does real good and sells for $30 thousand and you get half the money.
> Dave


Greed is good !! It's what makes millions of people get up and go to work in the morning. I'm willing to do it, even though between, federal, state, local and city taxes about half of it goes in taxes. Of course, someone is always free to set up a Million Dollar type race in the USA and do it for free !

I wish it was as easy as just simply having a pair produce a 1st Place One Loft winner, round after round, season after season. Where in the world does such a pair exist ?


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## Crazy Pete (Nov 13, 2008)

bbcdon said:


> Look at it this way.....if your bird won, wouldn't you want it back to put in the breeder pen!!! Also, the breeder gets half of the money from the auction proceeds.



If you were Ganus, or CBS you would want the bird back, and you would make every penny back on your investment. I don't sell birds, I would rather get half the money from the auction.
Dave


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## bob prisco (Apr 26, 2012)

*South Africa 2013*

Germany had 78 birds in the money

USA had 39 birds in the money

United Kingdom had 26 birds in the money

South Africa had 25 birds in the money

Netherlands had 25 birds in the money

Belgium had 18 birds in the money

Kuwait had 14 birds in the money

Denmark had 13 birds in the money

Czech Republic had 12 birds in the money

Germany sent 682 birds to race with 78 in money for 11% of total birds in top 300.

USA sent 462 birds to race with 39 in money for 8% of total birds in top 300

United Kingdom sent 233 birds to race with 26 in money for 11% of total birds in top 300

South Africa sent 303 birds to race with 25 in the money for 8% of total birds in top 300

Netherlands sent 202 birds to race with 25 in the money for 12% of total birds in top 300

Belgium sent 186 birds to race with 18 in the money for almost 10 % (.096) of total birds in top 300

TOP 100 BIRDS ACCORDING TO AUCTION SHEET :

78 WERE HENS 22 COCKS
54 WERE BB , 44 BC , 1 RED , 1 BLACK
54 HAD PEARL EYES , 44 YELLOW


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## triple7loft (Nov 22, 2012)

The guys buying the winning birds are gambling that the quarantine will be over some time soon.... So they might get them back to the USA........


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## Crazy Pete (Nov 13, 2008)

Usually the top birds get sent back, last year Frank McLaughlin gets them back right away.
Dave


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

Warren when are you going to enter the SAMDR? Those Ludos might just be the ticket.


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## SmithFamilyLoft (Nov 22, 2004)

hillfamilyloft said:


> Warren when are you going to enter the SAMDR? Those Ludos might just be the ticket.


 When I run out of good *American* events, then perhaps I shall.  Right now, there are plenty events right in my own back yard, and the organizers speak English too boot !


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## ERIC K (Mar 29, 2010)

SmithFamilyLoft said:


> When I run out of good *American* events, then perhaps I shall.  Right now, there are plenty events right in my own back yard, and the organizers speak English too boot !


You forgot to say , " and my birds don't die while they wait in quarantine over there before they ever get to the loft for training"


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## Crazy Pete (Nov 13, 2008)

I never said greed was not good, if not for people like Ganus there would be a lot less quality bird around. I'm just not greedy.
Dave


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## Roger Siemens (Nov 12, 2011)

it would be nice if Canada was in the money, birds. There is only few big races here that i know of, to bad really because we have such a huge open country, ready for world class birds. just think it would be nice to fly alot of birds across the prairies. i like the idea of hosting something big. the birds would have to be different than South Africa, the weather is not the same.


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## SmithFamilyLoft (Nov 22, 2004)

ERIC K said:


> You forgot to say , " and my birds don't die while they wait in quarantine over there before they ever get to the loft for training"


 You are right, there are additional risks and expenses in shipping to a foreign event. Every time I have gotten a bird out of quarantine when importing, the birds are almost always sick. If one has ever visited such a place, you would understand why. Then there is the issue of expense vs possible reward. Looks like with various expenses and entry fees, etc that one will end up with somewhere in neighborhood of $1300 for a single entry, with a 1 chance in 7000 to win US $200k. A home grown World Ace Challenge, in 2012 there were 163 paid entries and a $30k prize. Odds just seem better, even if the prizes are smaller. http://worldacechallenge.com/race_entries/prize_money.php so American events just seem a better value.


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## irishsyndicate (Sep 19, 2008)

The darker side of the MDPR:
Birds sent to the race: 7800+
Initial Loft Listing: 5428
Pre-Training Flight Basket List: 4814

That means 2400+ birds were either killed/died/lost in quarantine.
That means 3000+ birds were unaccounted for prior to the 25 mile training flight.

WOW !!!!!!!!!! That's 38% of the birds did not survive quarantine/settling/orientation !






bob prisco said:


> Germany ad 78 birds in the money
> 
> USA had 39 birds in the money
> 
> ...


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## Xueoo (Nov 20, 2009)

It's not so much about winning as it is about an event, and, worldwide competition. Compare it to a club race and one loft race where you compete outside of your boundry. I would think this smdr race would be the next step in the evolution of a youngbird specialist's loft.


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## Revolution Lofts (Aug 7, 2008)

irishsyndicate said:


> The darker side of the MDPR:
> Birds sent to the race: 7800+
> Initial Loft Listing: 5428
> Pre-Training Flight Basket List: 4814
> ...



That says a lot about why people sell their birds for thousands of dollars and say its worth that price because it came 24th against 3000 pigeons. Well you don't know the details about the race but most of those birds may have been lost earlier on, and the bird was only competing against like 600 birds. Good way for them to advertise.


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## umaximus (Nov 12, 2010)

Thanks for the stats. Love it!



bob prisco said:


> Germany had 78 birds in the money
> 
> USA had 39 birds in the money
> 
> ...


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## umaximus (Nov 12, 2010)

irishsyndicate said:


> The darker side of the MDPR:
> Birds sent to the race: 7800+
> Initial Loft Listing: 5428
> Pre-Training Flight Basket List: 4814
> ...


Wow. I rather handle the birds myself or send to a one loft knowing they at least make it to the races.


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