Dods sweet on Champion Angel

Michael Dods says he’d “love to run” Mecca’s Angel in the QIPCO British Champions Sprint at Ascot on Saturday week, after the amazing five-year-old mare returned from Chantilly in good shape after finishing third in Sunday’s Prix de l’Abbaye.

Mecca’s Angel was sent off a short priced favourite for the Group One after landing a second victory in the Group One Nunthorpe Stakes but could only finish third, beaten three quarters of a length. 

Dods doesn’t want to make excuses for the defeat, stressing that finishing third in a Group One could hardly be considered a disappointment, even if the bare facts of her run suggest that she ran well below her best form.

The ground may have been faster than ideal in France and good to firm ground would prove a deterrent to letting her line up at Ascot, and her condition is set to be closely monitored for the next 10 days, but the trainer seems energised by the prospect of seeing his stable star go for a third Group One and make a belated first attempt at six furlongs since finishing fourth in the Redcar Two Year Old Trophy back in 2013.

“I’d usually give her a couple of easy weeks after a race but that’s more because of the way that her races have been spaced out this season and she has run twice in relatively quick succession in the past so I don’t think that’s a problem – she loves her racing,” he said.

“She seems to have come home well and she’s eaten up well. We’ll monitor her weight and either Paul [Mulrennan] or …

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