Wizz Kid has the legs of Hoof It in Nunthorpe

The prospect of Mick Easterby saddling a Group One winner at his big local meeting – in the colours, moreover, of Lee Westwood and Chubby Chandler – is too delicious for many to concern themselves with the odds against Hoof It in the Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes at York today. He certainly warrants a crack at an elite prize, after thriving so extravagantly in handicaps, and should cope with the return to five furlongs after travelling so powerfully over a sixth.

Even so, he is a fairly short price to complete the leap in class, and braver punters may wish to entertain a couple of each-way possibilities at far bigger odds. Wizz Kid (3.40) remains very lightly raced, but the French raider beat some seasoned operators when dropped to this trip last time. They were headed by Prohibit, who has since won at Royal Ascot and is quoted at half the price. Invincible Ash could also surpass expectations at 33-1, now she gets a really strong gallop at this trip. The last time she had a good pace to run at, in June at the Curragh, she flew from last to first; and earlier she had finished best when joining some top-class types in a four-way photo in Dubai.