Not this year!

It turned out to be a mixed sort of day at the Europa Classic. We arrived at the lofts at 11.30am and there were quite a lot of people milling around buzzing with excitement. I had 3 birds in the race and was excited as anyone! We waited for the birds arrival and sure enough as I suspected 15 birds come together. It was a race for the traps and on running into the marquee I could see Rasbull Lofts entries were not among this initial batch. Batches kept coming all afternoon but still no Rasbull Rocket managed to find their way onto the clocking system. By the time we left 270 birds out of the 754 birds had made it home. I am quite happy that all 3 got to this stage but disappointed at least one hasn't made it home. I know some more have arrived this morning but they have not updated the website result yet so there is still time!
The auction for the South West One Loft race winners was also held and I purchased 2 nice hens, one finishing 7th Open, 7th Ace bird, and the other 19th Open, 15th Ace bird. However, my luck was to change as on leaving the base of the box had become damp, and the 19th open bird flew out and into distance! I have emailed the race organiser and hope the gallant little hen makes it back to Plymouth. So I hope to get an email saying she has made it home.
The free booze went down very well and we all had a good time, although the only 1 meal per person was a bit poor after last years all you could eat!!
I will be making some sweeping changes to the birds in the loft after this result. The birds were sent especially to test the young and on this showing they have been found wanting. So the parents and a few others will be making way in the loft for replacements that are going to be brought in. I will not tolerate losing - Rasbull Lofts - Defeat is not an option and therefore its up to me to put this right. All those birds were treated the same, and some made it home, my 3 didn't!! So I will need to review each and every bird in the loft and weed out any that have fallen short of meeting the standards I have set and that I most definitely demand!