SUCCESSIVE high-profile victories have teed up the sprinting world's new kid on the block, Moorhouse Lad (3.10), for a crack at York's Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes

Trained not far from the Knavesmire by Bryan Smart, there'll be plenty of whooping and hollering in the packed stands should the strongly-fancied local hope come good on home-county soil.

Moorhouse Lad started the 2007 campaign as a middle-of-the-road speedster, however he confirmed improvement measuring quantum leap proportions with an electrifying win at Glorious Goodwood.

Smart's speedy four-year-old had previously motored to Newmarket and scored in equally scintillating style, form which looks gilt-edged against a field in which many of his rivals have questions to answer.

Even though the Nunthorpe is worth a cool £220,000, the St Leger Yearling Stakes boasts a further £80,000, making it one of the most valuable races of its type run all season.

Prize money extends right down to ninth place, but that shouldn't be anything like the finishing position of Johar Jamal (2.05), a lightly-raced filly with a serious chance of completing her hat-trick.

Although Mick Channon's raider won with a shade in hand at Goodwood in May, it was her latest emphatic Newmarket triumph which really took the eye.

Anchored in rear for the initial stages of the last-named contest, as soon as her jockey pulled the trigger, Johar Jamal simply swept past her opponents as if they were statues.

Sir Michael Stoute's stable has been in excellent form during the first 48 hours of the Ebor Festival, a trend quite likely to be upheld by Visit (2.05) in the Group 2 Lowther Stakes.

Ryan Moore's mount showed a tidy turn of foot to collect a decent Group 3 event at Ascot in July, a turbo-charged performance which promised even better things to come.

The same Stoute/Moore combo team up again via Winter Sunrise (4.25), bidding to maintain her 100 per cent unbeaten record in the mile-and-a-half Listed Galtres Stakes.

Moore is beginning to be compared with the peerless Lester Piggott, which isn't a bad call considering the way Ryan literally lifted Winter Sunrise over the line to win at Newmarket.

Having flagged up Welsh Emperor to nab Newbury's Hungerford Stakes in Saturday's column, it was heartbreaking to witness Thomas Tate's gelding getting mugged right on the wire by Red Evie. The City Of York Listed Stakes appears to be a soft target and an easy opportunity for Welsh Emperor to make ammends.