The Royal Western India Turf Club has been churning out soap that can rival the ones that play out on Indian Television sets. Every issue gets blown out of proportion. Charges of intrigue, conspiracy, sabotage, one-upmanship fly thick and fast. Be it the tape sent by anonymous source pertaining to race fixing or allegations made by trainers Pesi Shroff and Cooji Katrak against each other, not a single season has passed in recent times without its share of controversies.

The focus of attention in RWITC should have been on racing because this is the reason for the existence of the club but unfortunately the club has lost its way with internecine quarrels among the functionaries bringing disrepute to the sport. Nobody seems to be bothering about the residual damage that the political fights are causing. Viciousness pervades the air.

The villain in the whole issue now is the new rule that Turf Authorities of India have introduced which says that if any horse tests positive for steroid either in training or after a race, the trainer gets suspended for two years without considering any other factor that could have caused the positive finding or looking into mitigating factors. Those who take decisions are persons with feudal mindset and they make rules without considering that in a democratic world such rules don’t pass muster. When such draconian rules are made and authorities simply go by the rule book without going into the merits or de-merits of each case, the authorities are exposing professionals to grave danger of professional rivalry and the worst scenario of sabotage.

There could be merit in Pesi Shroff’s claim that his horse which came from Nanoli Stud Farm after a break in training was got at. The authorities need to investigate the issue scientifically, analyze it from all angles, give the aggrieved professional due consideration before pronouncing their verdict. By handing out nine month suspension for vicarious responsibility to Pesi Shroff who enjoys more credibility than most professionals, the authorities have only sought to create controversy and scandal. The investigation has not been done in a methodical manner with allegations from the supporters and detractors of the trainer polluting the environment further. It is a pity that power struggle between the main patron of Pesi Shroff and the present Chairman has also further damaged the credibility of the sport. It is not a question of who is right. The warring groups seem to think that sanity is a convenient lie.

Pesi Shroff is also to be blamed for the matter going out of hand. Even before the matter could be heard by the Stewards, the trainer lodged a police complaint on his own without taking the help of the club, accusing some unknown people of sabotaging. And also the trainer approached the Animal Welfare Department to stall the enquiry. Trying to take the matter out of the Stewards and bringing in external agency to stall the proceedings did not endear Pesi to all. His acts were seen as sabotaging the established practices of racing administration. Unfortunately, Pesi has always had brushes with authority on perceived wrong doing on their part. He has been successful on some occasions but each time, he has courted controversy.

The Stewards of RWITC too did not help matters by rushing through with the enquiry without waiting for reports from Police who are investigating the case as well as the findings of an expert committee set up by the Animal Welfare Board of India. Vicarious responsibility is a highly controversial issue in racing and professionals are routinely punished for the same when the authorities fail to establish the guilt of the accused. If one were to extend the same clause, then the authorities are also answerable to the omissions and commissions happening on the track with unfailing regularity.

There is a dramatic twist to the whole sordid saga with Pesi Shroff accusing his erstwhile friend Cooji Katrak of sabotaging with a view to bringing disrepute to him and hurt his blossoming professional career as a trainer. Cooji Katrak on his part has also leveled charges against Pesi of several wrong doings when he was a jockey including tanking the race on Arabian Rose in the Indian Derby in 1997 to ensure the victory of Indictment which was owned by his chief patron and immediate past chairman of the club. It is learnt that the club has asked both the professionals to come up with evidence about the charges that they have leveled against each other. The whistleblower policy introduced by the club under K N Dhunjibhoy to give any charge made by known or unknown sources utmost consideration post the tape controversy is sure to take away sanctity from any past achievement.

You can expect more muck to fly in the coming days. Sanity and reason have taken a back seat at RWITC. Sanity is the ability to tell real from fiction. In RWITC, the word sanity may soon find a new definition.