Lewis Hamilton is currently off to Bahrain for the second grand prix of the 2019 season and while he lost out on a win in Australia, his ‘pigeon counterpart'(if you may) is winning at life.
Known as the ‘Lewis Hamilton’ of pigeons, Armando, fetched a bid of €1.25 million in an auction carried out by Belgian pigeon house Pipa.
The pigeon is known as the ‘best Belgian long-distance pigeon of all time’, according to the Belgian pigeon house.
Armando beat the previous auction record for a pigeon by close to €600,000. , as the most valuable pigeon before him was auctioned off at €600,000.
“It was unreal, the feeling – it was something out of this world,” Nikolaas Gyselbrecht, the Pipa chief said as reported by BBC.
“In our wildest dreams, we had never hoped for a price like that. We hoped for around €400,000 to €500,000, and we only dreamed of €600,000.” he added.
Armando has now taken to retirement, but is regarded as one of the most successful racing pigeons of all time. He won the 2018 Ace Pigeon championship, the 2019 Pigeon Olympiad and the Angoulême.
Breeder Joel Verschoot spoke about the bidding war for Armando and how both Chinese parties had told him that they desperately wanted the racing pigeon.
“The two Chinese had told me in advance that they absolutely wanted Armando,” he said. “But I didn’t see this coming. This is a crowning glory of all those years in the pigeon sport. The icing on the cake.” Joel Verschoot said.
Armando is considered to be one of the best in his sport’s history, very much like Lewis Hamilton, who he has often been compared to.
Armando is currently 5 and his owners will now want to help him breed and raise his progeny for future races.
While the ‘Lewis Hamilton of pigeons’ is set to embrace retirement, the Lewis Hamilton of the F1 world has a stiff task on his hand, as his teammate is determined to put up a good show, especially after that comprehensive win in Australia.
