True Love shed her maiden tag in style with victory in the Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Trained by Aidan O’Brien and ridden by Ryan Moore, True Love had chased home Tuesday’s Coventry Stakes winner and stablemate Gstaad on her latest start and was duly sent off the 9/4 favourite.

True Love took some time to work her way into the race as Zelaina set a scorching early pace, but she stayed on to real effect in the final furlong to beat 100/1 shot Flowerhead, with Patrick Biancone’s American raider Lennilu third.

The winning trainer said: “She had two very good runs, she was second to a good filly first time out, then our own colt [Gstaad] beat her the second time. Ryan gave her a beautiful ride. Michael always loved her, always spoke about her. It’s great because her mother is in foal to City Of Troy, and her sister is in foal to Wootton Bassett. It’s marvellous, really. Delighted.

“She is like a four-year-old. Keith is in charge of her at home. Ryan said he thought she’ll be better when she steps up to six. She’s a big, mature, strong filly. Walking around the ring, she was like a big four-year-old, and that’s not making little of anything else – she’s just so big, so mature and so scopey. She’s something to look forward to.”

Responding to a reflection that True Love’s performance is a quickfire boost to Coventry form, given Gstaad’s win yesterday, O’Brien added: “She (True Love) is lovely. She had her first run and Ryan came in and said, ‘They won’t beat her again’. Her second run, Wayne came in and said, ‘They won’t beat her again’. Then you see the two that beat her, so…! The only thing is that she was drawn by herself, there was no pace where she was, so she had to go and do her own work and that’s what Ryan did. He was excellent on her, he wasn’t going to wait on anybody, and that’s what he did. I think probably the strongest part of her was the last half-a-furlong – when she got going, she really powered away. Ryan said she was a little bit slow to step and he was a little bit on the back foot, he was a couple of lengths down all the time, I think that’s why he was just maybe trying to stove her up a little bit. But the last half-furlong, he felt she was very strong.”

He added: “She had to work hard as she was on that part of the track by herself and the only place she was going to get company was in the middle, but Ryan slowly let her go out there. She did well really, because she was under the pump a long way out and she was still very strong at the line. She’s obviously high class.”

Asked if he looks forward to now going up in trip, O’Brien said: “I think so. The lads will decide that, but you would imagine she’ll have no problem going six, but she is No Nay Never and he is a big influence for speed always.”