Vivek Jain now holds the reigns of the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC), as widely expected by punters and club members. The visible former chairman of the RWITC stewards and chief of the club's media and marketing committee became chairman of the apex club of racing, in a smooth election yesterday at Mahalaxmi.
Vivek polled 887 votes, topping the nine-man tally and was unanimously elected chairman at the committee meeting after the polls. A smiling Vivek attributed the win to his wife, "Meeta, who tolerates a lot of my nonsense." The new chairman decided to celebrate his win at home with his family, and merely laughed when asked why he'd not do something wild like riding on a racehorse back to his Carmichael Road home in celebration.

Meanwhile, all eight sitting committee members were re-elected, while the seat vacated by Dr Cyrus S Poonawalla was bagged by Gautam Lala (570 votes). Lala said his priority would be, "Accommodation for the syces and upgrade the stable infrastructure."u00a0

u2014 With inputs by Prakash Gosavi
Contestants' tally

Vivek Jain 887, Jaydev Mody 791, Champaklal Zaveri 715, Shyam Ruia 713, Dr SC Jain 642, Dr Ram Shroff 582, Gautam Lala 570, Shivlal Daga 552, Mohan Thakur 548.