The stands roared as Silk Eyes galloped past Mr. Thunder at the top of the stretch. Adults and children, some rushing to reach the barriers to get a better look, snapped their fingers as if willing the colt to go faster. They erupted in cheers when it crossed the finish line.
On Sunday, the crowd of mostly lower-income people at the racetrack in Venezuela’s capital enjoyed a day of races that drew jockeys from the United States and elsewhere, despite the increasingly tense political climate around them. Their country’s protracted crisis has accustomed them to unpredictability. Years of political promises or threats — even of a possible U.S. military attack on Venezuelan soil — now hardly move them.
