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SAN FERNANDO DE APURE, Venezuela (AP) - Thousands of Venezuelans converge every year on this sun-baked town in the plains of "Los Llanos" for a unique horse race with a patriotic bent.
Competitors race across the Apure River to commemorate an 1819 battle in which soldiers led by independence heroes Simon Bolivar and Gen. Jose Antonio Paez routed Spanish troops in a surprise attack after crossing the waterway.
As legend has it, Paez and his soldiers swam across the river alongside their horses. Today, only the horses do the swimming, as competitors in canoes guide them across the river.
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