James Herbertson is tipping a hotly run Evolve Stone Gordon Rothacker Memorial Championship Final as rival drivers look to end the winning sequence of in-form pacer Lumineer.

Herbertson will team up with the David Aiken-trained Blingittothemax, who finished an eye-catching fourth in heat two of the series last week behind Smart Little Shard.

Aiken’s charge sat back in the field and made up plenty of ground in a slick 27.8-second last quarter to be beaten less than two metres.

Blingittothemax had to come from barrier eight last Friday, but draws more favourably in gate five for the $30,000 Group 3 final over 1720m at Tabcorp Park Melton.

“He hit the line super,” Herbertson said of the heat performance.

“Hopefully we can just lob in that first four or five and he has got the speed to be right there in the finish.

“He’s definitely got the speed to (win), but it’s just going to come down to luck in running with him.

“This is the first time this preparation that Lumineer won’t be able to lead and I think that’s a big thing, especially over the short (journey) around Melton.

“These horses will probably be going 1.52 or 1.53 (mile rate) and he’s got to come from back in the field, unless Jason (Lee) can get him in the race through the middle stages there. I think it’s going to be a pretty solidly run affair so he doesn’t get into it…”

Lumineer won the first heat of the Championship last Friday to make it 13 victories from 14 career starts and five in succession. He was made to work for the lead from barrier six, but eventually got to the front and held off his rivals to score a narrow win in 1:54:0.

Lee will have to navigate a path from the second row this time around, with the Ange McDowall-trained star to leave from gate 10.

Blingittothemax is only a relatively new addition to the Aiken stable, with the horse having arrived from Tasmanian trainer Paul Ashwood in the last couple of months.

The son of Art Major won at Kilmore on debut for the stable in mid-October and then finished third in a race at Bendigo before last Friday’s strong fourth-placed effort.

The well-travelled seven-year-old, which spent much of his career trained by Mark Dux in Queensland, has won 10 of his 49 trips to the races.

Other key hopes in the night’s feature event is Emma Stewart’s Deedenuto, Craig Demmler’s Fake Smile and Matt Craven’s All Jokers Todaright.

Friday night’s 11-race card kicks off from 6.17pm and concludes with the last at 11.14pm.