Australia: Rose Quartz strong contender in Geoffrey Bellmaine Stakes at Sandown

Rose Quartz won four of her first seven starts, from April 2021 to last February. The jump to stakes-level competition has not been as easy.

Rose Quartz is winless in her last five starts, all listed and Group 3 races, but has been second or third in three of those races. Rose Quartz has been close enough at times to merit respect when she makes her second start of the year in the Group 3 Geoffrey Bellmaine Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs for fillies and mares at Sandown Racecourse in Melbourne on Friday evening.

Trained by Grahame Begg, who had won with 9 of 50 runners from Oct. 22 through Thursday, Rose Quartz is part of a competitive field of 14 in the $141,600 Bellmaine Stakes, the seventh race on a nine-race program that begins at 8:35 p.m. Eastern or 5:35 p.m. Pacific. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.

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Rose Quartz typically races as a stalker. She breaks from post 2 in the Bellmaine Stakes, which will put a premium on clean trip in a large field. Harry Coffey has the mount. He rode Rose Quartz to a third in the Christmas Stakes at 5 ½ furlongs on Dec. 26 and a second by three-quarters of a length in the Group 3 Standish Stakes at six furlongs on Jan. 14.

A 5-year-old, Rose Quartz was the 7-2 second choice in early betting on Thursday behind 3-1 Snapped, a winner of 3 of 6 starts who was third by three-quarters of a length as the 4-5 favorite after a troubled trip in a lucrative handicap at 5 1/2 furlongs at Rosehill Gardens on Jan. 14.

The Sandown program includes the Group 3 Chairman’s Stakes for 2-year-olds at five furlongs. Veecee and Searsana were both 9-5 in a field of nine on Thursday.

Veecee, a colt, closed from sixth in a field of eight to win a handicap at 5 1/2 furlongs at Flemington on Jan. 14. Searsana, a filly, raced near the front throughout a five-furlong handicap at Sandown on Dec. 10.

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