you can also only learn two abilities so make sure he hasnt already learned 2. also, just out of personal opinion i normally go with burrow/bore for digger chocobo breeding and gallop/(cantor or auto-regen) for racing chocobos. remember that they can pass along traits to offspring (allowing you to spend more time on teching stats instead of abilities at youth) if you decide to become serious about breeding.
from wiki:
Quote:
Your chocobo will auto-retire on day 129. (Note: At no point is it necessary to retire your chocobo in order to ride it, breed it or anything else. Retire it only if you wish to begin raising a new chocobo.)
You will be updated daily on your chocobo's status, as well, all cutscenes from the young chocobo phase will still occur in this phase.
On or around day 43, you may receive a message "Your chocobo is in the prime of its life." It was once "Your chocobo's attributes are at its peak" even though its stats could and would still increase after this point. It is assumed that this was a mis-translation that has been corrected.
On or around day 43, you may receive a message "You have done a magnificent job raising this chocobo. Now is the best time to improve its attributes. I must say, <name chocobo> is beginning to develop quite a distinguished air." You may or may not have both abilities by this day.
On or around day 64, you may receive a message saying something about how distinguished your chocobo looks. It has been shown that once you get this message the chocobo's attributes no longer increase through the use of care plans. It may still be possible to increase stats with carrots and the racing association's intense training programs however.
i have found, personally, that my chocobo gets HELP I AM TRAPPED IN 2006 PLEASE SEND A TIME MACHINE after day 43 for learning abilities. Also, when i was first breeding before i had ingrained abilities to pass along from the parents, it was extremely hard for me to 1) take them up to average Discernment and Receptivity AND 2) learn 2 abilities and still get them to First Class in Strength and Endurance.
It did pay off though because i had a Black digger chocobo with capped stats and burrow/bore and i still have a capped stat blue female with gallop and auto-regen (i should go and get my choco torque D:).
If you need any help with choco breeding id be happy to post again.