Mike strives for complete openness regarding his racing

As such all the races he has entered feature his name and not a team sub-name. Mike has many followers who understand his loft well and by flying in his name there can be no hiding from the poorer results. Yes, poorer results do exsist, although you would be forgiven for thinking they don’t after hearing from many “top” OLR fanciers.

While many “Top” fanciers appear in the top 100 result listings, rarely do people look back at the number of birds entered to get the odd one or two in the results. Mike often sends between 5-10 birds per race. Occasionally into 10-15 birds. NEVER has he sent the 100-200 birds often entered by other lofts. Indeed, some lofts enter more birds to a race than Mike breeds in a season!!

Mike says “There is no point in having a massive breeding program to race 100s of birds in one race. Selection and knowing your stock and what/why you are managing the loft the way you do is more important. Many lofts are driven by sales, and this demands that a name is up there in the top 100 for a final. Mike breeds, selects, and retains many of his breeders to make the loft even stronger rejecting the option of cashing in. The hobby of pigeon racing is how Mike sees his involvement with the international pigeon community and there is no chance of the hobby changing into a business.

Mike will continue with his modest stock loft of around 30 pairs. Happy, knowing each bird personally.
One final point Mike makes is that you should not have a favourite in the stock loft because it won a race or cost a lot of money. If any bird in Mike’s loft is not “Showing promise” within 2 -3 years, it’s out.