Feature dog race cancelled after ute smashes through wall

A feature greyhound race meeting will be moved to Geelong on Wednesday night after a car smashed through a rear wall of the Ballarat kennels.

One of the biggest greyhound race meetings in Ballarat, it was due to be headlined by the Lil Dickie Oaks Final and Western Districts Derby Final.

General Manager of the Ballarat Greyhound Racing Club, Rod Ward, said the club had discussed postponing the event but the decision was made to transfer it to the neighbouring city as it is such an important event on the racing calendar.

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A young man is lucky to be alive after the car he was driving narrowly missed trees and smashed into a brick wall at the Ballarat Greyhound Racing Club on Tuesday morning.

Ballarat police sergeant Dave Collins told The Courier the man, believed to be in his 20s, was driving on Rubicon Street towards Sutton Street just before 9.30am when it appears he had a medical episode.

He clipped an oncoming vehicle before spinning out and going through a fence before ploughing through a brick wall in the kennel block, near the car park.

Emergency crews including police, firefighters, paramedics and the State Emergency Service (SES) responded to the incident.

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Fire Rescue Victoria was supported by the Country Fire Authority and SES to remove the driver and the car from the building.

Acting Commander at FRV, Brenton Smith, said the driver was not trapped though "his injuries needed to be managed as he was removed from the vehicle" while also "maintaining the structural integrity of the building".

While the man was being removed from his vehicle and his injuries tended to, emergency services including paramedics and firefighters were in the seriously damaged building.

"The damage is quite extensive so it was quite finicky to manage," Acting Commander Smith said.

After being freed from his vehicle, which was towing a trailer, the man was taken to Ballarat Base Hospital in a stable condition.

Once removed from the building the red Mitsubishi, which was damaged at the front, was towed from the scene.

The other car was also towed from the scene. The female driver of this car was not injured and was not taken to hospital.

Luckily, no people or dogs were in the kennel block at the time of the crash. Normally a cleaner is in the building on a Tuesday morning, but they were out trialing a dog at the time of the crash.

"It's a good outcome. If there had been a meet on with dogs or people inside, with the extent of damage to the building and the car, it would have been a very different outcome," Acting Commander Smith said.

Part of Rubicon Street was blocked with detours in place. While police were asking motorists to avoid the area, the street was reopened about an hour after the crash.

While emergency services worked to make the scene safe, a structural engineer will attend later today to determine the extent of the damage and what needs to be done to rectify it.

General Manager of the Ballarat Greyhound Racing Club, Rod Ward, said that while the incident was unfortunate, the club was "very thankful that nobody was seriously injured and that the driver will make a full recovery".

An old kennel facility, the club has been seeking funding to build a new kennel block but it is still "some way off".

"Our immediate priority is to repair damage to the kennel block that we have. A structural engineer will come in today and outline what repairs are required," he said.

Mr Ward said that at this stage the brick wall and kennel bays 11 and 12 would need to be replaced, as would the wire fence on Rubicon Street.

The engineer will determine if structural works are required, and will outline the costs of the repairs.

"Hopefully we can be back up and racing in the short to medium term. in the meantime, we are talking to Greyhound Racing Victoria and it is likely that our races will be transferred to neighbouring tracks and to accommodate them taking on increased race meets, we'll take on their trials in Ballarat because we can continue to use our track for trials," he said.

Police are continuing to investigate the exact cause of the crash.

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