It has been a strong Brisbane Winter Racing Carnival to date for Ciaron Maher & David Eustace who will be looking to cap Queensland Oaks Day off with another Group win saddling-up the hot favourite Kenedna from gate three in the Group 2 $400,000 P.J. O’Shea Stakes (2200m).

Kenedna backs up from a Doomben Cup win in Saturday’s 2019 PJ O’Shea Stakes field.

The card closer at Doomben on Saturday, the P.J. O’Shea Stakes 2019 jumps as Race 9 at 4:15pm (AEST) and drew a small field of a dozen stayers.

Sitting top of the updated P.J. O’Shea Stakes odds at Ladbrokes.com.au post-acceptances at $3.50 for the win in five-year-old Not A Single Doubt mare Kenedna whose lead-up produced the excellent three-quarter length Group 1 Doomben Cup (2000m) success.

Returning to the track with a fortnight between runs, the dual Group 1 winning mare gets the run of the race from her favourable barrier and hoop John Allen retains the ride.

Kenedna is a two-time Doomben winner having also taken out last year’s The Roses before her game fourth behind Egg Tart 12 months ago in the Group 1 Queensland Oaks (2200m).

Maher will send Kenedna out to the paddock after Saturday’s race, but said the mare was going too well not to try for one more Group win before the spell.

“She just pulled up great [from the Doomben Cup] and it is a weight-for-age race at the same track so I thought it was a too good of an opportunity,” the co-trainer told Racenet this week.

Despite the small field, there are a further three single-figure chances in P.J. O’Shea Stakes betting this winter including current $4.20 equal second-elects Life Less Ordinary and Sixties Groove drawn in barriers one and two respectively.

Life Less Ordinary is one of four in the field for ace trainer Chris Waller, who chases a fourth Queensland Oaks success in five years earlier in the day.

Jumping from the inside alley with two-time Melbourne Cup winning jockey Corey Browne aboard, the evergreen seven-year-old is out to turn the tables on Kenedna after his Doomben Cup second behind the mare last time out.

Prior to that, Life Less Ordinary enjoyed a Group 2 A.D. Hollindale Stakes (1800m) win on the Gold Coast in the wet and will profit from any give in the track.

The Kris Lees-trained Sixties Groove meanwhile has an excellent record over the distance (3:2-1-0) that the six-year-old will be out to add to on Saturday, the Doomben Cup third-placegetter also out to frank the form of that Group 1 event from earlier in the carnival.

The other best in betting at $4.80 in a tight top-half of the market is another Waller runner, seven-year-old Savabeel mare Shillelagh.

She has had four attempts at Doomben for just the one second placing and is yet to win over further than a mile, but back in March she proved her class when a narrowly beaten for second in the Group 1 Australian Cup (2000m) at Flemington.

Her latest run was in the Doomben Cup when two lengths back sixth.

The full P.J. O’Shea Stakes 2019 field, barriers, form and latest Doomben racing odds for Saturday are all now available online through Ladbrokes.com.au.