Pune: With barely five days to go before the Pune monsoon racing season gets underway, the racing world was jolted by the news that wards of two more trainers, Bezan Chenoy and Magansingh Jodha, have tested positive for anabolic steroids. In a round of random sampling, Disraeli, an unraced three-year-old from trainer Chenoy’s stables, tested positive for boldenone, while four-year-old Dazzle N Daze from Jodha’s yard returned positive for testosterone.

“This is extremely disturbing,” KN Dhunjibhoy, current chairman of the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC), told
mid-day over the phone, “I don’t wish to prejudice the inquiry, but as chairman, I am going to strongly recommend putting in place a proper system of through and scientific investigation to ensure that while the guilty must not be spared, the trainers must get a fair chance to establish their innocence if they uncover any mitigating circumstances.