Consistent Race Performance in Racing Pigeons: A Case Report Confirming a Favorable Genetic Profile

Abstract

A recent multivariate analysis showed that racing pigeons had a better race performance based on DRD4 and F-KER genotypes that were independently statistically significant and those racing pigeons with both DRD4 CCCT and F-KER TT had the lowest race coefficient, i.e. the best race performance. This result indicated that 50% birds with this genotype were consistently in the top 10% in the race results. To date, this is the first multigene genotype reported relating to race performance. In 2023, a consistently performing racing pigeon scored in or around the top 10% in all races of a 5 race series ranging from 100 mile to 350 miles. Retrospectively, this bird was shown to have indeed DRD4 CCCT and F-KER TT. Another bird while distantly family related, showed top performance only in the final long distance race but lacked consistency throughout the race series; this bird not have the consistency genotype profile. We pose the hypothesis that birds with both DRD4 CCCT and F-KER TT are more likely to score consistently in the Top 10% in a race series than birds without. This would need to be confirmed in a larger study in particular including Ace Champion birds with consistent top 10% race performance.