This spring’s Group 1 racing on the eastern seaboard started with a 1400-metre weight-for-age event and it finishes this Saturday with another.

Technically it was still winter (and the track a heavy 10) on August 23 when Via Sistina won the Winx Stakes for the second year running, the first of three Group 1 doubles Australia’s reigning champion would complete on her spring campaign.

The weather is tipped to be (somewhat) better this Saturday for the first springtime running of the C.F. Orr Stakes at Caulfield. The question was always going to be whether, 84 days on from that first “spring” major, there would still be the cattle around to stage a genuine Group 1.

Happily, the answer appears to be yes. In particular, the C.F. Orr’s new positioning has made it an option for Chris Waller and Yulong to get a crucial first Group 1 win for their lightly raced four-year-old stallion prospect Angel Capital.

Jimmysstar, who beat Angel Capital home in the Everest and is already a dual Group 1 winner, adds further sparkle.

In the Orr’s glory days it was the first-up autumn race of choice for Vo Rogue, Let’s Elope, Saintly, Redoute’s Choice, Lonhro, Elvstroem, El Segundo, Maldivian and Black Caviar.

These days the best horses tend to start their autumn later, and the Group 1 Futurity is run over the same course two weeks after the Orr’s traditional date. So the switch is worth a try.

This Saturday’s other million-dollar event has less history to worry about.

Newcastle has staged the Hunter six times. They’ve all been on good tracks, they’ve all been won by city stables and four times the favourite has prevailed.

This Saturday’s popular pick might be the aptly named Coal Crusher, who’s competing at the Hunter meeting for the fourth successive year.