Race track issues ‘sincere apology’ after power failure leads to two jockeys being rushed to hospital and horse put down

A Japanese horse track was plunged into darkness MID-RACE as two jockeys were rushed to hospital and one horse was put down.

The K1 Cup Bear Heart President Happy Birthday Commemoration was taking place on the Kanazawa track when the incident occurred.

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Japan’s Kanazawa track was plunged into darkness mid-race[/caption]

As the 11 competitors approached the fourth corner, the lights went out as the entire venue turned to black.

It was caused by a “human error” due to a member of staff setting the lighting timer incorrectly so it went off during the action.

Three horses fell as a result of the chaos, with one subsequently euthanized.

Two of the jockeys that had fallen as a result of the power failure were taken to hospital.

The race, which was the eighth of the evening, was cancelled and the rest of the evening’s action was also axed.

A statement from Kanazawa Horse Racing on Twitter read: “At 17:10 on Sunday, November 19th, during a twilight race, the track lights suddenly went out, causing an accident in which three horses fell off their horses. Two of the three jockeys who fell off their horses were hospitalised.

“In addition to being rushed to the hospital, one racehorse had to be euthanized due to a malfunction, resulting in the race not being held and subsequent races also being cancelled.

“We take this situation very seriously, and we would like to express our deepest sympathies to the injured jockeys, as well as our deepest apologies to the horse owners, everyone involved, and the fans.

“In the future, we will continue to sincerely work towards compensation for injured jockeys, racehorses that were euthanized, and those involved in cancelled races.

“The cause of the accident was a human error in which a staff member incorrectly set the lighting timer, and there was no problem with the track lighting itself.

“We have already taken steps to prevent this from happening again, such as manually turning off the track lights, but once again we will make every effort to ensure a safe race.”