Unknown member stalls the attempt of Anya, daughter of champion trainer Pesi Shroff, to move from life membership of the RWITC to the higher fold of club membership
Just when champion trainer Pesi Shroff was getting ready to appeal against the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) stewards' decision to suspend him for nine months for his filly Bullseye testing positive for a banned drug, comes the news that his daughter, Anya, an amateur rider, was blackballed by one of the nine committee members of the club when she applied for club membership last month. A blackball means a veto or negative vote. Incidentally, Anya is already a life member of the apex racing club. She had applied to move to the fold of 'club member' which means she would have voting rights.
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Young rider: If Anya Shroff (19) became a ‘club member’, she would have voting rights. File pic
Votes
This though, does not mean that Anya (19) application has been rejected, because as per change in notification effected on May 1, 2006, a person will be ineligible for membership only if he or she receives three negative (NO) votes.
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The letter written by Additional Secretary of RWITC, NHS Mani, informing all committee members about the findings of the ballot held for the purpose, a copy of which is with MiDDAY states, "All nine committee members had cast their votes, out of 17 candidates, 16 candidates have received nine "YES" [sic] votes, and one candidate, namely Miss Anya P Shroff, has received eight 'YES' votes and one 'NO' vote."
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Pesi Shroff simply said, "If true, this is very sad. My daughter is too young and innocent, I request you to keep her out of this."
Shocked
Vivek Jain, chairman RWITC stated, "I am shocked by this revelation. She (Anya) comes from a family with racing background, and in fact, I was the first to welcome her and say she didn't need an introduction when she appeared for the interview. There is definitely something more here than meets the eye. I think our members and the racing public are intelligent enough to read between the lines. There have already been attempts to malign my image recently, and this smells like a conspiracy to discredit me and my supporters on the committee."
Committee member and former RWITC chairman, K N Dhunjibhoy, said that, "This is absurd. I would think she (Anya) was the most eligible among the 17 candidates who were interviewed for club membership that day. She rides every morning and evening, she attends the races, and she comes from a horse loving family. This is not done to a 19-year old innocent girl, only a person full of vindictiveness can think of doing it." When told that some on the committee termed this as a conspiracy, Dhunjibhoy retorted, "Let there be a polygraph test for all. At least, once and for all the racing public will know who has been lying all the time."
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Gulamhusein Vahanvaty, committee member joined the conspiracy chorus when he reacted, "I am absolutely shocked. Pesi Shroff's daughter is a welcome addition to the club. I can't imagine why anyone would do it. This smacks of a conspiracy."
Committee members Geoffrey Nagpal and Jaydev Mody reacted with surprise and shock with the former asking, "Are you sure? I don't think it's true. This may be a rumour, you better check it," while Mody said, "My God, really? I am surprised and shocked."
Four of the nine committee members who voted by secret ballot were unavailable for comment. These were, Champaklal Zaveri, Ram Shroff, S C Jain and Shyam Ruia.
Bullseye
The conspiracy theory may stem from the fact that Pesi Shroff is staring at a nine-month suspension for vicarious liability on account of his filly Bullseye testing positive for banned drug Boldenone while returning from Nanoli stud farm in December last year. Pesi has filed his appeal against the RWITC stewards' decision with the Board of Appeal (BoA) of the club, and the matter is scheduled to come up for hearing on April 18.
Dhunjibhoy, Bullseye owner and Nanoli stud farm owner had called Pesi's nine-month suspension "perverse" and "unprecedented", accusing his arch rival, current chairman Vivek Jain, of being "biased" against him, his farm and his trainer. In a recent ruling last week related to the same case, the RWITC stewards also imposed a two-year ban on all horses coming from Nanoli stud farm, in effect, putting a check on movement of racehorses visiting the farm for rest.
Battle
The battlelines were clearly drawn when the race club also took another unprecedented step when it released Pesi's detailed suspension order as 'advertisement' in 'Cole' race book, and also published the detailed minutes of that particular meeting on its official website, from where popular racing websites Indiarace.com and RacingPulse.in picked them up for re-publication, giving rise to ferocious debate in the racing fraternity divided into two camps, one pro-Pesi and the other pro-RWITC.
Against this backdrop, it is no wonder that one negative vote on Anya application has stirred a hornet's nest. Rumours are flying as to who of the nine gentlemen did not want Pesi 's daughter as club member. Accusations of "vendetta" and counter-accusations of "conspiracy", indicate that the august club's hallowed committee room will stay a divided house for a long time from now, or at least, until the next general body elections due in December this year.
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