Karl Burke expects Quiet Reflection to raise her game at Royal Ascot next month after finishing down the field in Saturday's Temple Stakes at Haydock.
The Leyburn-based trainer made no secret of the fact his dual Group One-winning filly has not been burning up the gallops this spring and the prospect of quick ground over an inadequate five furlongs on Merseyside further tempered his enthusiasm.
However, he decided to let his four-year-old line up in the Group Two contest as a prep run for the Diamond Jubilee in Berkshire next month and while she finished a well-beaten 10th of 12 runners, Burke is far from downbeat.
He said: "Everything is fine this morning. She's absolutely perfect, no issues, and we're very happy with her.
"I came very close to pulling her out yesterday and heading to Chantilly next weekend, but you don't know what the ground will be like in a week's time and we decided to let her take her chance.
"She's not a five-furlong filly, at least we know that for sure now, and it ended up being a racecourse gallop.
"In hindsight we probably should have run her in the Greenlands Stakes at the Curragh with the way the ground went there on Saturday, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.
"The main thing is she's got that run in now, which we wanted, she's come out of it well and we'll head for Royal Ascot.
"I was happy with how she ran and so was Martin (Harley). He said he felt she was just picking up in the last 100 yards after getting her second wind and another furlong will make a big difference."
