Tony Bourke is the former chief racing writer for The Age.

FOR what was supposed to be a fairly low-key family day at Flemington tomorrow to end the "autumn festival of racing", we now have a fully-fledged Group One meeting that will include the reigning Melbourne Cup winner Shocking and will also have significant impact on the forthcoming Sydney carnival.

Of course, it was impossible to predict  the extraordinary events of last Saturday at Flemington that have led to the inclusion of two Group One features, the Australian Cup (2000m) and the Crown Guineas (1600m), on tomorrow's program.

Billed as ‘'Super Saturday'', it turned into the most bizarre day of racing seen in Melbourne or anywhere else in Australia since Melbourne Cup day in 1976 when New Zealander Van Der Hum ploughed home in the mud after a pre-race deluge threatened to cause the postponement of the Cup for the first time in its history.

There was more water, but no lightning or hailstones, in 1976 and the VRC committee last Saturday had no hesitation in calling off the races after race six, the $1 million Group One Newmarket Handicap, and transferring the other two Group One features to tomorrow's card. (The accompanying photograph only shows part of the damage wreaked by the storm, as jockeys Clare Lindop and Craig Williams try to hold on to their brollies while inspecting the track.)

Thus, tomorrow's meeting will have 10 races and is now being called ‘'Super Family Saturday'' and the original fields in the Australian Cup and Crown Guineas will stand.

Shocking was reinstated in the Australian Cup until his scratching late this afternoon after a foot abscess flared, the second setback for the race after imported horse Our Aqaleen, trained by David Hayes, fractured a shoulder during a track gallop at Flemington on Thursday and had to be put down.

It was a horror 24 hours for Hayes with another import, the former Aidan O'Brien-trained Changing Of The Guard not surviving a relatively simple gelding procedure at his Lindsay Park headquarters the previous morning.

While the Victoria Racing Club is to be commended or its initiative in making tomorrow's meeting a free day for racegoers, there is still some fall-out from last Saturday in some quarters about whether the stewards led by Terry Bailey should have allowed the $1 million Newmarket to go ahead as the storm clouds loomed over Flemington.

All things considered, it is easy to say after the event that the race should have been delayed until it was known just how bad the weather was going to get but it is reasonable to suggest that the connections of the 19 runners who were in the mounting yard and ready to go out on the track would have been in favour of the race going ahead.

More importantly, the jockeys involved did not express any concerns about riding and they are the ones most vitally affected when weather conditions worsen.

The storm hit as the horses returned to scale and the stewards, not  to mention the 22,000 racegoers at Flemington expected anything like the fury that lashed the course for the next hour or so.

Although the car parks at Flemington took a bit of a beating and the club had plenty of mopping up to do in most of the public and members' areas, particularly the old Members' Stand half way down the main straight which sprang leaks everywhere, the track itself has made a remarkable recovery.

By yesterday, the going was rated a dead five and, if the weather remains fine, is likely to be upgraded to good tomorrow.

The Australian Cup remains a wide open race and the Mick Price-trained Miss Maren appeals as a strong eachway chance while Denman is a short-priced favourite in the Crown Guineas ahead of Linton and Set  For  Fame.