Excerpt from piece in The New Yorker, October, 2016:
“On August 3, 1960, the West African country of Niger declared its independence from France. On the same day this year, horses named Welcome, Facebook, Queen Latifah, Junio, and Istanbul tore around a hippodrome in the center of Niamey, the country’s capital, for an Independence Day race, the second of three annual grand-prix events held in the city. Jockeys were chewing tobacco to curb their hunger, while teen-agers with racing aspirations readied the horses…”
