Speed isn't everything at one racecourse in Japan, where the unpredictable stop-and-start drama of the world's slowest horse race has drawn new fans eager to bet on their sturdy favorite.
A fanfare plays, the gates flip open and they're off — but at a plod rather than a gallop, pulling heavy sleighs in a tradition that harks back more than a century.
At the Banei Keiba races in Obihiro, Hokkaido, spectators cheer on the muscular workhorses moving at the pace of a brisk human walk.