Black cats are often associated with luck – good or bad – so those at the Jockey Club will be thanking their lucky stars that drama was avoided after one parked itself in the middle of the Sha Tin track during a race on Sunday.

A cat perched itself about 100m away from the start of the Class Two Caroline Hill Handicap (1,800m) when the gates opened and seemingly had no intentions of moving until it became obvious he was in extreme danger with a full field of gallopers charging towards him.

With the likes of Vincent Ho Chak-yiu on Reliable Team and Derek Leung Ka-chun on Tianchi Monster approaching, the black cat attempted to run in front of the field before thinking better of it.

Chaos was eventually adverted and the said cat elected to go back and run behind the gallopers.

Only two months ago a black cat created global headlines when it stormed into the field during a National Football League match between the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys.