It’s the first weekend of July, so naturally the stars of the coming season will be at home in their boxes or in a paddock, preferably in one of the warmer climes.

Right?

Not necessarily, it would seem.

Past results In some of this Saturday’s key races are sure to have the winning connections looking ahead with optimism.

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

Yes, the Sunshine Coast Guineas was run in May when she won it. But since its move to July it’s been won in 2016 by Tivaci (2017 All Aged Stakes winner), in 2018 by The Bostonian (2019 Doomben 10,000 and Kingsford Smith Cup, 2020 Canterbury Stakes) and in 2023 by Knight’s Choice (2024 Melbourne Cup).

In fact, cups double punters (if any still exist) should be keeping a particularly close eye on proceedings at Corbould Park this Saturday, because last year’s Caloundra City Cup went to none other than Half Yours.

The honour roll of Saturday’s other Sunshine Coast feature, the Glasshouse Handicap, isn’t as star-studded but 2011 winner Woorim did go on to take the next season’s Oakleigh Plate.

Looking south, Flemington’s winter finals have also produced their share of future bling. 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 holds up. This program hasn’t seen a heavy track since 2007 (when it was at Sandown) and favourites have won 35 of the 90 races since 2016 (38.9%).