MICHAEL DODS will drop Easton Angel back to five furlongs after the two-year-old finished third in yesterday’s Lowther Stakes.

With Paul Mulrennan racing prominently to ensure Easton Angel (4-1) did not suffer the kind of traffic problems that scuppered her chances in last month’s Duchess of Cambridge Stakes at Newmarket, Dods’ juvenile star looked the likeliest winner at the halfway stage of the six-furlong contest.

But she was unable to repel the advances of the fast-finishing Besharah (11-4), who completed a rapid-fire double for William Haggas, and Lumiere (9-4), who confirmed her immense promise for Middleham handler Mark Johnston on only her second outing.

Easton Angel, who is part-owned by the Qatar-based Al Shaqab operation, started the season operating in five-furlong sprints, and is now set to drop back to the minimum distance for the remainder of her two-year-old campaign.

“We kept it very simple with her, and I think she was the last horse off the bridle,” said Dods, who is based at Denton Hall, near Piercebridge. “I’ll have to watch the race again, but it looks like she wants to come back to five.

“She has a lot of speed, but she’s been outstayed. You would have thought she was going to win two furlongs out, but she just didn’t get there.”

Dods will be back on the Knavesmire this afternoon as his other star sprinter, Mecca’s Angel, attempts to claim the biggest win of her career in the Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes.

Having broke the Longchamp track record in May’s Prix de Saint Georges, Mecca’s Angel finished second behind Stepper Point on her last outing at the Curragh on ground that was almost certainly too fast for her.

Today’s conditions should be much more to her liking, although with American sprinter Acapulco, who beat Easton Angel to land the Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot in hugely impressive fashion, a short-priced favourite, and the likes of Sole Power and Muthmir also in the field, Dods accepts it will be a huge achievement if Mecca’s Angel can land the spoils.

“She’s really well, but it’s a very hot race,” he said. “If she had been running (yesterday), the conditions would have been perfect. We’ll see what happens with the ground, but the rain that fell early in the week should hopefully have helped.

“We’ve been delighted with the way she’s been working at home, but when you look at the names she’s going to be up against, it couldn’t really be a stronger field.”