Well-known owner of the Nanoli Stud Farm in Poona and managing director of Five Stars Shipping Company Private Limited, Khushroo Dhunjibhoy was elected chairman of the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) in mid September, 2017. He will be heading the 11-member managing committee of the exclusive Club tasked with controlling its funds and property. Of the 11 members, nine were elected over the second weekend of September. The other two nominees from the Government of Maharashtra on the committee are usually the additional chief secretary, Home Department, and the additional chief secretary, Revenue and Forests Department, according to the RWITC website.
Seven of the nine members elected to the committee were from Dhunjibhoy’s camp, the other two being Vivek Jain who was the RWITC chairman last year and his supporter Zinia Lawyer, former beer baroness of London Pilsner fame, the only lady on the male bastion. Whilst Dhunjibhoy secured 766 votes, his team mate Shyam Ruia won the highest, 768, Jaydev Mody, 751, Ghulam Vahanvaty, 746, Geoffrey Nagpal, 725, Dr Ram Shroff, 723, and Milan Luthria, 655. Jain who won 733 votes chose to resign from the committee. Lawyer garnered 665 votes.
Above: At the Royal Western India Turf Club; Khushroo Dhunjibhoy and Zinia Lawyer, at the helm
"This is Dhunjibhoy’s eighth innings at the helm of the race Club but it comes at a time when the once rich Bombay Club is staring at a probable bankruptcy situation with cash reserves down to only Rs 40 crores,” noted a write-up in the mid-day of September 12, 2017. "The crisis is not limited only to the Club. The sport of racing is facing its worst crisis. The solution lies in saving both, the sport and the Club. One can’t survive without the other,” Dhunjibhoy was quoted in mid-day.
Dhunjibhoy is described as "one of the biggest promoters of the sport in every sense of the term… a leading horse owner… very passionate about his horses. He has had the privilege of owning some top notch performers,” according to the website racingpulse.in. He has also contributed as vice president of the National Horse Breeding Society of India.
Lawyer has been a familiar face at the RWITC from the time her late father Noshir Irani, founder of London Pilsner and Bakhtawar Construction Company, was a leading race horse owner. Her sister Bakhtawar is married to veteran horse trainer Bezan Chenoy while daughter Farah is married to Riyad Oomerbhoy whose family’s passion for the equine sport is well known. Lawyer "epitomizes the suave and spirited feminine force which Bombay’s Turf Club so urgently requires. With her cool head and progressive vision, she could be just the person to steer it through its most challenging days,” commented Malavika Sangghvi in her column in the mid-day of September 7, concluding, "It’s high time RWITC had a lady on the committee, if for nothing else, but to keep an eye on the boys!”
At the 2017 election Lawyer had found a strong ally in former RWITC chairman Dr Cyrus Poonawalla whose fervent campaigning in person and on the phone is believed to have helped bring her the much needed votes.