Known as the only horse to have beaten superstar Ka Ying Rising, talented sprinter Wunderbar bounced back from a string of out-of-character defeats with a stylish win at Sha Tin on Saturday night.

Beaten on his previous four starts after starting his career in a blaze of glory, the John Size-trained gelding saluted for punters who crunched him late from $7 to $3.5 favouritism in the Class Two HKU Business School And Faculty Of Engineering Handicap (1,200m).

Hugh Bowman settled Wunderbar three-back on the fence from gate one and he relished a frenetic speed set by $4.7 chance Bottomuptogether, who scorched forward early from gate 10 to win a fierce battle for the lead.

While Wunderbar was briefly held up early in the straight, the Rich Enuff gelding was hooked off the fence by Bowman and powered through a gap between rivals to launch his run.

He soared past Bottomuptogether approaching the 100m and drew clear, beating Raging Blizzard by three-quarters of a length in a quinella result for championship leader Size. Harmony N Blessed ran third.

Wunderbar narrowly beat Ka Ying Rising in back-to-back starts at the end of last season and extended his winning streak with a pair of victories to start his latest campaign.

However, his hot form came to a halt and forced Size to give him a mid-season break, with the four-year-old improving off his last-start eighth to Lady’s Choice.

“He’s been overracing a little bit and I gave him a break and that didn’t work, so I had to do something else,” said Size.

“Then he had a couple of trials and was fine. He didn’t race for four months last time fresh and this time he was perfect - right tempo and everything went well for him.

“He had a little bit of an interruption in his good form, so at this moment I’m not really reaching for anything else.”

Bowman was ecstatic to deliver the goods in his first race ride on Wunderbar.

“He was great. He had a bit in his favour. He had a track bias – the fence was like gold – he had barrier one, he’s obviously got abundant natural pace and he got the conditions to suit today,” Bowman said.

“He was able to settle mid-race and he was able to provide the finish which he’d been lacking. It’s Class Two and they don’t give them away and he won with authority. Full credit to him.”

Wunderbar’s seventh career success helped Size extend his championship lead over David Hayes to nine wins with eight meetings left this term.

Elsewhere at the twilight meeting, Zac Purton booted home a double on a pair of promising young gallopers – two-year-old The All Out, who maintained his unbeaten record at start two for Jamie Richards, and three-year-old Patch Of Stars, who notched a hat-trick with an explosive triumph for trainer Manfred Man Ka-leung.

Andrea Atzeni joined Purton with a brace after winning on the David Eustace-trained Truly Fluke and Mark Newnham’s Mojave Desert.

Tony Cruz took home training honours with a double after Angus Chung Yik-lai guided Smart Beauty to victory and Kingly Demeanor scored under Keith Yeung Ming-lun.