Horse race culture

 

There’s no racetrack on the tiny Caribbean island of San Andres, but passion for horse racing runs deep.

Thoroughbreds train on stunning white-sand beaches and compete on a rocky trail that cuts through the forest. Horse racing has a long history on San Andres and its sister island of Providencia despite their small populations — about 60,000 combined — and distance from the mainland, about 700 kilometers (435 miles) away. The twin island archipelago in the western Caribbean is inhabited largely by English speakers and was once a British colony, but is now a Colombian tourist mecca packed with seaside hotels, duty-free shops and all-inclusive resorts. Eventually finer horses were imported for the races. The competitions used to be held on the beach. But the spread of hotels and tourists made that impractical, so they've been moved to the forest trail. Still, jockeys can become local celebrities.