Racing has been cancelled until next weekend at least in Japan as a mark of respect after the massive earthquake that hit the country on Friday.

Friday’s NAR fixture at Ohi was halted before the meeting could be completed and this weekend’s JRA meetings at Nakayama, Hanshin and Kokura have all been cancelled.

According to the Japan Racing Association, none of the tracks were believed to have been damaged by the earthquake, which hit the north east of Japan and triggered a tsunami.

It was later reported that part of the roof collapsed at Fukushima, the JRA track that lies nearest to the quake epicenter in the north east, while there is believed to have been extensive damage to NAR track Mizusawa.

“Our facilities are still standing,” JRA official Shingo Soma said.  “Japan is suffering so we don’t think it’s a good idea to race during such a tragedy.”
It’s still unclear how badly the earthquake and tsunami has affected Japan’s two major breeding centres in the Kansai and Kanto regions.