There was a moment in the Nunthorpe Stakes here on Friday when it seemed that Acapulco, possibly the biggest two-year-old filly ever to set foot on a British track, was going to blow away her field. She had grabbed an early lead, flown to the pole marking two furlongs to go and had two lengths to spare heading into the final furlong but it was still not enough as Mecca’s Angel, trained in the north and ridden by a Yorkshireman, chased down her American rival with a few strides to spare.
It was a brief but memorable spectacle, over in 57.24sec, a lightning-fast time on good-to-soft ground, and particularly sweet for Michael Dods, the trainer of Mecca’s Angel, who scratched the winner from the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot in June due to unsuitably fast ground.
His patience and determination to do what was best for his horse was rewarded with a first success at Group One level, beating the horse that had pushed his juvenile Easton Angel into second place in the Queen Mary Stakes at the Royal meeting in the process.
Acapulco’s freakish size drew looks of awe and astonishment as she walked round the paddock before Friday’s race but she was a little edgy too on her second trip across the Atlantic in two months. Wesley Ward’s juvenile went to post smoothly enough, however, and also coped with being removed from the stalls for several minutes when Take Cover broke out and galloped loose before the off.
Irad Ortiz Jr, one of America’s best turf jockeys and booked to ride Acapulco at 8st, unleashed her raw speed from the start and it was enough to burn off all but one of her 18 opponents. Had the ground been fast, it might have carried her all the way to the line but Acapulco started to wilt with half a furlong to run and that was more than enough for Mecca’s Angel. Dods’ runner looked like a sprinter with Group One potential last autumn and she stayed on to win by two lengths as Acapulco started to wander under pressure. The 13-8 favourite held on for second, with Mattmu, at 12-1, another two lengths away in third.
“It’s marvellous for the north and everyone involved and it’s great to beat the Americans,” Dods said. “About two furlongs out I thought, ‘Oh no, I don’t want to be second to you again’ but, when I saw her mowing them down, I thought, ‘Get on, we’ll stuff it up you.’
“She’s quite easy to train but, when you’re aiming for a Group One [like the King’s Stand], you’ve got to get them right on the day and, when it doesn’t come or you have to ease back, it’s hard. The ground was too quick for her in Ireland last time and she was a bit stiff for a few days but we worked hard to get her right. Paul [Mulrennan, the winner’s jockey] said he thought she was back to where she was before Ascot and she’s shown what she can do, which is great for everyone.”
Mecca’s Angel is now likely to be aimed at the Prix de l’Abbaye at Longchamp on Arc day while Acapulco will return to Wesley Ward’s stable while her trainer plans the remainder of her campaign.
“I was very proud of her,” Ward said. “It’s tough for a two-year-old filly up against horses like this. Second is tough to swallow but to run as big as she did, it was an amazing run. I’ll talk with everybody at Coolmore but she’s got a big, big future in front of her and a world of speed, so she’s got some big days coming.
“That last eighth of a mile, you could see that the winner was right on her haunches. She was looking around a little bit but there’s no excuses, we got beat on the square.”
Acapulco’s remarkable size has led to speculation on internet forums and social media that she could have been administered steroids to boost her growth earlier in her career, which would be illegal in Britain but not in America, where the rules on banned substances are less rigorous.
Asked after the race whether this was the case, Ward insisted his filly has always been clean. “She’s been a big, tremendous filly from the first time I’ve seen her,” Ward said. “The BHA has done hair samples from way, way back and she is clean as a whistle as far as steroids or anything like that is concerned. She is just a big, powerful, monstrous filly.”
Rich Ricci’s pink colours have become so familiar in National Hunt racing over the last few years that it was a little disorienting to see them worn by Frankie Dettori in the Group Two Lonsdale Cup. His partner Max Dynamite had no trouble switching back to the Flat after a good second in the Galway Hurdle, however, and finished four and a half lengths clear of his field to earn a ticket to the Melbourne Cup at Flemington Park in November.
“On the Flat this must be [my biggest win], £90,000, not that I’m counting,” Ricci said. “He ran a brilliant race in the Galway Hurdle to finish second when the ground and track didn’t suit him and we’ll keep mixing it I think [between the Flat and National Hunt].
“But for the moment we’ll stay on the Flat and Melbourne is the dream and the plan we had coming into the race if he did well. I’m not sure when they go into quarantine but Willie [Mullins, Max Dynamite’s trainer] knows his way around there.
“I just asked Frankie if he would like to ride and he said that he would love to. We’ll have to see what happens, but that would be great.”
