PJ O’Shea Stakes

The PJ O’Shea Stakes has now been replaced by the $1.2 million Group 2 The Q22 (2200m) that runs on Stradbroke Handicap Day. 

The P.J. O’Shea Stakes was a key early feature of the Queensland Winter Racing Carnival formerly known as the Eagle Farm Cup (2010-16) before its move to Doomben Racecourse to join the Oaks Day line-up.

It ran for the last time in 2019, without a race in 2020 due to COVID-19 and then replaced in 2021 by The Q22 race.

A Group 2 weight-for-age event contested over 2200m, the P.J. O’Shea Stakes offered a generous $400,000 in total prize money. The weight-for-age race was held in late May or early June and was accompanied on the race card by the Group 2 Moreton Cup (1200m) for the winter sprinters and the Group 1 Queensland Oaks (2200m) for the three-year-old fillies.

Horses that contested the PJ O’Shea Stakes often headed towards a next-up winter run in the Group 2 $300,000 Brisbane Cup a week later and the last horse to do the double was Lights Of Heaven (2012).

More recently the PJ O’Shea Stakes winner in 2017 Single Gaze went on to run second in the Brisbane Cup when both races took place at Doomben Racecourse. The following year in 2018 it was back-to-back wins for the mares with the success of Egg Tart who came off a lead-up Doomben Cup second.

The last edition of the P.J. O’Shea Stakes took place in 2019 and saw two-time Group 1 winning mare Kenedna salute. 

2019 PJ O’Shea Stakes Results

• 1st: #9 Kenedna
• 2nd: #6 Sixties Groove
• 3rd: #12 Re Edit

Doomben Cup winning mare Kenedna became the third mare in as many years to beat home the boys in the P.J. O’Shea Stakes results with her tidy 1.75 length win over Sixties Groove, while the brave filly Re Edit ran a huge WFA race in third.

PJ O’Shea Stakes Race Info

• Date:
• Track: Doomben Racecourse
• Distance: 2200m
• Conditions: Weight-for-age
• Status: Group 2
• Prize Money: $400,000
• First Run: 1947

PJ O’Shea Stakes Betting

The PJ O’Shea Stakes betting markets favoured proven stayers with winning form in the distance range of 2000 – 2400m. There was often short PJ O’Shea Stakes odds on offer for any winter gallopers dropping down in grade off a Group 1 Doomben Cup (2000m) run a fortnight earlier, a race that produced a host of recent PJ O’Shea Stakes winners including Egg Tart (2nd) in 2018.

Horses that performed well in the Gold Coast’s AD Hollindale Stakes the month before and those with strong form at weight-for-age also featured high up the PJ O’Shea Stakes winter racing markets.

PJ O’Shea Stakes Field

Subsequent Caulfield Cup runner-up Single Gaze (2017) is one of the most notable past PJ O’Shea Stakes winners. Photo Credit: Steve Hart.

The PJ O’Shea Stakes field attracted a quality line-up of winter staying types, many of which were up in distance but down in grade having contested the Group 1 Doomben Cup (2000m) the start prior.

The Doomben Cup provided a host of PJ O’Shea Stakes winners and placegetters in recent years, while graduates out of the latter often backed-up in the Brisbane Cup a week later.

Both local Queenslanders and the interstate raiders chasing the lucrative winter prize money in the Sunshine State featured in the PJ O’Shea Stakes field each year and the advantage went to the visitors in the past decade.

PJ O’Shea Stakes Tips

The PJ O’Shea Stakes tips focused on weight-for-age stayers with previous form in the Queensland winter races including the Doomben Cup, those that have contested and ran well in past editions of the race and the in-form mares who had a strong recent record in the Group 2.

Other good PJ O’Shea Stakes betting tips included looking for gallopers that will relish the step-up to 2200m perhaps second or third-up off runs around 1800m – 2000m in earlier Queensland Winter Racing Carnival events.

PJ O’Shea Stakes Form Guide

The official PJ O’Shea Stakes form guide provided punters with all the relevant info needed to place a bet on the winter Group 2 race including the horses in the field, their jockeys, the barrier draws, allocated weights and lead-up form.

Looking at the PJ O’Shea Stakes form guide for runners out of the Doomben Cup, those with winning form over the distance (2200m) and in-form runners from interstate stables were key.

The PJ O’Shea Stakes form also stacked-up plenty of times in the subsequent Brisbane Cup results and combining the two races in a winter betting double was often a popular punt that can pay good returns.

PJ O’Shea Stakes Results

The PJ O’Shea Stakes results date back to 1947 when the race was first run and won by the previous year’s Melbourne Cup winner Russia.

A number of quality stayers have topped the PJ O’Shea Stakes results over the years including the race’s first dual champion Redcraze (1956-57) and the famous Tommy Smith-trained Tulloch (1960-61).

Notable recent PJ O’Shea Stakes winners include Scenic Shot (2008-09), Lights Of Heaven (2012), Single Gaze (2017) and the Doomben Cup / PJ O’Shea Stakes double winner Kenedna (2019).

The PJ O’Shea Stakes results from 2021 onwards are known as The Q22 results and are available here.

PJ O’Shea Stakes Winners