my father inlaw who had pigeons all his life seen this and was saying u just know at the start it hard but just watching them u can tell if a bird is right 4 the job. u send hopeing they will not only come back but win it. it like horses 4 corse but some time thing go wrong and theres nothing u can do .some pigeons are sprinters/middle/longdistance but some just are alrounders no mather what they just get home even if they have 2 walk he says.