RWITC stewards give Jadhav, Shroff a minor reprieve - By Usman Rangeela I Mumbai Mirror
Posted on - 31 Oct 2015
RWITC stewards give Jadhav, Shroff a minor reprieve
By Usman Rangeela
Mumbai Mirror
Trainers MK Jadhav and Pesi Shroff received a minor reprieve after a de novo hearing conducted by the stewards' body of the Royal Western India Club resulted in the reduction of their previous punishment. The stewards announced this verdict following a marathon six-hour meeting here on Thursday evening.
Jadhav's earlier punishment of 150 days was scaled down to 90 and Shroff's 9-month suspension, which included a four-month suspended sentence, was similarly brought down to 90 days.
Gulamhusein Vahanvaty, chairman RWITC stewards of the club, chaired Shroff's hearing while Vivek Jain took the chair when Jadhav's case came up for hearing. These two disciplinary hearings were conducted as fresh inquiries after the club's Board of Appeal (BoA) remanded the two cases back to the stewards when the trainers tendered fresh evidence to bolster their defence.
SANITY PREVAILS
Interestingly, before calling in the beleaguered professionals to present their mitigating circumstances, the stewards' body had an extended meeting with two experts, a senior professor from a Bangalore-based leading science institute and senior veterinarian and Madras Race Club secretary Dr SM Karthikeyan, who gave their respective opinions about the presence of O-Desmethylvenlafaxine (ODMV) in the urine samples of several horses trained by Jadhav and Shroff. At the end of the two hearings, the stewards held the two professional vicariously liable for the breach of medication rules and gave them a three month punishment each. Briefing the press about this verdict, Poonawalla informed, “After consulting the experts, the stewards came to a conclusion that there was a “possibility” of contamination as suggested by the two trainers and therefore we reduced their punishment.”
Replying in affirmative to a query on whether the stewards had accepted the experts' opinion partially, Poonawalla said, “You can say that.”
NEW HORIZONS
Speaking to Mirror on the stewards' decision, Jain revealed, “We unanimously agreed to moderate the punishments in the face of compelling arguments put forth by the trainers.
The vicarious liability remained as per the rules but we've significantly watered down the sentence. This proves that our Stewards body will act fairly and without any political bias as is often alleged.
Another positive step is the impending formation of a wide ranging body of international and Indian advisors covering pharmalogy and veterinary science to guide us through the myriad technicalities that we are faced with in judging medical infringements and setting in place a transparent process that we hope will satisfy both the professionals and the racing fraternity.”
Both Jadhav and Shroff are expected to file an appeal against this sentence with the BoA on receipt of a written order from the stewards' body.
