The P.B. Lawrence Stakes, highlight of this Saturday’s racing at Caulfield, has a grand tradition as a kickoff point for stars of the spring.

In the 21 years from 1984 to 2004, when it was called the J.J. Liston, its field produced eight Caulfield Cup winners, three Melbourne Cup winners and two Cox Plate winners.

It wasn’t so much the winner you were jotting down for future reference as the ones finishing on behind. (Of those 13 subsequent major winners, only Sydeston in 1990 won the Liston.)

Times have changed, however, and the practice of running a horse first up in late winter, then every fortnight up to its target race, has gone out of fashion.

Since Maldivian ran third in the 2008 Liston then won that year’s Cox Plate, the only Liston/Lawrence runner to win one of Melbourne’s spring big three is Jameka, fourth in the Lawrence and first in the Caulfield Cup. That was a decade ago.

Dual Lawrence winner Mr Brightside nearly broke the drought in 2023, winning two spring Group 1s (Memsie and Makybe Diva) then all but winning the Cox Plate.

The only spring Group 1 winner to emerge from the 2024 P.B. Lawrence was Pinstriped, runner-up to Gentleman Roy then winner of the Memsie a fortnight later.

The future Group 1 winner in last year’s field was Desert Lightning, second to Private Eye in the Lawrence and a surprise winner of the Goodwood the following autumn.

The only 2025 Lawrence runner to get to one of the big three was Attrition, last in the Lawrence but a bold fourth in the Cox Plate.

If the drought for P.B. Lawrence runners in the big spring races is to be broken this year, the markets suggest Wootton Verni, Ohope Wins or Cosmic Crusader is likeliest to do it.