Usain Bolt is quick to flick the switch to party at Oaks Day in Melbourne

A ROUGHIE may have won the VRC Crown Oaks, but the world’s fastest man wasn’t about to get beaten in an impromptu dash down the Flemington straight. SEE THE PICS

• BEAUTIFUL DAY: Ladies shine during Oaks day at sunny Flemington

THE world’s fastest man ­attempted to claim new turf with a dash down Flemington’s straight yesterday.

Best mate and former Australian 400m runner John Steffensen was no match for Usain Bolt, who was a runaway favourite on Oaks Day.

On your mark. Usain Bolt and John Steffensen are ready to race down the straight at Flemington. Picture: Darren Tindale/The Image is Everything.

Go! Usain Bolt proves too quick for John Steffensen down the straight at Flemington Racecourse. Picture: Darren Tindale/The Image is Everything.

Instagram picture of the big race.

Rumoured to have been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to appear, the Jamaican joker — who dodged a wayward horse’s hoof and ran a mock race with Steffensen — gave the on-track action a run for entertainment value.

Bolt donned a tan suit and arrived on course about noon, where he spent his first few hours in the Crown marquee.

“I went to get an outfit because I don’t (usually) wear a suit, so I decided to go with a nice change of clothes,” Bolt said. “Very comfortable in suits. I don’t get to wear them that often. But when I do,  I   think  I  look  very  good.”

The sprinter told the Herald Sun that his new friend, Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Michelle Payne, had helped him out with some betting tips.

CASHING IN: BOLT TO EARN $1M FOR MELBOURNE RUN

Usain Bolt leaps after nearly being kicked by Bella Sorrellastra as jockey Hugh Bowman looks on in the mounting yard before the running of the Crown Oaks Picture: AAP/Julian Smith

Whoah there! Picture: Ian Currie

Bit close there Bella! Picture: Ian Currie

Fast mover: Bolt springs into action. Picture: Ian Currie

Usain Bolt is all smiles after that surprise. Picture: Ian Currie

He also presented the trophy to the owners of 120-1 rank outsider Lasqueti Spirit, which raced into the record books in front of a crowd of 60,888.

The filly defied all odds to win the $1 million Oaks in perfect weather on the penultimate day of the Melbourne Cup Carnival.

Victorian born-and-bred jockey Brenton Avdulla had time to rise from the stirrups and bow to the crowd as his shock maiden victor finished well ahead of its more fancied rival — the almost unbackable favourite Yankee Rose ($1.85).

“It’s special being a Melbourne boy and being here,’’ Avdulla said.

Now based in Sydney, he revealed he almost did not bother coming home to ride the horse bought in a bid to win a Golden Slipper in NSW.

“It’s just unreal ... it’s special ... I just can’t believe it’’, he said.

Usain Bolt is dressed to party in the Birdcage at Oaks Day. Picture: AAP

Usain creates a flutter outside the Birdcage. Picture: Jason Edwards

Usain Bolt with Jennifer Hawkins with the Crown Oaks 2016 Cup in hand. Picture: Jason Edwards

It came after Payne got ­Ladies Day off to the most poetic of starts with a Race 1 victory a year to the day she became the first woman to win the Cup.

After missing a ride in the race that stops a nation, Payne proved the doubters wrong again with a masterful win aboard $18 outsider Tavi Bay for her maiden Oaks Day triumph at Flemington.

Continuing her fight for female equality in the racing game, she declared: “We need the opportunities.’’

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