Night race meetings scheduled for Cranbourne and Ballarat on Wednesday 13 January have been cancelled along with morning race meetings for Geelong and The Meadows due to predicted extreme hot weather conditions.

Under Greyhound Racing Victoria’s (GRV) recently reviewed Hot Weather Policy, greyhound racing or trialling cannot be conducted if the temperature exceeds 38 degrees.

The Bureau of Meteorology has predicted peak temperatures of 39 degrees Celsius for Ballarat, 40 degrees for Cranbourne, 42 degrees for Geelong and 41 degrees for Broadmeadows.

The safety and welfare of greyhounds is of paramount concern for GRV in assessing whether a race meeting or individual races on a program should proceed, be delayed or abandoned in hot weather conditions.

Decisions to cancel meetings are made after careful consideration and consultation with the weather bureau and also take into account the predicted temperature for travel times to and from the venue as well as at the track.