Sapphire Stakes 2024

Ladbrokes Tip: The Birthday Card Stakes is the key lead-up form to follow into the Sapphire Stakes each autumn.

The Sapphire Stakes is a Group 2 race for fillies and mares run at Royal Randwick Racecourse on the second Saturday in April each Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival. Part of the action of Day 2 of ‘The Championships’, the Sapphire Stakes is contested over 1200m so is a sprint race run at set weights plus penalties.

2022 Sapphire Stakes winner Bella Nipotina. Photo: Steve Hart.

Offering a total of $300,000 in prize money it is held on the same day as four elite level features: the Group 1 $5 million Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m), the Group 1 Sydney Cup (3200m), the Group 1 Australian Oaks (2400m) and the Group 1 Queen Of The Turf Stakes (1600m).

The key lead-up race into the Sapphire Stakes is the Group 3 Birthday Card Stakes (1200m) held at Rosehill Gardens a fortnight before and the latest to complete the double are Arinosa (2013), Quilista (2018), and Zapateo (2023).

Following the Sapphire Stakes, the best contenders may opt to back-up into the Group 1 All Aged Stakes with Atlantic Jewel (2012) the double.

In 2020 Fasika ran second in the Sapphire and third in that year’s All Aged Stakes results before returning the following year to win the Sapphire Stakes in 2021.

The latest edition of the Sapphire Stakes ran on Saturday April 13, 2024 on Queen Elizabeth Stakes Day in Sydney and saw Wee Nessy ($4.80) finish strongly to salute. 

2024 Sapphire Stakes Results

The complete Sapphire Stakes Race Results 2024 and finishing order will be available below once the race takes place on Saturday April 13, 2024.

2024 Sapphire Stakes winner Wee Nessy. Photo: Steve Hart.

• 1st: #3 Wee Nessy
• 2nd: #15 Ballroom Bella
• 3rd: #7 Miss Hellfire

Wee Nessy ($4.80) hit her stride 100m out charging up the inside to head the 2024 Sapphire Stakes results in the last on Day 2 of The Championships.

2024 Sapphire Stakes Odds

The autumn’s top Sapphire Stakes 2024 odds will be available below the week of the race so stay tuned to view the price on your early Sapphire Stakes betting selections during ‘The Championships’ in Sydney.

Sapphire Stakes Race Info

• Date: Saturday April 13, 2024
• Track: Royal Randwick Racecourse
• Distance: 1200m
• Conditions: Fillies & Mares – Set Weights + Penalties
• Status: Group 2
• Prize Money: $300,000
• First Run: 1998

Sapphire Stakes Betting

Sapphire Stakes betting opens after the release of final acceptances the Wednesday before the race runs on Queen Elizabeth Stakes Day on the Saturday. Markets are usually led by the season’s handy fillies and mares coming off lead-up races over similar distance during the autumn in Sydney like the Birthday Card Stakes two weeks before.

Proven form at Randwick over 1200m and those gallopers that have been tested in tougher company also feature highly up the Sapphire Stakes odds each year.

Any mares dropping in grade off an earlier Group 1 race in the autumn are also usually kept safe in Sapphire Stakes betting.

Zapateo ($2.30 in 2023) was the last favourite in Sapphire Stakes betting to win.

Sapphire Stakes Field

The Sapphire Stakes race field attracts a collection of classy sprinting fillies and mares coming out of the Birthday Card Stakes over the same distance at Rosehill Racecourse the month before. In 2014 the Birthday Card Stakes winner Avoid Lightning went on to run second to Cosmic Endeavour in the Sapphire Stakes before winning the latter the following season in 2015. Quilista (2018) followed by the Godolphin-raced Zapateo (2023) are the last to do the Birthday Card – Sapphire Stakes double.

Another early lead-up into the Sapphire Stakes field is the Group 3 Wenona Girl Quality (1200m) on Randwick Guineas Day.

Many of the best out of the Sapphire Stakes field each autumn go on to contest the Group 3 Hawkesbury Crown (1300m) at the end of April including the 2016 Sapphire winner Two Blue who ran second at Hawkesbury next-up. Another possible lead-up race for the mares in the Sapphire Stakes is the Group 3 PJ Bell Stakes (1200m) run at the same track and distance the Saturday before on Day 1 of ‘The Championships’.

Sapphire Stakes nominations close the Monday before the race runs on the Saturday, the field and barriers out two days later on the Wednesday around 9am (local time).

2024 Sapphire Stakes Field

The official Sapphire Stakes 2024 Final Field & Barriers will be available below once final acceptances close on the Wednesday of race week.

The Godolphin-raced Group 3 Maurice McCarten Stakes winner Red Card heads the 2024 Sapphire Stakes field and betting markets for the last at Randwick this Saturday.

2024 Sapphire Stakes Nominations

The early Sapphire Stakes 2024 nominations are taken by Racing NSW on the Monday leading-up to Queen Elizabeth Stakes Day and will be published in full below.

Table Credit: Racing Australia.

Sapphire Stakes Tips

Good Sapphire Stakes betting tips include looking for the mares that ran well in the Birthday Card Stakes the month before at Rosehill, runners with a good 1200m strike rate and proven Sydney performers.

Favourites only have a fair recent record in the race so another solid Sapphire Stakes tip is to lay the favourite and get behind another single-figure hope with the right lead-up form.

Mares who have contested previous editions of the Sapphire Stakes are also worth considering in tipping. For example, in 2020 White Moss celebrated back-to-back wins in the race having also run third in 2018.

2023 Sapphire Stakes winner Zapateo was excellent in the last on Queen Elizabeth Stakes Day. Photo: Steve Hart.

2024 Sapphire Stakes Tips

Our Ladbrokes’ expert Sapphire Stakes 2024 betting tips and race selections on the Group 2 for fillies and mares at Royal Randwick this season will be detailed in full below the week of the race.

• To Win: #4 Tashi ($6.50 at time of publish) – BET NOW

Open Sapphire and Tashi looks a nice price going so well this prep. Team Snowden’s four-year-old Sebring mare hasn’t finished worse than second in her latest six, and she boasts a good Randwick record (4:2-1-0). Winner at the track and trip two back before a last start second in the Group 3 Birthday Card Stakes under a length beaten. She rises in grade now, but that form held with the winner Chain Of Lightning going on to salute in the Group 1 TJ Smith Stakes at a big price. A kilo more than last start but ability to handle that. Wins.

Sapphire Stakes Form Guide

The Sapphire Stakes form guide details essential information like the trainers, jockeys, barriers and lead-up runs of the fillies and mares in the Group 2 race field. Looking at the Sapphire Stakes form guide for mares that ran in the Birthday Card Stakes last time out and for those with a proven strike rate in similar Sydney races are good tips.

The Sapphire Stakes form has stacked up in the subsequent Group 3 Hawkesbury Crown on Hawkesbury Gold Cup Day in recent years including Cosmic Endeavour who ran third in the latter after her 2014 Sapphire win.

In 2021 the Sapphire Stakes form was franked with the second-placed Entriviere winning that September’s Group 2 Sheraco Stakes (1200m) before taking out New Zealand’s Group 1 Railway Stakes (1600m) in January of 2022.

The Sapphire Stakes 2022 form was also franked with the winner Bella Nipotina back that October winning at elite level in the Group 1 Manikato Stakes (1200m) at Moonee Valley.

Zapateo franked the 2023 Sapphire Stakes form backing-up from her win to finish third in Adelaide’s Group Robert Sangster Stakes and The Goodwood. She also won Sydney’s Group 1 The Galaxy in the autumn of 2024.

2024 Sapphire Stakes Form Guide

A link to our comprehensive Sapphire Stakes 2024 Form Guide will be provided for punters below the week of the race.

Sapphire Stakes Results

Single-figure hopes but not the favourites have dominated the Sapphire Stakes race results in recent years.

Notable Sapphire Stakes winners from the past decade include dual champion White Moss (2019-20), Two Blue (2016), Avoid Lighting (2015), Cosmic Endeavour (2014), Atlantic Jewel (2012), and Court (2009).

Past Sapphire Stakes Winners

Recent Sapphire Stakes winners and place-getters dating back to the year 2000 are detailed in the below table.