HOLDOVERS
by Jim Emerton
What a problem these are for all the people involved. With good controlled environments in the vehicles, some birds lose form, others hit form, and many birds are fine to race after at least 7 days in the containers. You time or you don’t. I write this with our birds held at Tarbes NFC, and that is where they should stay in my singular opinion. The key race point is Tarbes now - I liked Pau. Less than Tarbes is too short for a marathon flier, with Barcelona in mind. My sympathies go out to the officials, who will be the target of negative criticism, a facet of the sport, when misdirected, I abhor. Well, roll on the release of our yearlings so we can see what they are about! The irony is that liberations can be in so called good conditions, and the birds find out differently it’s all about human decisions is it not? Still, as long as the old gun keeps going off! In reality it is what it is and suck it and see.
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Elimar - July 2014
