Fujaira Prince held on tenaciously to claim the Ebor on Saturday and strike a rare blow for favourite backers in York's celebrated handicap. Andrea Atzeni's mount denied front-running outsider Glencadam Glory and Verdana Blue to justify his 11-2 odds at the head of the betting for the York festival's closing day feature. The Ebor frequently proves a reliable source of income for bookmakers, with Fujaira Prince the first favourite to prevail since 2007. "That was very smooth really. The plan was always to go forward and get a nice position which we did," reported Atzeni. "He's a very willing partner," added the winning rider of the race that lends its name to York's four-day meeting. "He's very easy to deal with and is the sort of horse you could put anywhere in a race. It makes my job a lot easier." Fujaira Prince was supplying trainer Roger Varian with a first Ebor success. The six-year-old grey ran here on the back of hitting the mark at Royal Ascot, and one British bookmaker reacted by cutting his odds in half to 20-1 for the Melbourne Cup in November. nr/iwd