MICHAEL DODS is celebrating the greatest success of his training career after Mecca’s Angel broke the five-furlong track record at Longchamp to claim the Group Three Prix de Saint-Georges.

The four-year-old sprinter, who is trained at Dods’ Denton Hall stables and owned by Darlington-based businessman David Metcalfe, claimed her second Group Three triumph in hugely impressive style this afternoon as she trounced a top-class field featuring the likes of Catcall, Hot Streak and Maarek.

The win catapults her into the reckoning for all the leading sprint races in Europe this summer, and came despite Dods fearing the ground had turned too firm for his stable star.

Ridden by Paul Mulrennan, Mecca’s Angel burst from the stalls and disputed leadership with Hot Streak for the opening three furlongs.

She kicked on again with two furlongs remaining, and had effectively put the race to bed by the furlong pole before eventually finishing two lengths clear of the chasing pack to land odds of around 7.5-1 on the Paris Mutuel.

“It was a really strong field for a Group Three, but she ran brilliantly,” said Dods. “We knew it was a strong performance, but then after the race they came and told us she’s broken the course record.

“That just shows how well she’s run. I don’t know the exact time yet, but to claim the course record at Longchamp is some achievement. You can’t fail to have been impressed with her.

“We came here because we wanted good ground and we were hoping it would be on the soft side of good when we flew over (this morning). By the time we got here, we were a little bit worried it might have dried up and gone against her, but she obviously handled it fine.

“We’re really pleased with her, and Paul even had to take a bit of a pull two-and-a-half furlongs out because she was going so well.”

Mecca’s Angel has always been a hugely talented performer, with last September’s win in the Group Three Dubai International Airport World Trophy at Newbury underlining her abundant potential.

Today’s success suggests she has improved even more over the winter, and while she is entered in the Temple Stakes at Haydock later this month, there is every chance she will now go straight to Royal Ascot to contest the King’s Stand Stakes on the opening day of the Festival.

Paddy Power’s response to today’s performance was to trim her from 25-1 to 14-1 for the King’s Stand – last year’s winner, Sole Power, is the 4-1 favourite – but Dods has warned that she will not even line up at Ascot if the ground is any firmer than good.

“She’s extremely ground dependent, and we simply wouldn’t run her if conditions weren’t right,” he said. “Ascot is the obvious target now, and it’s still a bit amazing to think we can talk about taking a horse to the Royal meeting with a live chance in one of the big ones.

“She’s entered at Haydock, but if we were to run there, it would probably be a bit tight in terms of getting her back to her peak for Ascot. So even though it means putting her away for six weeks or so, my feeling at the minute is to go straight there.

“The ideal scenario at Ascot would be that the ground was riding on the slow side of good, but it’s obviously pretty rare to get those conditions. Genuinely good ground would be fine, but we’d start to worry if it was any quicker than that.”