There was a close call recently at Ohi Racecourse in Tokyo. During yesterday's race, a cat wandered onto the track, right in front of the oncoming horses. Thankfully, the cat was quick and safely escaped.
According to Nikkan Sports (via Yahoo! News Japan), it's incredibly rare for a stray cat to end up on the racetrack, and it's working to ensure this doesn't happen again for the safety of the animals and the jockeys, by doing things like asking fans not to feed the strays.
I do know that it's not uncommon for stray and feral cats to take up at racetracks (more in this piece about the Los Alamitos Race Course and this one about the Meadowlands).
レース中馬群の前に猫飛び出す／大井競馬 [日刊スポーツ]
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