Indonesia's smallest jockeys

On Sumbawa Island, the stakes are high, the races are fast, and the riders are very, very young

The smallest jockeys
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(Image credit: (Putu Sayoga) These races do not call to mind those at iconic American tracks such as Churchill Downs, though. There are not even saddles for the riders — and helmets? Hardly. The jockeys loo)

(Image credit: (Putu Sayoga))

(Image credit: (Putu Sayoga) Photographer Putu Sayoga, 29, spent more than a week with Indonesia's smallest jockeys, during the annual races that take place after the rice-harvesting season ends, usually so)

(Image credit: (Putu Sayoga))

(Image credit: (Putu Sayoga))

(Image credit: (Putu Sayoga) Sayoga shadowed several of the jockeys closely, and he says he was especially struck by how quickly they must grow up in order to compete at the tracks. Aldin Amin (pictured abo)

(Image credit: (Putu Sayoga))

(Image credit: (Putu Sayoga) The races themselves are wild — a cacophony of gamblers shouting bets, horses thundering around the track, and, at the center of it all, the tiny jockeys, captured in their dust)

(Image credit: (Putu Sayoga))

(Image credit: (Putu Sayoga) **See more of Putu Sayoga's work via his website, and follow him on Instagram**)

Sarah Eberspacher
Sarah Eberspacher

Sarah Eberspacher is an associate editor at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked as a sports reporter at The Livingston County Daily Press & Argus and The Arizona Republic. She graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.

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