Walter, last year was the only year I have raced young birds, accepted only been in them since 2009 and the majority of my racing has been North, so short, but with untrained latebreds I expected them to race Fraserburgh which is 165 miles to me. I used to have 12 left from 18. The following year racing Thurso was a different matter. There have also been some years where the statistics were not as good. The reason I'm stating this is that it ties in with what you have stated above. Breed later that way you're not feeding them all year. Don't race them, train if you wish. Overwinter more than you might normally so do. Treat them carefully as latebred yearlings, experienced fanciers like yourself would probably get more out of them than I would. As 2YO they should be ready for anything. The songbirds will suffer, but our pigeons won't.