On Thursday I had the pleasure of being invited to speak at the CEO Manpower Conference 2009, an annual event organised by the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce. It's an occasion where senior executives from many different businesses can get together and share their views each year. This year I was invited to join a panel of local business leaders discussing how companies can best ensure business survival and handle necessary staff changes in the current economic downturn. I found it a very interesting and stimulating discussion.
I pointed out that the Club, being as a not-for-profit organisation, was better equipped than most at times of economic crisis as we could take a longer-term view. But I stressed that we were still driven to make a surplus from our business operations, because we are very conscious of our role in supporting local society through our charitable donations, and we realise these contributions become especially important during difficult times.
The financial crisis, I commented, also gave us an opportunity to explain to the Government how Hong Kong could bring in new revenue from overseas and generate more employment by, for example, lowering the current betting duty rates, so as to make international commingling arrangements on racing become more viable.
I told the delegates that recently, we had been focusing our attention more closely than ever on our customers and what value we offer them, as we permanently lost quite a large number of racing customers following the Asian financial crisis in 1997. We don't want to see this happen again. That's why we have just undertaken the most specific customer studies in the Club's history, so as to understand better the services that different types of customer expect from us. It's my belief that fully understanding and meeting customers' needs is the key to making any business sustainable in the long run.
The issue of how to keep employees motivated at difficult times was also raised by some panellists at the conference. I mentioned that for the Jockey Club, our staff have become an important driving force in bringing about change, as they share our vision and realise that the Club is performing a role that adds real value to local society.
We attach great importance to the development of our staff, and offer numerous training programmes for our part-timers as well as full-time staff, as we take the view that helping them explore their talents and potential will in turn help us provide better services to our customers and ultimately bring higher business growth.
I'm proud to say that we have a lot of very talented people in our organisation, covering a huge range of skills in line with our different roles in horse racing, betting entertainment, membership and charities work. But they all share the same objective of working for our world-class racing, and ultimately for the good of the community.
For our vision to provide world-class racing, the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities has announced on Thursday the latest world thoroughbred rankings, and I’m thrilled to learn that our top miler Good Ba Ba ranked joint second with his rating of 124, while Sacred Kingdom also ranked joint fourth with his rating of 122. Both horses are rated among the top six thoroughbreds in the world and their achievements again showcase the quality of our racing sport and its world-class status.
In the meantime, if one looks again at the example of the S$23 million total turnover generated in the Singapore Airlines International Cup race day, S$6 million were invested on our Hong Kong races that simulcast to Singapore, this substantial amount again demonstrates the attractiveness of Hong Kong racing in other jurisdictions.
Tomorrow the racing returns to Sha Tin where we have a 10-race programme lined up. I am expecting a yielding to soft track and this could cause some suprises. In the ATV News Handicap, California Moon would be hard to beat under normal track conditions. However, bearing in mind that California Moon has no wet-track form record, horses like Special K and Invinciblekindness could surprise us as both of them had proven record on soft going either in HK or overseas.
In the Miss Asia Pageant 2009 Handicap, my first choice is Amityship but again the question will be whether he could handle the ground. Looking at other horses in the field, Majestic Heart or Pacific Alliance who has a good track record on soft going could cause an upset.
In the Mr Con & Ms Csi Come To aTV Handicap, my pick is Namjong Hunter as he had proven form on soft ground. However, the five-year-old gelding would encounter good opposition from Moon Chaser , Red Ruler and Malayan Bright.
In the Miss Asia Pageant 2009 Handicap, my first choice is Amityship but again the question will be whether he could handle the ground. Looking at other horses in the field, Majestic Heart or Pacific Alliance who has a good track record on soft going could cause an upset.
In the Mr Con & Ms Csi Come To aTV Handicap, my pick is Namjong Hunter as he had proven form on soft ground. However, the five-year-old gelding would encounter good opposition from Moon Chaser , Red Ruler and Malayan Bright.
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