Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to you and your families from Arizona Classic Derby ~~!!
We hope to see you back next year in our race which promises to be bigger and better. Several have already left credits for next year's race.
Some more stats from our race this year:
985 miles official training tosses (we had a few other tosses that were not officially clocked for whatever reason) plus at least one/two training tosses between races.
One of our differentiator is that we will NOT delay races for headwinds (and we will avoid tailwind blowhomes). We maintain a more aggressive schedule after Activation - with 5-7 days max between races. Birds that are allowed to sit for more than 7 days is NOT a good thing. Our course may possibly have some faster races before the final because of the nature of our course over Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
Our Arizona and New Mexico races have historically been fast in October(both club and OLR). We start our series in November which has variable winds and sets up the birds perfectly in terms of 4 conditioning races from 150/200/250/300 and then for a tough Final. This gives you a better chance of having a trained/conditioned bird there for the Final race.
Who wants a bird that is beat up before the Final? And who wants a bird that has NOT been conditioned before the Final. Once we get into Texas for our 365 Mile Final from Ft Hancock - you need a bird that can do 8+ hrs on the wing if a tougher day so happens. We may make adjustments as needed but we dont wait for blowhome days. We will also have a new payout strategy to focus on 300/365/Average Speed with no further payout than 10% of birds going to the actual race.
I have flown this SE race course winning ALL accolades and championships in our club, I have also flown North, North West and West breaking ALL records in our club/combine/Federation - YOUR BIRDS ARE IN THE BEST HANDS !!!!!!!
Best regards
ACD 350 race is officially closed.
We had 361 paid perches, 297 to the 1st race, 226 to the Final race, 196 returned in race time.
82% to the 1st race 150m;
75% to the 2nd race 200m;
69% to the 3rd race 250m;
65% to the 4th race 300m;
63% to the Final race;
54% of initial perches returned from the 350 mile Final.
Have a safe and happy holidays to you and your families - Merry Christmas ~!
We are still wired after today's race - pigging out on the food from today's race at 10:30pm.
To accelerate the payment process - if we don't already have a w-9 from previous years, please send one by email or scanned photo to text message 480-215-4255.
We believe in immediate payout.
Birds will be shipped out starting Wed Jan 2 and Monday Jan 7. We will deduct shipping from winnings or send $60 per 2 bird box ($10 each additional bird).
If you would like us to fly your birds in our OB series to 540 miles - results will be on racingpigeonmall.com under "Arizona Federation" Irish Syndicate. Breeder retains ownership of bird at any time.
Same strategy for 2019
1. 5-7 days max between races with 50-75 mile training in between races
2. Pre-Final races could be fast - that's why we make the schedule more aggressive to flush out true champions.
3. Continued 100 mile training AFTER initial Activation Toss (we don't believe in blowhome Activation toss just to get Entry fees).
4. 125 mile Activation, 150m-200m-250m-300m-365m series.
5. We will adjust to the best info on the weather apps to avoid blowhome races.
With the following tweeks:
1. GPS tracking on trailer for more transparency.
2. Final race - 365 miles Ft Hancock Texas (change from Tornillo TX 348 miles).
3. Delay routing/training until early morning temps are below 85 degrees
4. Optionals 400 mile race - 10 days after Final.
A very LONG day.... took us 12 hours to get back from the release. A deadly crash that resulted in ALL West bound lanes of Interstate-10 being closed for 6 hours. After a standstill for several hours, we had to jump the median and back track to take a different route home. We missed our own party and had to watch the race on Wincompanion~!!!! Thanksfully we have promoted a new Race Day Manager that will be doing all our race day activities going forward - she is the beautiful Irish 1/2 of Irish Syndicate. Thanks to all that helped with the droppers, the phenomenal food and making a good day of lively banter and conversation.
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE BIRDS TODAY that were ALL HEART ~!!! 147 out of 226 home on a very challenging day with NO wind help and 10-15 degrees hotter than normal.
After 8 hours on the wing at 3:05pm at 1260ypm, we had 4 shadows eeriely come out of the deep South. They seemed spooked on their first attempt at 350 miles and took a few laps before landing and running in the traps. The pilots in our club use ForeFLight and Garmin Pilot apps to do flight simulations. They have been dead on all season with the projected arrival times. Today they were predicting 2:15pm arrival and then changed to 2:45pm. The early birds must have climbed up higher and gotten a better wind speed. Surface winds are different than at higher elevations is the only explanation we have.
We were beginning to be discouraged and to think "SMASH" when another 9 came right on line followed by another 11 - all spent - where they went we have no idea. With the steady West and SW winds for the first 150 miles - they could have tracked North up to Globe would be my guess - These birds did 9 hours on the wing. A steady stream followed with birds arriving near dark at 10 hours on the wing VERY TIRED. This showed that the birds were WELL-CONDITIONED to get them coming home on pure will-power and desire to home ~! We know they were loaded right with Versele Laga Energy Mix and Champion Black Label - we spared no expense on feed and supplements.
This race series flushed out some real champions. We aggressively worked them from the Activation toss, several 100 mile tosses after that, short breaks between races to keep them active, training tosses between races, rest on day following race and rest on day preceding the race.
We expect to see some more home early in the morning. Later on Saturday the winds will kick up to 24 mph headwinds along the course.
More to follow..... thanks for your support in 2018 ~!
Best of luck to all ~~
41 degrees, partly cloudy, Light SW winds 5-10. Birds out of the baskets broke into two packs, one went North immediately and the bigger group circled to the East and then oriented towards home gradually.
The first 150 miles still looks W 10, SW 9 along the flight window on the Windy App which will slow them down???
I don't see any winds above 10 anywhere along the course - mostly light variable winds - definitely no blowhome conditions today ~!!
Lunch will be served at 1pm from one of the best BBQ specialists in town.
Start looking for birds at 2pm.
The winds have not changed since last update - still looking at 5-10 W and SW winds for the first 150 miles. There is no where along the course where there are > 10 mph in any direction during the timeframe and locations where the birds should come. Additionally its 10 degrees above normal temperatures - should be a good working race.
Parking is restricted to the open acre lot on the South West corner of the loft location. Please follow the directions of those in charge when you show up.
Best of luck to all and thanks for your support this year !
Birds loft flew well today. The clock was not reset today - we had a few stragglers show up.
We are monitoring the weather closely - right now looks like the first 150 miles will be SW winds. If any of that changes to tailwinds we will possibly extend the race to get more wing time.
Stay tuned for basketing list and race day particulars.
CONGRATULATIONS to the first drop of 10 birds - well done ~~!! They will split the first 10 prizes.
I am very pleased with the performance of the birds today -
The day started off with light NE winds which pushed them a little south, and then a period of tailwinds SE-10mph, and dead calm at the lofts. There were still later groups showing up from the West - which means they took the scenic route home - seems habitual now.
What's next?
Monday - Open loft
Tuesday - Light 40 mile toss
Wednesday - Loft fly
Thursday - Rest
Friday - ACD350 mile with SW winds side/head winds - I checked multiple apps with no sign of tailwinds - a Champion will be determined ~~!
Stay tuned for race day specifics and complete prize payout info.
Cloudy and 42 deg at release, light NE winds... winds are picking up along the course 7-12 SE is what the Windy App is saying...
best of luck
