The Maitland Future Stars Maiden Series has delivered in recent years, and a few future stars have been unearthed.
In 2017 the event was won by Sky Wave who would go on to be one of leading sprinters in NSW, winning the State Sprint Championships and representing NSW at the National Titles in 2018. Later that year Sky Wave would finish third in the Inaugural Million Dollar Chase behind Mystic Riot.
The following year the Future Stars winner was the Frank Hurst-trained Good Odds Harada. As we all know a year later in 2019 Harada would go on to win the Million Dollar Chase Grand Final.
The 2019 Futures Stars was won by the Michelle Sultana-trained Drink Shoeys in a time far smarter than the illustrious two previous winners.
In 2020 some impressive heat performances saw a wide open final contested.
The winner was the John Finn-trained Zipping Kyrgios leading throughout from box 6 with Charmaine Field's pair, Cherokee Outlaw and Bradman Best filling the placings.
Frank and Tracey Hurst brought a number of young dogs to Maitland for the Future Stars series in 2021, and qualified two runners for the final.
With a perfect box 1 draw, and a fast heat performance it was the Hurst-trained Good Odds Zac who was favourite, but his kennelmate Ties That Bind was the one for the Hursts, rattling home to grab the leader Kitty Keen in the shadows of the post.
