And so we head to Ladbrokes Park for the last hurrah of the Melbourne spring carnival for 2017.

The Zipping Classic is the main event, and in recent years the best form for that race has been Melbourne Cup form.

The Darren Weir-trained Big Duke ran fourth in the Cup and he's in the box seat to take the Classic, but he'll have stiff opposition from 2016 Cup winner Almandin (who ran 12th this year).

Paul Richards's Sandown preview leads this week's Winning Post.

Our form coverage kicks off on Friday with full form guides for the Moonee Valley and Canterbury night meetings plus the day meeting at bet365 Park Kyneton plus fields, colours and selections for Murwillumbah, Gundagai, Naracoorte and Mackay.

The metro racing this Saturday is at Ladbrokes Park in Melbourne, Rosehill in Sydney, Morphettville in Adelaide, Doomben in Brisbane and Ascot in Perth. But it doesn't stop there, because there's nighttime action at Cranbourne and we've got it covered.

Winning Post carries full-colour liftout guides for all those meetings plus Dunkeld (Vic/SA/Tas edition), Kembla Grange (NSW edition) and Gold Coast (Queensland edition), as well as fields, tips, ratings and/or colours for other TAB Saturday cards.

On Sunday we've got liftout formguides for four more TAB meetings including Donald Cup day plus fields, ratings, tips and colours for a stack more Sunday and Monday programs.

Don't forget Winning Post now carries trackwork reports for all four Melbourne training tracks, all three in Sydney, Morphettville in Adelaide and a general Brisbane report.

Away from the form, we've got news columns from Queensland, NSW, six Victorian districts, SA and Tasmania.

Our readers have their say on page 4, while further back in the book Shane Templeton reminisces, Paul Richards presents his unique take on the sport, Tony Kneebone brings you his Snippets column and Number Cruncher delivers the stats that matter.

Winning Post costs $5 and is available Thursday afternoon in selected Melbourne newsagents, the crack of dawn Friday elsewhere.