Photos

The Middle East is of course a hotbed of horse racing.

In Sudan it is slightly different. When the government changed in the early 1980s and took on a hardline agenda it looked like horse racing, like most activities, would fall by the wayside.

Fortunately it still survives, but only just. There are just a few owners and meetings only once a week but the crowds are big. It seems part of the reason for keeping it going is a link to the past - for all the problems many older Sudanese talk of the 1960s with great affection and the racing was part of that.

The Sudanese are a proud nation. That can be a problem but it is also a strength. They keep tarditions ging where most of us would just give up.

My host also explained to me that Khartoum was the first racecourse in East Africa and that in the good old days Sudanese horses were better than those of the Saudis and Emiratis. 'One day,' he said with a sparkle in his eye, ' we'll be the best again.'