The first weekend of July doesn't jump off the calendar as a chance to look for future Group 1 winners. This time of year has traditionally had commentators reaching for the euphemism "hearty winter fare" to make punters feel better about investing on ordinary fields and occasionally diabolical racing surfaces.

But not so fast. Past results In some of Saturday's key races are sure to have the winning connections looking ahead with optimism.

For starters, the Sunshine Coast's Winx Guineas is the race Winx won in 2015 to launch her 33-race, 25-Group 1 winning streak.

Okay, the Sunshine Coast Guineas was run in May when she won it. But since its move to July it's been won by Tivaci (2016), who went on to win the All Aged Stakes the following autumn, The Bostonian (2018), who would take the 2019 Doomben 10,000, the 2019 Kingsford Smith Cup and the 2020 Canterbury Stakes, and Knight's Choice (2023), who last spring won a long-distance handicap you may have heard of.

The honour rolls of Saturday's other Sunshine Coast features, the Caloundra City Cup and Glasshouse Handicap, aren't as star-studded but 2011 Glasshouse winner Woorim did go on to take the 2012 Oakleigh Plate.

Looking south, Flemington's winter finals have also produced their share of future glamour. Tuvalu, for example, won the 2022 Winter Championship then the Toorak Handicap three months later.

The Creswick Sprint Series final for three-year-olds was won from 2018-20 by Nature Strip (nine Group 1s plus an Everest), Gytrash (2020 Lightning) and Front Page ($3.5 million earner).

Forgetting the future, the beauty of finals day for the punter is that the form usually holds up. This program hasn't seen a heavy track since 2007 (when it was at Sandown) and favourites have won 31 of the 81 races since 2016 (38.3%).