The seven-race Ararat program was put in jeopardy after the barrier stalls tipped over while being unloaded from a truck at the track.

The first race was eventually run at 3.20pm – almost two hours later than scheduled.

BTC chief executive officer Lachlan McKenzie told The Courier that Racing Victoria had approached the Ballarat club during the early afternoon.

It had asked about the possibility of immediately moving the meeting to Dowling Forest Racecourse and running it as a twilight card.

McKenzie said he had informed Racing Victoria that the BTC was ready to take on the meeting if required.

The possibility of  a second option – transporting Ballarat’s barrier stalls to Ararat – was also discussed.

However, the BTC’s practice gates, with just 10 stalls, would not have been big enough.

Ararat had fields of up to 13 at yesterday’s meeting, and a truck large enough to carry the raceday stalls of 19 stalls could not be accessed.