In A World,

that seems to be forever getting faster,

 here is one race to slow things down,

 it is probably the slowest horse race in the world,

Ban’ei race horses, also known as ‘banba’, are very different from the fast thoroughbreds we associate with horse racing, they can weigh up to 1,200 kilograms, (a normal race horse weighs between 400 – 600 kilograms), in the race the horse has to pull a sled weighing between 450 kilograms and 1 tonne up across a sand race track complete with at least two ramps, 

jockeys do not carry whips, instead using only heavy reigns to encourage the horses onward, and will often pace their horses, even stopping them between two obstacles to give them a chance to recover and increase their chances of making it to the finish line,

Ban’ei horse racing can be traced back to 1887, but it wasn’t until the mid 20th century that the sport became popular across Hokkaidō, at its peak, in 1991, Ban’ei horse racing was practiced in the cities of Obihiro, Asahikawa, Kitami, and Iwamizawa, and ticket sales exceeded 32 billion yen, however, Japan’s economic bubble burst soon after, and by 2006 the racetrack in Obihiro was the only one still in operation,

luckily, in 2012 Ban’ei horse racing was declared an important cultural heritage of Hokkaidō and large corporate sponsors rushed to ensure its survival through donations, the sport has been thriving ever since, and in the fiscal year 2017, revenue increased to 21.9 million yen, 36.1% more than  the previous year, so where did these super sized horses come from? the horses are crossbred descendants of workhorses imported from France and Belgium at the end of the 19th century to help farmers work their land, and are now considered a Japanese breed in their own right, once used to plow rice fields and pull logs, giant Ban’ei horses now show their strength only on the race track, photographs by Nagasawa Takaaki.