Handover paved way for Jockey Club’s ‘international vision’ and post-Covid era presents similar opportunity, says CEO
- Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges sees parallels between racing landscape in city in 1997 and where sport stands after two years of coronavirus
- The German does not believe he would have ever been allowed to take charge in colonial Hong Kong
As Jockey Club chief executive Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges recalls the Hong Kong racing landscape at the time of the city’s reunification with China in 1997, he cannot help but notice certain parallels with where the sport stands after more than two years of grappling with the coronavirus pandemic.
A period of significant transition for the city, the events of 25 years ago were also the catalyst for sweeping change within Hong Kong racing.
“I would never have been the director of racing or the chief executive under a colonial regime. They would never have considered it,” said Engelbrecht-Bresges, a German who joined the Jockey Club as its director of racing in 1998.
“Therefore, the handover gave the club an opportunity to develop an international vision. Now we have a global team with top-class people from all over the world.”
Under the leadership of then chief executive Lawrence Wong Tsi-kong, the club set about turning a stagnating product known largely for its astronomical betting turnover into a world-class racing jurisdiction.
“Larry Wong was bought in to modernise the club and there were discussions then about how it could thrive after 1997,” Engelbrecht-Bresges said.
“Hong Kong racing was always great for wagering – enormous technology – but the sporting quality was probably on a more regional level.