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.

In 2023, Rinsed The Lot maintained his unbeaten record with a stunning performance to win the Ladbrokes Future Stars Maiden Final.

After a dazzling 22.34s heat win last week, Rinsed The Lot improved that mark to 22.17s in the final, careering away for a six length win over Starlight Banner with Furious a further ¾ length away in third.

For context, the winning time was two lengths faster than the time run in 2017 by 2018 Million Dollar Chase third placegetter Sky Wave, a length and a half faster than the time 2022 MDC runner-up Zipping Kyrgios posted in 2020, and a length quicker than 2018 Future Stars winner Good Odds Harada who of course would win the MDC the following year.

Strangely though it was not a race record. That mark is held by Michelle Sultana’s previous winner of the Future Stars, Drink Shoeys who won the race in 2019 in blistering 22.06s.

“He always showed us he had some ability, and bringing him here on trial days you never get the same time on a trial day as you do on raceday,” Michelle said.

“It’s very exciting. He’s a very young dog that was probably just his fifth go over the 400m, so there’s exciting times ahead.”

Rinsed The Lot is a son of Barcia Bale and Mrs Mouse, making him a half-brother to Fernando Hunter (by Fernando Bale), winner of the $100,000 Masters Meteor in October at Wentworth Park.