Dubai: Mecca’s Angel vindicated her rider Paul Mulnennan’s boast as the ‘fastest horse’ he has ridden when scorching home to win the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes on the third day of York’s Ebor Meeting on Friday.

The four-year-old daughter of remarkable young stallion Dark Angel’s superior acceleration saw her deny American hope and favourite Acapulco by two lengths, while the Tim Easterby-trained longshot Mattmu was third.

Muthmir, looking to follow up on her Glorious Goodwood victory, appeared to have been caught out by what was being described as ‘dead’ ground at the Knavesmire before she finished sixth in the colours of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance.

However, Shaikh Hamdan had the satisfaction of seeing another promising three-year-old of his, Fadhayyil, capture the City Of York Stakes in the hands of stable jockey Paul Hanagan.

Earlier in the afternoon, Godolphin picked up a second trophy at the four-day meeting when the Saeed Bin Surour-trained Memorial Day dead-heated with Libran, trained by Alan Swinbank, in the First Race Special Stakes.

Although the Nunthorpe Stakes was delayed by more than five minutes after Take Cover slipped out of the stalls, the race lived up to the hype by producing an electrifying finish.

Acapulco, who was on the third start of her career at two, looked like she had the race in the bag before running out of steam at the furlong pole as Mecca’s Angle swept past her to give Mulrennan a maiden Group 1 success.

“The second gave me a good run for my money but this filly has really flown and provided me with a first Group One here at York,” he told Channel 4 Racing.

“She’s proven to everyone today what she can do and she’s awesome when she can get her toe in. Fair play to Michael because we’ve been building her up all year.

“It’s very special to do it here, it’s our local track and we’ve told people all year how good she is.

Michael Dods, who is based in North Yorkshire, was delighted with the performance of his filly, who was bouncing back from a neck defeat to Stepper Point in the Group 2 Sapphire Stakes at the Curragh last month.

“Fair play to everyone involved, we walked the track and we were happy, she’d have preferred even more rain,” he said.

“She’s a serious horse, she’s shown what she can do — it’s been worth the wait.”

Bin Surour said Memorial Day has earned a shot at a bigger test following his performance.

“Physically he’s doing very well and a mile and a half is the trip for him,” said the Emirati handler. “He has a big heart and tried really hard.

“We will have to see how he comes back after the race. We will find a nice race for him, a handicap or a Listed race.”