'Twas the rain that nearly stopped the nation, Melbourne's downpour was nigh on Biblical, the limousines and courtesy buses semi-submerged down Epsom Road, sopping racegoers wading towards the track from Showgrounds station (where a platform was flooded). It must've been cruel television for farmers in the drought-affected west of New South Wales. Indeed, so unaccustomed to precipitation was Nationals leader Michael McCormack that the colours of his tie ran onto his shirt like a stab wound, perhaps an apt metaphor for the conservatives' recent showing in the Wagga Wagga byelection.

And in the biggest romantic bombshell since then AWU Secretary Paul Howes and Qantas executive Olivia Wirth stepped out together on Derby Day in 2012, Latitude Financial's new chief executive Ahmed Fahour stepped out with his new friend Hannah, only days since we reported his marriage to Dionnie, mother of his four children, had come to an amicable end earlier this year. Hey, we're natural matchmakers.