I will simply leave the pigeons to speak for themselves on that note. Those were words he lived by and he proved by example the value in them. Those words are of great value to any aspiring novice or experienced animal breeder. I cannot, for the life of me, understand the animal breeder, especially the pigeon breeder, who can return from a competitive event with less than Champion and feel proud. If you are satisfied with only second best, chances are, you will win very seldomly, if ever.
Luck has very little to do with it.
I can honestly say, that in my main breed, my Rzhevski Turmani, that I have not been beaten in seven years within the breed class and that is competing against the other top lofts of this breed in North America. With that in mind, it does not require mere luck or special talent, and anyone who wants the same sort of success, can have it. Success is there for the taking, it's not doled out by percentages or on a sort of curve, nor by luck. In otherwords, if you have an unbeatable bird, set your sites on producing one that will beat that so called unbeatable one. It also doesn't hurt to think that you have to give something to the world of pigeons.