A Rare Barcelona Hen

 

A Rare Barcelona Hen!
Champion Musgrove Persistent

5 times Barcelona International on the bounce 710 miles!

At 6 years of age she has flown 6 International races to Harvey @ Emerton into Taunton Somerset. With 5 times Barcelona International on the bounce 710 miles and Agen International as a yearling 500 plus miles she must be unique in the UK. Raced on my unique feeding system, she is full of the old Emerton lines of Barcelona Dream, Dark Enchantment, Mystical Queen, Diabolos, Dedication and other versatile bloodlines. After 8 years of solid dedication to objectives Nick Harvey and I have enjoyed our marathon racing and strain building. Persistent is now at stud with a son of 2 top Barcelona performers to the loft at Taunton viz Insights and Addiction. My quest continues after 41 years of strain building. At 71 to 879 miles my strain is unique.

Belief In Your Own Birds: Wise to know that all racers are a mixed bunch and impure for any performance traits, even when inbred. The clever fancier has the knowledge and skill to condition the birds for the ultimate races chosen. I put the onus on the person rather than the pigeon, as he brings out the potential of the bird with clever management. When we have a poor result, we plough on regardless with persistence and patience. Not the time to buy in fresh birds of dubious origin-have belief in your stock, breed plenty more and continue. Most people have short term enthusiasms linked to instant gratification needs. Barcelona 2017 is very difficult and a serious test for all and will deter some from future entries at this level of difficulty. All the arrivals in race time are worth breeding from, as they are good.
Approval and Recognition: I do appreciate it when it is genuine and felt as such. In pigeons, many grown men are hungry for it and the rewards of fame-prestige and perhaps money. There are many people in competitive racing who yearn to be the big I am-such motivation is the impetus behind competitive racing-the nature of the beast is psychological. Congratulations to The Padfields on their dominance with the birds in The BICC Barcelona race-see my interview with these aces in the book Jim Emerton in Conversation with the good and great of the pigeon world. They have an excellent system, location, knowledge and expertise that creates great condition on the birds they enter and Vince is a great genius of a pigeon man. What do men covert, what makes them tick? Can you see inside the mind of a champion?

Risks Racing: Free as a bird are the racers on liberation at any distance, where they must face race reality. I do not waste time and energy negating and blaming the convoyers and race controllers or the weather forecast. Barcelonas are always tough, and you do well to time from Spain-try and take it on the chin. Without a tracker, the actual conditions are guessed by humans. Your birds may fail to come home at any distance, especially in races over 700 miles long. Terrain, mountains, weather and distance are all active variables with impact on returning numbers. Marathon events will toughen you up, if you persist at it, with some improvement to your stock. Pigeons are born to fly, and so it is that they are sent to the races-long may they endure!

Jim Emerton