The dust has settled on the Group 1 section of the Perth Summer Carnival and Inspirational Girl it seems has emerged from it not only with an elite-race win, but also with a much-enhanced reputation.
Her owner Bob Peters said on Wednesday that her Railway Stakes performance had him thinking seriously about her potential, as only one horse in Perth's racing history has run quicker over 1600 metres than she did late last month.
Inspirational Girl's 1:33.79 fell just short of Marwong's 1:33.73 some 32 years earlier, which was a race that Peters will always remember.
"She's an interesting one," he said of Inspirational Girl, who cost him $190,000 as a yearling. "Her sectionals tell you she could be there.
"When she won the Railway Stakes, she was only 0.06s outside the state record.
"Marwong's held that since 1988. I know that because he beat Congressman (third) in that Railway Stakes and I'll never forget it.
"You look at the time and no one's done it faster over 1600 metres at Ascot since then and she nearly did with her jockey sitting up on her.
"So, maybe, she's got the potential."
A winner of nine of her 12 starts, Inspirational Girl cruised to victory in the G1 Railway Stakes before a second placing in the Kingston Town Classic earned her an immediate rest from training.
"She went straight out after a second the other day but whether she'll be ready (for the autumn) we'll have to see," he said.
The All-Star Mile on March 13 is a possible target, where she is $26 with Sportsbet, but things have to go right for the mare over summer.
"It just depends on how she spells and whether she's ready as it (autumn) comes up very quickly, especially for us over here," Peters said.
"She'll probably have three weeks (in the paddock) and that will be about it."
Inspirational Girl's stablemate Truly Great, who beat her in the Kingston Town, can also earn an eastern-states trip in 2021 with Peters confident the son of Dundeel has more to offer after improving rapidly in recent weeks.
"We were heading him down the path to the Perth Cup but because he came home so fast in one of his earlier (restricted-class) races, I changed tack and headed towards the better-class races," he said.
The downside of winning a weight-for-age G1 is that you pay in weight and so Truly Great will surely attract a decent handicap for his original summer goal of the January 2 Perth Cup.
"He's only lightly raced with 12 runs (seven wins) and when he goes next to the 2100-metre weight-for-age on Saturday week (G2 Ted Van Heemst Stakes) will tell us what we should do with him," Peters said.