IT might have been a week ago, but Mecca's Angel's stunning success in the Group One Nunthorpe last Friday at York is very much fresh in the memory.

Trained by Michael Dods and ridden by Paul Mulrennan, this was a great result for Northern England and afterwards the winning rider said: “We’ve talked about her being a Group One winner all year, but now she has proved she is.

"To do it here, the place I lost my claim, and for Michael, who has been a big supporter, is extra special."

If Mulrennan was moved by the local success, Dods added an extra layer to the theatre when he revealed that Shane Cuddy, a member of his County Durham team, had sustained a serious injury the day before after taking a heavy fall on the gallops.

"He had to be airlifted to hospital,” he said. “He has pelvic injuries, but we don't know the extent of those yet. Everyone was down, but hopefully this will give everyone a lift.

“It was a marvellous performance and it's great to have a northern winner of the Nunthorpe.

"She's shown today she's a superstar.”

Owner David Metcalfe led the four-year-old grey into the winners’ enclosure, with his wife, Anne, looking on and joking that she expected him to have a heart attack at the excitement of it all.

Metcalfe now hopes to take Mecca’s Angel to Ireland for the Group Two Flying Five on September 13 before a tilt at the Prix l’Abbaye at Longchamp on the first Sunday in October.

Mecca’s Angel was taken out of the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot due to ground considerations and she is likely to get the going that sees her at her best at both of those courses.

It is unlikely, therefore, that we will ever see her run on going better than good next year as she is almost certainly set to race on.

"This vindicated why we didn't run her at Royal Ascot,” Metcalfe said.

"I know people were disappointed, but it's proved today why we didn't run her, she needs to get her toe in.

"It wouldn't have been the same winning at Ascot, this beats it, she's the best I've ever had.”

Also on a high at present is Karl Burke as he also enjoyed Group One success with Odeliz in the Darley Prix Jean Romanet in Deauville last Sunday.

The five-year-old mare had seemingly had her limitations exposed in top-class company before, but she had won a Group Three in Germany on her penultimate outing.

Up against last year's winner Ribbons, David Simcock's Ascot winner Madame Chiang and a host of top-class French fillies such as We Are, Avenir Certain and Bawina, she was expected to find the going tough.

"I've always thought she could win one of these (Group Ones) if everything dropped right one day, but it has dropped right in the strangest circumstances as it wasn't the plan to make the running," said Burke.

"Adrie said he would just sit handy, but she broke well and nobody wanted to make it, so he just let her doss away in front.

"Turning in I thought she had a chance of being in the three, but she battled and battled and hung on.

"This is her trip (10 furlongs), she won a Listed race over it at three, but as she got older she got quicker."

Now, Ripon is always popular, but this Monday's meeting is expected to very well attended as Victoria Pendleton is set to have her first ride as an amateur jockey on Royal Etiquette.

The dual Olympic gold medallist hopes to partner the eight-year-old, trained by Lawney Hill, in the Betfair Novice Flat Amateur Riders' Handicap over an extended mile and a quarter at the track's bank holiday meeting.

"She's hoping to ride Royal Etiquette on Monday. She's done the two-day course at the British Racing School to get the Flat and jumps licence," said Hill.

"She's hoping to get that and then go up to Ripon on Monday and see how we get on.

"It's a race for novice amateurs who have ridden less than three winners, so she will be against other novice riders.

"That's why it was chosen for her and also it's a Betfair-sponsored race and they are sponsoring her.

"I see no problem why she won't get the licence, unless there's a technical problem I'm not aware of."

Pendleton announced in March she was training to become a jockey, with a long-term aim of competing in the Foxhunter Chase at next year's Cheltenham Festival.

She had her first experience in public in a charity race at Newbury in early July, when finishing eighth on the Hill-trained Mighty Mambo.

She has undergone several months of intensive training under a team of experts recruited by Betfair and has been riding out regularly for Hill at her Oxfordshire stables.

The Ripon executive expressed their delight at the news.

"It's very exciting. It's not very often someone can change from one sport to another and we're delighted to hear she's coming to Ripon to ride," said James Hutchinson, managing director and clerk of the course.

"It will put extra publicity on the meeting and may add some to the crowd."