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Group 1 mares often stride the stage in the Sapphire Stakes run at Randwick on Saturday.

Atlantic Jewel was one of the best of them but didn’t get to see enough of her. Hoping to see another in the 2019 Sapphire Stakes (1200m) at Randwick on Saturday.

2019 SAPPHIRE STAKES - RACE HISTORY AND BACKGROUND

The Sapphire Stakes is Group 2 race for fillies and mares conducted by the Australian Turf Club at Royal Randwick as part of The Championships.

The Sapphire Stakes was first run in 1998 over 1200m and has remained at that distance.

The Sapphire Stakes is run under set weights and penalty conditions and has been a Group 2 race since 2007. It was a Listed Race from 1998-2001 and Group 3 from 2002-2006.

In 2010 the race was named the Lady Sonia McMahon Memorial Stakes in honour of the wife of Sir William McMahon, a former Prime Minister of Australia. Lady McMahon died in April of 2010.

Even only with a short history, several G1 mares have had success like Spinning Hill, Glamour Puss, Hurtle Myrtle, Atlantic Jewel, Cosmic Endeavour and Secret Agenda. That substantially helped their post-race careers.

The 2019 Sapphire Stakes will be run at Royal Randwick for prizemoney of $300,000.

Notable winners of the Sapphire Stakes include What Can I Say, Spinning Hill twice, Fair Embrace, Fatoon, Glamour Puss, Coolroom Candidate, Belong To Many, Hurtle Myrtle, Atlantic Jewel, Avoid Lightning, Arinosa, Cosmic Endeavour and Secret Agenda.

The 2018 Sapphire Stakes was won by Quilista from Ravi and White Moss.