Game Fowl Breeding: The Winning Strategy

Derbies and gambling are the two most common things associated with fighting cocks. But what the general public doesn't know is the business behind cockfighting.

Aside from the multinational pharmaceutical and feed companies and retail stores, game fowl trading is also a profitable enterprise.

And not surprisingly, the winning strategy in this business is also winning the derbies. Those who dominate the fights are also those who have made good business out of their breeding.

In Negros Occidental, the game fowl mecca of the Philippines, one entry name has dominated the stag fights scene and established itself in the cockfighting history-Eduardo Ledesma and Bu Warns' Fire and Ice.

The stag derby is a most difficult game to beat, primarily because the birds are still young. At only a few months, they are expected to fight to the death in the pit. In this province, the Negros Gamefowl Breeders Association (NGBA) 8-Stag Derby is a prestigious event that enjoys the participation of breeders and cockers from all over the country.

For three consecutive years, the Fire and Ice team has secured the NGBA championship spot for year 2004 (solo champion), 2005 (solo champion), and 2006 (co-champion with 7 wins).

It has been said that no winner has successfully defended his crown twice in a row in the history of the NGBA, and a three-peat win is close to impossible. But with ample preparation and a stroke of luck, Ledesma went beyond man's limitations.

For this year, Ledesma had three entries. Two entries, the Orient Pearl Fire & Ice and the JCL Fire & Ice, made it to the championship. Orient Pearl scored 5 ½. JCL Fire & Ice, which is financed by good friend Johnson Lee (the same tandem that bagged the 2005 trophy), lost its first fight on the second day of the eliminations. At this point, 11 entries already scored 5, 2 cored 4 ½, while JCL Fire & Ice was 4, along with 28 others. Maybe at this point, many were already thinking that the F & I team had already blown its chance to the championship, including Ledesma himself. "At this point, I had personally given up on the possibility of being champion." So he merely told his team to "just concentrate on the remaining birds as best as we can and to not even think of what the other entries might or can do."

To make the long story short, Ledesma's entry scored 7, as so did five other entries, tying them all in the championship slot.

Winning the NGBA stag derby may be a goal well achieved, but for Ledesma, the championship didn't come to them until about 20 years since they started breeding. When they first won it, Ledesma felt a sense of pride knowing that at the very least, the Fire & Ice team may be considered at par with other accomplished breeders. He also exalts his partner Bu Warns. "I may be the face and the voice of Fire & Ice, but my partner is the spirit behind it."

The Fire & Ice team is still reveling in their three-year supremacy over the NGBA 8-stag derby, winning a total of 23 out of 24 fights. Although nobody can tell the future, but many agree that this feat may not be repeated even in another 25 years to come.

Ledesma continues his commercial breeding at his farms in Bacolod City and Talisay City, Negros Occidental and in. He sells his produce to interested buyers from all over the country.