Kevin Blake York Ebor Day 4 Tips: Back Spangled Mac to shine in fierce contest

The Ebor Festival at York enters the final furlong on Saturday after what has been a wonderful few days of top-class racing and hopefully we can finish it off by banging in a winner or two.

Strong chance Rohaan will relish seven furlongs

The first race of interest is the Sky Bet City Of York Stakes (15:00) and the one I favour is the David Evans-trained Rohaan. The four-year-old has won the last renewals of the Wokingham Stakes at Royal Ascot and he showed that he can mix it at the highest level when finishing a never-nearer length fourth in the Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville last time.

While he hasn't won over seven furlongs since the very early stages of his career, it will be a surprise if he isn't fully effective over seven furlongs given how hard he hit the line over six-and-a-half furlongs in the Prix Maurice de Gheest.

The faster they go in front of him, the faster he'll finish off, and he looks to have a strong chance of getting heavily involved in the finish.

Spangled Mac can return to winning ways

The Sky Bet Constantine Handicap (16:10) is one of the most fiercely-competitive handicaps of the entire meeting, but we'll always have a crack at races like this if we can and the one I like is the George Boughey-trained Spangled Mac.

The three-year-old was an inspired purchase for just 16,000 guineas when still unraced just last April and has already won five races since. He has been firmly marching up the ranks in the last six weeks and, while he had his winning run brought to an end at the Shergar Cup meeting on his latest start, he enhanced his credentials in defeat.

The majority of his wins thus far have come under prominent rides, but he was a bit slow to find stride at Ascot and ended up in last position early on.

Running room was in short supply when it came time to launch his challenge and he ended up being switched around the whole field to the wide outside in search of it. Despite the ground he lost, he powered home to finish a never-nearer second and looked unlucky on the day.

That form got a significant boost when the winner Adaay In Asia followed up in a valuable fillies handicap at York on Thursday. A return to a more positive ride could well see Spangled Mac return to winning ways off a 3lb higher mark.