IT is not all that rare to be subjected to four seasons of weather in one day in our outpost of north-western Europe, but experiencing almost the whole spectrum of going at one race meeting is something of a novelty.

That - it could be argued - is what occurred over Haydock’s three-day meeting last week, though it may not have been quite as extreme as it appeared.

Thursday’s card took place on officially “good” but included a seven-furlong course record by Forge and other fast times. Timeform described the surface as “firm”.

Friday was similar, with Valley Of Fire only 0.08s outside the old seven-furlong record, though straight-course times continued to be slower.

Things changed drastically on Saturday, however, as heavy and persistent rain slowed things markedly, resulting in the official ground being changed to “soft”, with which Timeform - and times - agreed.

It is not the first occasion on which times have proved something of a head-scratcher at the course, which has a plethora of possible bend set-ups and sometimes substantial rail movements.

As an illustration of the latter, the races advertised as being run at 14 furlongs on Saturday had 92 yards added on after declaration.

Fortunately, Haydock’s main event - the Group 1 32Red Sprint Cup - took place at six furlongs and in a straight line, so both times and sectionals are likely to have been what they appeared, and what they appeared was something pretty impressive.

Quiet Reflection’s overall time of 1m 13.45s was the slowest winning time since 2009, but it was fast in the context of the deteriorating conditions and worthy of a time figure of 121: that is the joint-12th-best timefigure in Britain and Ireland this year.

Sectionals show that she achieved it by tracking what was a strong pace for the conditions, before leading over a furlong out and drawing on as most of her rivals tired. The Tin Man came from well back - and might well have been helped by doing so - to be a never-dangerous second.

Quiet Reflection is a rattling good sprinter, if not quite as good on times as Limato (withdrawn from this on account of the going, though he has won on good to soft) let alone Mecca’s Angel, and she could well have conditions to suit her again in the Sprint on Champions Day at Ascot.

Third-placed Suedois has failed to get his head in front when it matters this year but is the one above all in this who deserves marking up on account of sectionals, paying for racing close up and leading briefly in the penultimate furlong. There are not many suitable five/six furlong group races left for the David O’Meara-trained gelding, but he merits respect if turning up in one of them.