HALLELUJAH! WINFRIED HAS A JESUS MOMENT!

Though loathe to use the word “stupid”, I will settle on “miraculously delusional” when writing about Wini, the Hong Kong Jockey Club CEO going out on a limb, and perhaps even clutching at straws, to make mention to the English racing media how the wins of the brilliant Hong Kong gallopers- Ka Ying Rising and Romantic Warrior- gave Hong Kong- and the world- wait for it: Hope. 

“The ‘poetry in motion’ of Ka Ying Rising and Romantic Warrior’s emphatic victory made it a day of exceptional performances on the track” said the humble and compassionate Mr CEO, adding that “this definitely gives people hope”.

Hope? Haven’t we heard something eerily similar almost a year before?

Apart from the equine talent of these two exceptional gallopers, surely the real star of the turf last Sunday was the Club’s official starter Chris McMullen who rugby tackled and subdued a protester holding up a message about the need for a deep investigation into the recent fires at Wang Fuk Court.

This lone protester was someone who could have created absolute chaos during the running of the Group 1 Hong Kong Cup and brought thunder and lightning onto the racecourse. It was a miracle that he didn’t.

Though turnover and attendance figures were down, Mr CEO gave everything two thumbs up full of much love by describing last Sunday at Shatin as one of city’s “greatest days”. Hallelujah!

Such unbridled positivity should be bottled and handed out to all of Hong Kong, especially during these tense times when questions keep being asked about how the billions of dollars in donations for the victims, survivors and heroes of the recent fires will be used.

Meanwhile, on Monday and after a marathon trial that took 156 days, Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai was found guilty of sedition and colluding with foreign forces. Under the National Security Law, collusion is a serious crime here and is punishable with up to life in jail.

The verdict was something welcomed by John Lee, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, who is currently in Beijing for an update to senior mainland officials on the various priorities in the city.

One doubts these priorities had anything to do with Hope and horse racing after the city’s “greatest day”. 

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Born in Ceylon, Hans Ebert is an award winning advertising executive whose powerful campaign to gain the Right Of Abode in the United Kingdom for ethnic minorities in Hong Kong won Gold at the London Advertising Awards.

He also helped launch McDonald’s in Hong Kong, created the Happy Wednesday brand for the HKJC, was part of the team to launch STARTV and MTV in Asia plus ran the International divisions of Universal Music and EMI Music in Asia.

As a journalist, he has interviewed every iconic personalities from Billy Joel, legendary music producer Quincy Jones, and actor Peter Sellers to working on music for David Bowie, Robbie Williams and Gorillaz.

He also coined the term Canto Pop when writing for Billboard magazine.

He has a penchant for women who remind him of Diane Keaton.