ON TRACK TO PARTY

CELEBRITIES SPREAD THEIR WINGS AS THEY FLOCKED TO THE BIRDCAGE

- Naomi Toy

And they're racing! There were plenty of favourites as Australian celebrities headed south for the highlight of the spring racing festival, the Melbourne Cup Carnival.

Kicking off with Derby Day on October 29, it was the first time in two years crowds had been back trackside and stars showed they'd lost nothing in the style stakes, with almost everyone adhering to the black-and-white dress code.

Actress Elsa Pataky, an enthusiastic equestrian who owns several horses, was flying solo without her husband, Chris Hemsworth, but had a posse of girlfriends to keep her company. Thor director Taika Waititi was also without his other half, Rita Ora, but lapped up his first time at the races, arriving in style in a helicopter.

"It is like when you experience business class you never want to turn right ever again in your life when you get on the plane," Waititi explained to the Herald Sun. "I am ruined now, I am ruined for life, I can't drive to this place ever, it is only choppers from now on."

International model Duckie Thot, dressed in a signature white suit by fashion designer Michael Lo Sordo, got the party started in spectacular fashion at the Mumm marquee, sending a shower of champagne into the air with a 'tap-tap' on the neck of a jeroboam (3L bottle) using a sabre.