MICHAEL Dods looks set for another big season with his sprinters, thanks to Easton Angel, who won on her seasonal debut last week at York, and the trainer will also be looking forward to tomorrow, when last year's Nunthorpe winner Meccas Angel starts her campaign in the Temple Stakes at Haydock.

In beating Gracious John by threequarters of a length at York, Easton Angel set herself up for a return trip to Royal Ascot for either the King's Stand Stakes or the Commonwealth Cup.

"We'll let the dust settle and just see how she is," said part-owner Ritchie Fiddes.

"We can keep her at five in the King's Stand, but that would mean taking on older horses for the first time.

"Or we can go back up to six, which I'm sure she stays, and take on her own age group, but we would meet Acapulco again.

"I'll discuss it with Harry Herbert (racing manager for fellow owner Al Shaqab) and Michael and we'll see what we all think.

"There's no rush, the benefit of her is that she isn't ground-dependent.

"She was just in front a bit soon the other day, which was why she idled and drifted across the track. Nothing on her side could take her into the latter stages of this race. You'd hope that would happen at Ascot, but it was similar in the Queen Mary, too."

Dods added: "If the owners don't want to take on the older horses over five, the Scurry at Sandown is an option."

Tuesday proved to be a massive day for northern racing as Newcastle raced on their new Tapeta surface for the first time.

Tap The Honey went into racing history as the first horse to win on the new track. The three-year-old gelding, trained by Karl Burke and ridden by Joey Haynes, came out on top in the Extra Place Betting At 188Bet Maiden Stakes over 10 and a half furlongs.

Haynes said: "He's done it nicely. I couldn't fault the track at all. It was riding lovely and fair for all of us."

It was a welcome winner for Burke – and on his 53rd birthday – as his team has not been firing on all cylinders.

"He did it well. He was one of the two horses we took up for the trials and he galloped well, so we knew he'd handle the surface," said the Middleham trainer, who was not at Gosforth Park.

"He had a run after that at Thirsk and needed it. There was a bit of a question mark about the trip, but it worked out well.

"No plans really as that was the plan. I'd imagine he'd have an entry in the July Sales and will have one or two runs before going there.

"He got me off the cold list and it's nice to get a winner on your birthday. It's been hard going the last couple of months. Some of our horses haven't been performing particularly well, but they are on the turn now. We'll kick on from here."

The feature race of the afternoon also went to a Middleham handler as Mark Johnston took the honours with Turbine.

Johnston was against the ripping up of the turf track – which he described as "among the best in the world" – but nevertheless pledged to have plenty of runners now it is an all-weather course.

Based just over an hour away, Johnston has been banging the drum for some time that the northern racing scene was crying out for an all-weather track, given the travelling involved to get to Lingfield, Kempton, Chelmsford and Wolverhampton.

Speaking after the race, the trainer said: "I have no hesitation in saying this is going to be the best all-weather track, but I've also said all along I didn't want to lose it as a turf track.

"They were always going to make a good job of it, Michael Dickinson (inventor of Tapeta) is a perfectionist and the layout here is the best in Britain, it's just sad to lose it as a turf track. I'll have plenty of runners here, it's the most convenient to me and it's the best."

Regarding his winner, he said: "He won impressively on his debut, but there have been a few stumbling blocks along the way. He's still a young horse and was back on form today. He's still unexposed."

Winning jockey Joe Fanning was also delighted, saying: "I came up on Sunday and walked the track three times with my dogs Morris and George; it's trying to get any slight advantage.

"It's a great track and I can't wait to be back riding on it, it's fair and the best horse will win."