Six horses came into last night's Happy Valley meeting with a shot at winning the 1010 Million Challenge , but it was clubhouse leader Super Plus who fell into first despite not scoring a point, as Richard Gibson and Olivier Doleuze combined for a running double and stole the show.
The Peter Ng Bik-kuen-trained Super Plus was unplaced in the Hawthorn Handicap, but won the HK$650,000 first prize on count back over Mr Bond, who could only manage third earlier in the night in the Cheong Ming Handicap.
Super Plus won three races and was second twice in eligible events in the series for races in Class Three and above at the city track from the start of the season until last night, his two runner-up efforts giving him the tie-breaker over Mr Bond after they both finished on 60 points.
While the series finale fell a little flat with the 'by default' win of Super Plus, Gibson and Doleuze provided some spark with impressive victories to Winning Edge and New Glory.
Winning Edge was severely hampered by a racefall last start, and returned to winning form with a powerful finishing burst from last, Doleuze bringing him widest in the straight after going back from gate 11.
'The barrier was actually a blessing because we had to go back,' Gibson said. 'Last time we were just happy to see Olivier return safe after the horse fell in front of him, the horse just went to the line untested.'