The race to be Timeform's champion three-year-old filly might still be on after Godolphin's Ghisoni ran to a new peak at Doomben on Saturday.
The Gai Waterhouse-trained English looked to have champion three-year-old filly honours all wrapped up after posting a rating of 120 when winning the All Aged Stakes in April but Ghisoni breathed a bit of life into the contest when winning the Glenlogan Park Stakes, returning a new peak of 116 with the promise of more to come.
A rating of 116 marks Ghisoni's Glenlogan Park Stakes win down as the fourth best performance by a three-year-old filly in Australia this season. The 120-rated English is responsible for the top two performances on that list, on the strength of her efforts in the TJ Smith and All Aged Stakes, while Stay With Me ran to a mark of 117 when winning the Thousand Guineas in the spring - a performance she failed to match in the autumn.
With both of those higher-rated fillies 'on ice' for the remainder of the season there is a chance for Ghisoni to continue to improve her position, with the Stradbroke an achievable goal and a perfect platform for her to show her full worth.
Ghisoni's Glenlogan Park performance was also notable for the overall time. A truly run race ensured that the overall time was a strong one and Ghisoni's timefigure matched the form rating at 116.
A timefigure of 116 marks Ghisoni's Glenlogan Park performance down as one of the best overall times by a three-year-old filly this season, matching those posted by Speak Fondly in the Furious Stakes and Petits Filous in the Cap D'Antibes, and sitting just a pound behind clubhouse leader Stay With Me's 117 in the Thousand Guineas.
English's best overall time came in her defeat in the TJ Smith where she returned a timefigure of 115, while the other filly to reach the 115 mark in terms of overall time is a bit of a surprise packet in Badawiya who hit the mark when fourth in a strongly contested Emancipation Stakes.
Ghisoni's win was the best in the Glenlogan Park since Ortensia ran to 121 in 2009 and seven pounds better than the rating Srikandi posted when winning the race as a three-year-old in 2014.
Both of those fillies went on to run third in the Stradbroke and Ghisoni would, in all likelihood, have to better those efforts if she is to knock English off the top spot in the race to be Timeform's champion three-year-old filly.
Melito and Gold Edition were also placed in the Stradbroke at three, running to 121 and 124 respectively, while La Montagna, Private Steer and Dane Ripper were able to win the race as three-year-old fillies.
La Montagna won a substandard Stradbroke in 2006, running to 112, but Private Steer and Dane Ripper used the race to secure champion filly honours, the former running to 121 and the latter to 124, one of the best winning ratings in the recent history of famous handicap.
