The Ballarat Greyhound Racing Club hosts over 120 race meetings annually, including the Ballarat Cup in May.
The Club Employs 4 full-time staff and up to 7 casual workers on race days. Greyhound racing contributes $16 million annually to the region through wages and local spending.
Key Stats (23-24)
124 meetings
1,435 races
10,782 Starters
65.16% of races with 8 Starters
3.53M in prizemoney
The Ballarat Greyhound Racomg Club was formed in 1935 and the original track was located at Broadway Park (the North Ballarat Sports Club today) in Creswick Road, adjoining the Ballarat Showgrounds. The track was opened on 11 March 1938 by councilor H J Wheeler.
Over a three-year period during the late 1970s a new racing complex was constructed at the present site at Morshead Park. The opening meeting was held on Saturday 23 December 1978 with the first race winner being Eddy Tornado trained by W R Dalton. The meeting included a match race (a two-runner race only, where two greyhounds are matched against each other) between Melbourne Cup winner Tangaloa and Sandown Park track record holder Darville’s Flyer, won by the latter.
In 2012, Morshead Park underwent a significant facility upgrade costing $3.2 million. The upgrade was split between GRV ($1.7 million), the Coalition Government ($1.35 million) and the BGRC ($150,000) and included a major transformation of the grandstand and race track.
The first meeting after the upgrade was held on Wednesday 3 October 2012.
Track distances
| Distance (m) | Distance (ft) |
| 390 | 1280 |
| 450 | 1480 |
| 545 | 1788 |
| 660 | 2170 |
Re-built 2012
BROC – Ballarat Racing Operations Centre
The original Morshead Park kennels, although still functional, had seen better days and were essentially beyond repair. After several years of discussion about the design and location of a new Racing Operations Centre, construction was finally commenced in May 2023. Due to the importance of the Ballarat track to the GRV racing program, the Club needed to continue racing during the Stage 1 of the construction phase, with the old kennels not scheduled for demolition until Stage 2 in January 2024. Monday Day racing was moved to Monday Night to enable the construction to take place Monday to Friday without impact on staff or participants.
The final race meeting from “The Harold Brudenell Kennels was conducted on Monday 15th January. A core group of 6 BGRC staff then worked tirelessly to strip the building, relocating required equipment to the ROC, and salvaging everything which could be repurposed later. It was a first-class team building exercise.
Stage 2 of the project resulted in the demolition of the old kennels and the supporting infrastructure, such as yards, toilets and landscaping installed.
After a 6 week break from racing, the transition from old to the Club’s brand-new, State Government-supported $3.3 million state-of-the-art Racing Operations Centre (ROC) was complete and operations recommenced with 3 consecutive days of racing from Monday 26th February.
The ROC incorporates 14 kennel bays containing 112 1m x 1m kennels, hot & cold-water dog wash areas, fully equipped stewards’ and veterinary rooms, 8 swab kennel bay, 4 isolation kennels, laundry/storeroom, grassed and undercover outdoor areas and a standalone participant/public toilet block. It is the envy of all other Clubs and appreciated greatly by BGRC and GRV staff and participants from all over Victoria.
$20 per financial year (including GST)
As a member of the Club, you will receive:
To become a member of the club, simply fill out the form below.
LIFE MEMBERS
