Pigeon racing competitions abound all over the world, with most of them involving big money. Being a successful pigeon racer requires discipline, constant care and a penchant eye for detail. Here are some important tips that will help you become a winner in this sport: 1. Set up a loft in your backyard and ensure that the pigeon is basket trained as soon as it learns how to fly. And don't even plan on using formica type material for floors, perches or for any part of the loft that requires regular cleaning. Sure, the smooth surface makes it easier to scrape, but the stains that stick to it are bound to give you more headaches. 4. Accessibility To Sunlight Pigeons need and love the sun so make sure that your loft is accessible to the sunlight. It is only a one loft race which means that the pigeons included in the race should return to the same loft where they came from. In the United States, there is the Lou McElroy Futurity which was incepted in the year 2000. This race places the pigeons into various lofts and come under different handlers. This breeding method is more expensive than line-breeding because of the generation gap (the bigger the generation gap, the more expensive) but relatively more effective than in-breeding. Line-breeding allows the mating of pigeons with smaller generation gaps (ex. grandchild to grandparents or cousin to cousin) than those for cross breeding. If the pigeons left in the wild depend on scraps of food and seeds for their survival, the racing pigeons are exactly the opposite. They basically need clean food, fresh water, and the aced grain that has low moisture content. The market presents you with numerous brands to choose from. You can look for a complete food. There are many schools of thoughts that are propagated right now on how to carefully select the best breed. Though the suggestions are varied, it all boils down to the birds' ability, the feather and its conformation. In bird selection, you can never go wrong with the ones that have a lineage- racing pigeons that come from that illustrious family of race winners.