Tosses have started. For those new to the race, we start showing live training tosses once out 20 miles. Currently when birds come home now there is a lot of horse play...which is what we prefer. We will do a clocking inventory weekly for your records. A lot of birds still heavy in the molt so we toss accordingly.
Please call with any questions.
** For those planning to attend, Please see accomodations on home page. Just mention San Diego Pigeon Races for 109.00 a night. 5 or more nights $100.00
Training will start next Monday. Majority birds are ready to go. There are still a few that are choppy in the moult. Training will be similar to past years. Liberations are small groups and lots of tosses. Our training program is 5-6 days a week weather permitting.
Please call with any questions or concerns.
The funeral for Darryl Phelps will be held August 10 @1:00 pm. Location is Cherokee Memorial Park &funeral Home. Hwy 99 & E Harney Ln, Lodi, CA 95240. (209) 334-9613
We currently have the birds split in 2 groups. We alternate times for exercise. We started brooming the birds. A lot of birds still heavy moult, so not a lot of flying yet. We will still start road training in a few weeks.
It is with a heavy heart that I inform you that our great friend Darryl Phelps has passed away 7-27-19. Darryl and his wife Jane have been top breeders, supporters, particpants here in San Diego for 30 years. Darryl was my mentor, always sharing ideas, advice and sometimes a scollding. Most imprtantly he was a true friend. Darryl has been suffering from severe COPD for the last 4 years. His lungs where very sensitive to pigeon dander. However, that did not keep him away from what he loved. His famous words where "Bet Me". We will miss him dearly.
We will post funeral services in a few days.
Birds are doing very good. No seroious flying yet. However, lots of playing around. The young ones received late are doing excellent. Most birds are now going through heavy body molt. All birds are being exercised daily. We will start brooming next week. Road training will start mid August.
We will be locking in room rates with Hotel next week. Details to follow.
We are done taking birds for 2019. Thank you to all the breeders that participated for this upcoming year. It has definetly been a challenge with receiving birds in Yuma, but we pulled it off. The last group of birds where posted today. The losses have been minimal. We have been very carefull the last few weeks with settling and keeping the birds healthy which is why we have been a little slower than normal with posting inventory. The website is currently accurate with whats in the loft. I do not forsee any serious issues with the first 600, however, this last group will be a little differnt, as many things can still happen because of age. As previously mentioned, this young group is going out daily...catch up. The older group has their flights almost 1/2 way in. The older group will still remain on lock down for another week. When all the birds are dialed in with trapping, we will continue with Live clocking. It is not a normal year but we consider ourselves very fortunate and thankfull to be racing.
**In regards to New Castle update. No new outbreaks in Southern California for 1 month. Thats a good thing.
Have a great July 4th!!
We lost two great pigeon men this past week.
Joe Aki from Hawaii past away earlier in the week. Joe was in his mid seventies. He has been a supporter of this race for the last 17 years. He was always considerate of others, and willing to help with anything necessary.
George Macaluso past away yesterday. He was as true pigeon flyer and breeder. George too has been a supporter of the California Classic for the last 17 years. He also supported myself as a handler in the Holiday Cup mutliple loft race, starting back in 1995-2001. George new all the pigeon pedalers. If there was new blood winning he was knocking at the breeders door to buy the best. 2nd place was not good enough for him. It did not matter if he spent 5000 for the parent(s). Winners is what George wanted. George Macaluso is one of the most giving individuals that I know. He was a true competitor to the very end. His wife Mary called me this afternoon and told me he passed. She shared that in his last few hours he kept asking her, "Are the birds released at John's yet..and a hour later are we on the first drop". My response to Mary...wow how he just loved the sport of racing. George passed away at the age of 87. He has been on the first drop here at the CCSD some 4-5 times through out the years. One of the best.
We will miss you guys.
Nothing to exciting going on here at California Classic. We pulled flights on the first 600 birds earlier this week. We have been trap training the last group that came in approx 150. We hope to get them out this weekend. It will definetly be a intresting year with so many late ones. Dates for start up training and race day do not change here. The overall health has been great this year. Fingers crossed as we have recieved 2-300 the last few weeks. These last ones will be sectioned off from the others for the next 4-5 weeks.
We will be doing one more pick up in Yuma this Wednesday 6/19 only..., we had a crazy heat wave hit Arizona this past week and some flyers asked to ship this coming week (Monday).
We wish everyone a great Fathers Day weekend.
We have 1 more week to receive birds. The California Classic and Royal Cup are done accepting 6/15.
The overall health with the birds is good. Settling is going well. The older group of birds will be shutdown this weekend. The last ones sent from 5/25 on will only have 9th pulled.
Have a great weekend.
