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Due to a variety of factors the sport is now slowly dying; where there were once race courses spread across the island, only one now remains: Obihiro, the capital of the Tokachi region. It’s an expensive sport to take part in with little reward, so these days only rich people race what was once a farmers pastime, originating from a tug of war between horses to test their quality and strength. Over time it developed into racing between farmers, something Tanaka-san was involved in almost 40 years ago.