The grounding of the cruise ship Costa Concordia in Italy has become a top international news story over the past week. I expect many of you will have been shocked to see such a huge vessel capsize as easily as it did. It's even more shocking to learn that the ship’s captain was reportedly to have fled from his duties instead of being on board to direct his crew in helping passengers evacuate safely.
It's well known that in an emergency situation, the captain of a ship or aircraft should always make sure that all passengers are safely evacuated before instructing his crew members to leave, then finally being the last to leave himself. But in this case, according to the news reports, the captain abandoned ship at an early stage and even rejected the local coastguards’ request to return to the vessel and assist in the evacuation procedure.
It should be thankful that most of the passengers were safe, including about 20 from Hong Kong. In such chaotic circumstances, it's really a miracle that the casualty rate wasn't higher. It remains to be seen whether the captain, who has now been charged by local police with manslaughter and placed under house arrest, will ultimately be found responsible. But this case definitely reflects the importance of leadership, as leaders in every industry need to be fearless, calm and composed when facing challenges or crisis situations, and must always put the interests of others before their own.
In the commercial sector, though, fearlessness and crisis management ability are not the sole deciding factors for success. Effective business leaders also need to be creative, thinking outside the box when making important decisions.
American Chinese Jerry Yang was one of those outstanding leaders. After co-founding web portal Yahoo! back in 1995, he developed it into one of the most popular and famous Internet brands in the world. In another surprising piece of news this week, however, Yang has announced his resignation from the board and a complete departure from the company he has nurtured these past 16 years.
Yang could not even speak English when he emigrated to the US at the age of 10, so you can imagine the huge efforts and diligence it took him to make the grades in high school and gain admission to the prestigious Stanford University, where he became a top student. In fact, he was still studying for a doctorate at Stanford when he founded Yahoo!
The likes of Yang, late Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Microsoft co-founder and Chairman Bill Gates have all made immense contributions to mankind over the past two decades, as they have revolutionised the way people communicate and interact with each other. Through their great creativity and vision they have made our world better, bringing more convenience to everyone’s daily lives.
Online platforms and the Internet have become increasingly important media for most customer-facing businesses, not least of all The Hong Kong Jockey Club. In recent years we've recognised this trend by putting a strong focus on website development and introducing new interactive betting channels to meet our customers' emerging demands. Our HKJC Apps for the iPhone and Android platforms are the most recent additions.
I’m delighted to know that since we launched the app for Android platform late last December, we have already had about 50,000 downloads in three weeks’ time, reflecting that these Apps have quickly earned high popularity among our customers. We will continue to monitor our customers’ needs very closely, to see how we can best meet their future expectations.
Today we shall be hosting the last race meeting at the Year of the Rabbit, with 10 exciting races to be on show at Sha Tin. In the Pearce Memorial Challenge Cup as a Class 3 over the 1000m straight course, it has attracted a very strong field with proven Sha Tin 1000m specialists and some upcoming stars with great potential such as Go Baby Go. The expected good to fast pace will make it a challenge for Go Baby Go to overcome the draw of Gate 1, as he will join other potential leaders like Dane Patrol, Vintage Hussler and Space Race who are drawn favourably to the outside of the track which is normally of an advantage. I’m still of the view that Go Baby Go is the horse to beat but Vintage Hussler is a tough competitor, too. Space Race is a good place chance for me while Red Lucky Star and Dream Builder could be the horses who could spoil the party.
The best race of today, the Hip Wo Handicap as a Class 1 1200m event with a rating band from 105 to 80, sees many good horses with nice performances on turf running for the first time on the All Weather surface, which make the analysis being more difficult. The pace is expected to be good with Horse Galore and possibly King Mossman as leaders. King Mossman may be on his mark on the turf but he’s unproven on the All Weather. Having said that, I think he still has a positive chance to finish in the top three. Horse Galore is at his best distance and surface as well as being the choice of Douglas Whyte. This horse should have a good win and place chance. Vital Flyer from the good draw of 1 and being in good form as well as placed twice over the trip and surface is a place chance for me. Crown Witness has been placed in his only effort over the same surface and distance but was drawn in Gate 11 in that appearance. Having drawn better to start from Gate 7 this time, he should be close to the pace with chance to win the race or being placed.
Last but not least, may I wish you all having some enjoyable time with your families and friends during the Lunar New Year holidays. See you all in the Year of the Dragon!
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