Ways to boost the Group One Doomben Cup will be among of the priorities in a review of the Brisbane winter carnival.

Racing Queensland chief executive Darren Condon confirmed there would be a major review at the end of this year’s carnival including race dates, sponsorship and weight scales.

Condon said the Doomben Cup, which has just 10 runners on Saturday, would be closely looked at.

The now defunct Brisbane Turf Club switched the Cup from a handicap to a weight-for-age race in 1990.

It was designed to attract what was a vintage crop of weight-for-age middle distance horses at the time including Vo Rogue, Stylish Century, Super Impose and Better Loosen Up.

While none of those horses were enticed into the race the wfa idea proved a winner with top class gallopers such as Rough Habit, Might and Power, Durbridge, Danewin and Intergaze winning the Cup during the 1990s.

However, in the past decade the Cup has dropped away with only two of the 10 runners in Saturday’s race already Group One winners, early favourite Streama and $81 chance Fat Al.

“One thing we need to look at is how to maximise the spin-off the Doomben Cup gets from the $4 million Queen Elizabeth Stakes in Sydney,” Condon said.

“At the moment we are not getting some of the better horses out of the Queen Elizabeth. But does that mean we should move a race such as the Hollindale Cup at the Gold Coast to run the Doomben Cup earlier?”

“It would be ideal if Queen Elizabeth runners could go on to our Cup and then go for their winter spell before a Cox Plate campaign.”

Condon also conceded that for all winter carnival races apart from the $1 million Group One Stradbroke Handicap, prize money was becoming an issue.

“We are starting to get a major gap between us and the south but that is something else we will be reviewing,” he said.