Exercising horses at the Hippodrome, Bamako, Mali, April 2004

Exercising horses at the Hippodrome, Bamako, Mali, April 2004

Exercising horses at the Hippodrome, Bamako, Mali, April 2004

Horses have been raced at the Hippodrome in Bamako, the capital of Mali, since 1946. The Hippodrome is an expanse of bare sandy earth close to the sandstone escarpments that are the city’s northern limit

Boy racegoers and horses before races at the Hippodrome, Bamako, Mali, May 2004

Racehorses at the Hippodrome, Bamako, Mali

Racegoers before races at the Hippodrome, Bamako, Mali, May 2004

Most Sunday afternoons, as the worst of the day’s heat is passing, racegoers gather around the racehorses’walled enclosure

Jockeys waiting to mount their horses at the Hippodrome, Bamako, Mali, May 2004

Jockey mounting before a race at the Hippodrome, Bamako, Mali, May 2004

Most jockeys are boys between 12 and 17 years old

Some of these pictures and more information about them are on the BBC News Online website – click here to visit