Today Flemington Racecourse will host a bumper, all Group race card for Victoria Derby Day 2014 to kick off the coveted four-meeting Melbourne Cup Carnival.

It is overcast and showery at Victoria’s premier track but the course is still rated a Good (3) for the elite day of racing that features four Group 1 showdowns as an entrée to next Tuesday’s $6.2 million Group 1 Emirates Melbourne Cup (3200m).

Flemington Track Report – 01/11/2014

• Rail Position: True Position Entire Circuit
• Track Condition: Good (3)
• Track Type: Turf
• Weather: Showers
• Penetrometer: 4.73

Racing kicks off in Melbourne this morning at 11:30am (AEDT) with the $200,000 Group 3 Carbine Club Stakes (1600m) and continues right through to Race 9 at 5:15pm – the $300,000 Group 2 Salinger Stakes (1200m) closing the show.

Post-Victoria Derby Day racing it is worth sticking around as the Melbourne Cup field and barrier draw is announced live from Flemington from 7:00pm.

Who is in and out of the Melbourne Cup 2014 could also be partly determined by two of the Derby Day races this afternoon.

A Melbourne Cup ballot exemption is on offer to winners of both the $300,000 Group 3 Lexus Stakes (2500m) as well as the $1 million Group 1 Mackinnon Stakes (2000m).

The opening Group 1 race on the program meanwhile is the $500,000 Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m), a race for three-year-old sprinters that still features all of its 16 final acceptors.

The Mackinnon is next where the only withdrawal is Andrew Balding’s defending champ Side Glance who could recover in time for a consolation run in the Zipping Classic at Sandown on November 15.

The $1.5 million Group 1 Victoria Derby (2500m) is next and in Race 7 the only scratching is the sole emergency runner Verreaux with a full 16 to face off in Australia’s oldest classic including Gai Waterhouse’s hot favourite, Spring Champion Stakes winner Hampton Court.

The final Group 1 on the Derby Day program is then the fillies-and-mares’ $500,000 Group 1 Myer Classic (1600m), another full 16-starter field engaged with the four emergency runners now all officially withdrawn.

See below for the full Flemington scratchings for today’s meeting before heading along to Ladbrokes.com.au for the day’s hottest odds including the $3 million Megapick if you can successfully predict the winners of the final eight races on the program.

Flemington Race Scratchings – Saturday November 1, 2014

Race 1 (11:30am) – $200,000 Group 3 Carbine Club Stakes (1600m)

#10 Stitch Me Up (10)

Race 2 (12:10pm) – $300,000 Group 2 Racing.com Wakeful Stakes (2000m)

#13 Via Cavour (4)

Race 3 (12:50pm) – $200,000 Group 3 Yellowglen Stakes (1400m)

#12 Spy Decoder (12), #13 Rainbow Gold (13)

Race 4 (1:30pm) – $500,000 Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m)

No current scratchings

Race 5 (2:15pm) – $300,000 Group 3 Lexus Stakes (2500m)

#3 Lord Van Percy (6), #10 Marksmanship (5), #7 Unchain My Heart (13)

Race 6 (3:00pm) – $1,000,000 Group 1 Longines Mackinnon Stakes (2000m)

#1 Side Glance (7)

Race 7 (3:45pm) – $1,500,000 Group 1 AAMI Victoria Derby (2500m)

#17e Verreaux (14)

Race 8 (4:30pm) – $500,000 Group 1 Myer Classic (1600m)

#17e Girl In Flight (17), #18e Zonza (12), #19e Quayside (4), #20e Mahara (15)

Race 9 (5:15pm) – $300,000 Group 2 Salinger Stakes (1200m)

#3 Aeronautical (3)

*All times quoted are local (AEDT) and subject to change