The Mumbai high court yesterday offered ad-interim relief to trainer Pesi Shroff by granting a stay on the suspension imposed on him by the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) Ltd, and posted the matter for final hearing on January 11, 2016. The 90-day suspension had begun on Monday, but Shroff challenged it on the same day by filing a petition in the court of justice A K Menon at Mumbai. The judge had heard the arguments of counsels from both sides on Monday, and had reserved the verdict for Tuesday.


Pesi Shroff

It may be noted that Shroff was awarded a 90-day suspension by the stewards of the RWITC, of which 60 days were for vicarious liability on account of two of his horses testing positive for a banned substance O-Desmethylvenlafaxine, an antidepressant generally used to treat menopausal women. The trainer had appealed against this decision, claiming environmental contamination and offered analytical and scientific evidence, backed by world renowned scientists, as mitigating circumstances. The Board of Appeal (BoA) of the race club, however, rejected his appeal on December 14, ordering the suspension to take effect from Monday, Dec 21.