Sight Success and Brenton Avdulla combined for the best Hong Kong win of their careers at Sha Tin on Sunday as Lucky Sweynesse failed to justify odds-on favouritism for the second straight Group Two Premier Bowl (1,200m) and suffered consecutive losses for the first time.

Sent off at $24 in the five-runner race – Jockey Club stewards scratched Stoltz during the Premier Bowl preliminaries – Sight Success got the better of $1.4 favourite Lucky Sweynesse in a ding-dong battle down Sha Tin’s home straight.

Avdulla’s new charge beat Zac Purton’s wayward mount by a short head, with $2.6 second elect Victor The Winner last across the line.

Runner-up under Christophe Lemaire in last year’s Group One Hong Kong Sprint (1,200m), in which he led a slowly run affair and held off all bar Wellington while Lucky Sweynesse experienced traffic problems, Sight Success benefited from Avdulla’s different tactics, tracking the leaders before overtaking them to score his first Group Two victory.

Avdulla, the winner of 13 Group One races in Australia but without a Hong Kong victory since his opening-day Class Two triumph aboard The Golden Scenery 47 starts earlier, recognised Stoltz’s unexpected absence from the Premier Bowl changed the complexion of the map.

“When that scratching came out, Zac was probably going to try and be outside the leader,” Avdulla said of his thinking on the way to the gates for the Premier Bowl.

“I was able to hold my spot and force Zac to go on a little bit further than he really wanted to. I didn’t worry about the race then. I let Zac and Karis [Teetan] do what they wanted to do. I thought the only way I could beat them was late. Everything worked out well.”

Avdulla, whose pre-Premier Bowl losing sequence was this season’s longest among both riders and trainers, thanked Size for sticking fat with him this term.

“When I struck the board on the first day, I thought things might happen a bit better than what they have,” Avdulla said. “I’ve had a number of frustrating seconds and lost a little bit of support, but John’s always been one who’s thrown me good rides.

“As much as his stable’s taken a bit of time to get going, he’s always given me plenty of confidence and plenty of faith. He could have, basically, put anyone in the room on this horse – apart from Zac. I was very lucky when he got the 121 [pounds] that it fell my way.

“You’ve got to make the most of these opportunities. I’m very thankful for it.”

Similarly to Avdulla, Size celebrated only his second win from more than 50 runners this season when the Premier Bowl photo went the way of Sight Success.

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Size indicated Sight Success would contest the Group Two Jockey Club Sprint (1,200m) on November 19 before attempting to go one better than last term in the Hong Kong Sprint during December 10’s marquee meeting.

Asked if he thought Sight Success could defeat Lucky Sweynesse in those non-handicap events between now and the end of the year – the Premier Bowl winner carried 14 pounds less than the runner-up – Size said: “I couldn’t be confident of that. I’m sure he’ll run well. Last season, he ran very well in the international race, and I’m hoping he’ll do the same again.”

The Premier Bowl has been a graveyard for favourites, with Lucky Sweynesse rolled at $1.7 in 2022 and $1.4 in 2023, meaning market leaders have failed to deliver for seven straight years.