Qu’est ce quai, HKJC?
- Hans Ebert
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
If not for one of our guests yelling out, “Guys! It’s the new Monty Python Flying Circus!”, we would have missed whatever it was that was unfolding before our eyes on television- something or another that one THINKS were the nominees for another of those Hong Kong Jockey Club awards presentations, this one called The Spirit Of The Champions.
With the usual ponderous music- Mahler?- playing in the background, the voice of the usual female emcee cut through the night air like a chopper, and after the running of some race, this little oddity was slotted in.
The first person to manfully stride out to less than rapturous applause was, well, who else, but that celebrity for all seasons and reasons- Aaron Kwok and a bon ami of the HKJC’s CEO.
Maybe Aaron Kwok has become a tad boring?
After all, he’s pretty much everywhere these days endorsing something or another, and now here was, the HKJC Ambassador for the Year of the Horse, saying something or another in Cantonese.
With his bon ami and CEO of the Hong Kong Jockey Club standing next to him, Aaron made a rather long and impassioned speech about something or another.
We’re not sure what he was saying and didn’t really care, but Mr CEO seemed to develop a nervous tick as minutes seemed like hours and, well, there’s only just so much passion one can take on a Wednesday night.
After this soliloquy, two other HKJC executives were standing there- the usual Girl Friday and the J.D. Vance of this crew.
Introduced was someone new to us who, apparently, is the person responsible for those “Racing With” promotions that no one is quite sure what these are meant to accomplish. Maybe nothing?
We expected the ubiquitous Rosanna Law (and Order), Hong Kong’s Secretary for Tourism, Culture and Sports to make an appearance, but alas, she didn’t. Maybe she had been abducted by aliens?
All we noticed was that Girl Friday aka J.D. desperately needs a new shirt and tie whereas Mr CEO appeared in need of something for his nervous tick.
He’s not a stupid man and perhaps he just knew that whatever this was, it wasn’t going well and his body language seemed to say it all.
As the female emcee commandeered proceedings viz zee orders jawohl, the foursome were told to turn around. Behind them on the the big screen popped up photos of the Champions.
Romantic Warrior appeared in three categories and when it came to the Best Sprinter, only needed one name. Who else? And then Mr CEO hugged Aaron and we got back to the races that were your usual almost end of the season Wednesday night fare.
Apparently, there was an interview sometime into the night with trainer Danny Shum about something or another, but by now, we were enjoying a wonderful homemade Thai dinner.
The television was on Mute and “Psycho Killer” by Talking Heads was playing. I was doing my best impersonation of Matthew Rhys dancing to it in that unforgettable scene from “The Beast In Me”. “Psycho Killer, qu’est ce que sais?” indeed.
The HKJC Spirit of Champions Show was also pretty unforgettable, but for very different reasons.
It played its role in showing up a moribund and somewhat sad and often lost Hong Kong trying very hard to be something that doesn’t appear to be clear to anyone including the Club in a city with more questions than answers despite the set bureaucratic narratives one sees in newspapers that no one reads anymore.
Over the past year, I have heard or listened to Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges talk about “hope” and turnover and whirlpools and turnover again and again, and how this and that Hong Kong race day was the “greatest”.
It all too often came across as something not dissimilar to the sound of one hand clapping.
When he and I were friends, there was mutual respect and absolute trust, which meant open discussions about ideas, owning up to one’s faults, the importance of friendship, Michael Corleone, Tom Hayden, and Fredo, great movies and brilliant music.
And then it all came crashing down under the weight of corporate politics, buck passing and, quite possibly, survival.
I could be completely wrong, but what I see happening with the HKJC and its extremely important Charities Trust is a combination of extremely well paid executive hires unable to deliver what’s needed other than smoke and mirrors.
Ironically, what’s missing just might be a certain- well- spirit- and one built around inspiration and motivation and evolution.
Qu’est ce que sais?
Comments