BLAZING SADDLES AND HONG KONG RACING

Yes, it’s how opposites attract, and while being commissioned to write a piece on the yin and yang of the friendship, bitterness and complex relationship between John Lennon and Paul McCartney, this made me deep dive into where I stand with Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, the German CEO of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, and him with me.

Of course it’s not been smooth sailing over the past few years, but there’s always something that can even rebuild bridges that have seemingly been detonated over the River Kwai.

To say that we’re extremely different individuals with very strong and complex personalities would be like saying that sauerkraut mixed with a Masala Chicken Curry would make for a Michelin Star dinner dish.

I was reminded of this yin and yang ping pong relationship recently while having lunch with Hong Kong based trainer Caspar Fownes.

He and I often lapse into speaking to each other in a strange “Heinz and Franz” accent to take a break from whatever it is that we might be talking about and catch our breath. It’s something like an intermission to bring our versions of the German CEO of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Winfried Engelbrecht- Bresges into the conversation whether he knows it or not.

It’s nothing nasty, but something almost therapeutic to suddenly take on this slightly maniacal and probing Germanic accent and ask each other silly things like, “So, vill you tell me, are you nearly fine?” or “You know, I vent totally ballistic today that I started popping buttons on my very tight shirt”.

The next day, I was watching an old interview where host Charlie Rose was interviewing actor Christophe Waltz when my Shanghai Tang adorned Chinoise friend came into the room, started watching the interview, smiled and simply said, “Winfried?”

I might have saluted, but it doesn’t matter. She’s gone through “The Winfried Years” with me and has heard pretty much everything about a relationship that’s as odd as a scene from “Young Frankenstein” or “Dr Strangelove”.

I have had enough dinners with Winfried to know that I can pinpoint exactly when he’s going to go completely bonkers and off the rails.

Either that or when he looks at me with a quizzical smile not knowing where I might be going with a conversation that takes more twists and turns than when Keyser Soze is cornered and then breaks free and actually says something quite meaningful and, well, nearly fine.

It’s hard being The Man They Call E.B, because he’s made from so many different parts. Sometimes I wonder if even he knows who he is and often think that he’s all of Dorothy’s friends- except Toto- and they’re easing on down the yellow brick road to see The Wizard Of Oz.

Other times, I see a perfectionist in an imperfect world that happens to be the world of horse racing and becomes rattled that very few understand him or measure up to his expectations.

Not having been born into horse racing like he has, I sometimes have to catch myself being too flippant about various aspects of the sport or pastime that he takes so seriously.

Of course, he probably feels the same way when I waffle on about my many years in advertising and what I learned from being Creative Director on the McDonald’s business and why a Chinese person can never be a good Ronald McDonald.

One needs a square jawline to play Ronald McDonald and how many Chinese have you seen who look like Dick Tracy?

The point is that two people, despite being so very different, and coming from such different backgrounds, and both with a pretty good grasp of films and music, first came together to create the successful Happy Wednesday brand, which is one of the HKJC’s Greatest Hits- ever.

This worked for twelve long years before my tenure ended in ways that could have been handled better, and derailed our friendship for a couple of years though, in hindsight, it probably needed to happen.

Change is inevitable and often needed.

I first got to know Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges when he arrived in Hong Kong to be the Executive Director of Racing the year after the Handover in 1997. 

1998 was an interesting time for Hong Kong with those still in the city easing themselves into a Hong Kong not under British rule.

I was in advertising and also writing for Billboard magazine and Rolling Stone and looking at joining the music industry.

I knew about horse racing, because everyone in Hong Kong did. I knew who Winfried was, but knew the then Chairman of the Club- Alan Li- better.

Alan Li was part of the family who owned Kowloon Dairy and with the company being our client at DDB, I got to know him as much as anyone got to know a client.

I never warmed to the somewhat pompous Alan Li nor his carefully coiffed pompadour. He was a horse owner, and embraced everything French including a socialite wife from France.

It is said that he took Winfried under his wing, who, seeing what career opportunities Hong Kong racing held and what more it could be made the time to understand the lay of the land and see what lay ahead.

If not for Winfried’s vision, and him filling in the blanks for himself, horse racing in Hong Kong would not be the world class racing product that it became and is today.

I briefly knew Larry Wong, the then CEO of the Club from his days with Ford in Taiwan. Larry and I had a few lunches together and looked at ways of working together, but I didn’t see us at DDB being able to work with the Club’s marketing team.

My only contribution to Hong Kong racing up to then was writing and recording a song for owners of the great Silent Witness, Hong Kong’s champion racehorse at the time.

My good friend and colleague Norman was the person who was part of the horse racing world by knowing Bloodstock agents in the United Kingdom and buying and owning horses who he raced in Europe, California and Macau.

Through our visits to Australia to take in the big racing carnivals, I would run into Winfried in places like Crowne Casino and force him into our usual suite at Fidel’s to hear me attack karaoke with a vengeance.

I had also started an online column called Racingbitch that quickly gained a cult following and offered me a global perspective of horse racing, especially its politics, theatrics, serial poseurs and so very many stories about everyone from Michael Bastion, ponzie schemes, sign language and washing machines.

There’s much more…

It was, however, during the time when I ended up creating the Happy Wednesday brand that I really got to know Winfried, understand things like wagering and the inner workings of the HKJC.

I personally feel that no one really understanding how on earth two such very different people could have got along for as long as we have has worked to our strengths.

Confusion can be a highly useful tool, and I guess, we have been around quite a number of tools in our time and developed our own sixth senses.

Winfried is a workaholic, which is a good thing, because it must be lonely at the top, and though his multi million dollar salary can soothe the savage beast, can it buy happiness?

He has to at all times and be the stoic CEO of the HKJC whereas Winfried has seen me go through different phases of a lifestyle that might not be described as being altogether normal.

But we are who we are through trial and error.

A Hong Kong born Chinese friend and racing fan explained how he sees Winfried and me like this: 

“When I was going to be introduced to you and was told that you and the CEO of the HKJC were friends, I was expecting someone very conservative and proper. But the person I met was someone very casual and open about their feelings.

“The more we talked, I realised that you had run two major international music companies, wrote songs, knew many famous people and didn’t really care what anyone who didn’t know you, said about you.

“You weren’t rude, but I was told that if you didn’t like someone, you can be very straightforward.

“Of course the HKJC CEO can’t be like you, but when both of you work together, I believe these different personalities can make new and exciting things happen like you did with Happy Wednesday.

“I guess, it comes down to mutual respect and knowing that neither of you can do what the other person can, and which makes the team of him and you work so well”.

Will we and could we work together again? Maybe and maybe not.

But it can’t be repeating formulaic thinking and what’s come before.

Winfried and I are extremely ambitious people and will always be looking at being game changers.

We’re also constantly reshaping our very different legacies built on very different life priorities and life experiences and journeys.

It’s all about The Ride. Letting it ride and see where the dice fall.

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