17. PASSAGE 2
Camel Racing
One of my favorite sports is camel racing. I know that this is very big in places like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and so on, where it is hundreds of years old. However, it's also a popular sport here in Australia.
Many people don't even know that there are camels in Australia. However, there are around a million wild camels living here. They arrived in the 19th century from Pakistan and India, and they were used when people wanted to travel across this country's huge spaces. They were important for building the new country. Then, the car arrived, and Australia's camels were left alone in the desert.
Australia's first camel race was in the early 1900s. After that, the sport became more and more popular. Now, there are big camel-racing competitions every year across Australia (sometimes with big prize money) with many tourists.
First, the camels and their owners travel for weeks across the Australian desert to get to a camel festival. Wild camels walk more than 18 miles (30 kilometers) a day. They like to be active, and they love running.
The camel riders – or jockeys – practice for a very long time before each race. Some jockeys spend time in places like the U.A.E. to learn how to work with racing camels. It's important that the jockeys really know and understand camels, because they are not like horses. Sometimes a camel will not move at the beginning of a race, or will stop in the middle of the race and run the wrong way!
One of the most popular races is called the Camel Cup Race, and it takes place in Alice Springs every year in July. Because camels can be difficult to ride, participants must be experienced jockeys. Nearly 5,000 tourists come to watch the entertainment and races that are held throughout the day.
Training a camel takes a long time because if it doesn't want to do something, then it won't. Camels are large animals and they can be dangerous. Jockeys have to be very careful and repeat what they say many times before a camel learns what to do.
Many jockeys believe that camels are smart animals, and that they can think. At the beginning of each race, a good jockey will try to understand what their camel is thinking. The riders check where the camel is looking and try to guess what the camel will do next.
The behavior of camels makes camel racing very entertaining. Tourists come not only to watch challenging races, but also to share their fondness for these unique animals.
5. Camel racing first started _______________.