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‘Couldn’t Dream Of Anything Better’: Wayne Potts Celebrates Memorable First Stakes Win

It wasn't conventional, but it was memorable. As the years go by, Laurel Park-based trainer Wayne Potts will have no trouble recalling the circumstances of his first career stakes win.

The milestone victory happened Aug. 8 in Saratoga, when Raj Jagnanan's 8-year-old gelding American Sailor finished second in the $200,000 Troy (G3) but had his number put up following the disqualification of first-place finisher Imprimis for interfering with Shekky Shebaz, who ran third.

Potts' breakthrough in the 5 ½-furlong turf sprint for older horses also came as part of Saratoga's Travers (G1) program, the biggest of its summer meet.

“I couldn't dream of anything better,” Potts said. “I've had 12 or 13 seconds … but this was my first one. To knock them both out at the same time, a stakes and a graded-stakes … at Saratoga … on Travers day … it's unbelievable.

“I had dinner [that] night and my phone was beeping and dinging. As I'm walking my horse around waiting for the decision by the stewards, my phone's going off non-stop,” he added. “I had an outpouring of support from everybody just for finishing second in the race, and then when they put us up it was such a different feeling. I wish the stands would have been packed to get that experience but to get national TV coverage and to have that happen, it's fantastic.”

Potts, a 39-year-old native of Rockville, Md. who went out on his own in 2004 after working four years for Charles Town-based trainer David Rose, said he received 374 text messages following the race.

“I was on my phone until almost midnight [that] night trying to respond to everybody and then [the next] morning. It was great. Trainers from Maryland messaging me … the support that I got was amazing,” Potts said. “To the guys in Maryland and where I started back at Charles Town and Shenandoah [Downs] I'd say, 'Guys, keep dreaming. It can happen.'

“I started with one $500 horse. I started from the ground up, cleaning stalls and hotwalking, and I got to where I am today,” he added. “Again, I can't take all the credit. My owners are behind me. My help at the barn, they work endless hours. My assistants, I couldn't do it without them. I give them just as much credit as I give myself.”

Potts hauled American Sailor from Laurel to Saratoga and back himself, giving his stable star a few days off before bringing him back to the track. After getting the winter off for the first time in three years, American Sailor returned with an optional claiming allowance victory June 8 at Laurel, more than seven months following his 2019 finale.

“That race made me feel really good about him. I fought tooth and nail. My owner at first didn't want to give him the time, he wanted to go to Sam Houston like we had been doing,” Potts said. “It took a good 30 days for it to finally sink in and he said, 'You know what, if that's what you want to do go ahead and do that,' so I turned him out.

“He told me [after the race] and he messaged me again [the next] morning and said, 'I have to tell you, the best thing you ever talked me into doing was giving the horse the time off,'” he added. “He came back and he looks fantastic. He looks so good after giving him the time to drop his head and be a horse for the 60 days we gave him. It was great to see the flesh on him coming back. He really filled out and he's really muscled up. It was the right thing to do.”

Jagnanan was also on hand at Saratoga for the win, the 15th of his career for American Sailor, who saw his career bankroll swell over $500,000. Potts claimed American Sailor for $25,000 in September 2017 at Suffolk Downs, lost him for a $7,500 tag the following summer and got him back shortly afterward when Jagnanan purchased him privately.

Since their reunion, American Sailor has put together a record of 5-3-1 from 13 starts for Potts with purse earnings of more than $400,000, the bulk of his races having come at Laurel or Pimlico Race Course.

“Maryland racing is no joke. Maryland racing is very, very tough. Lots of good horsemen, lots of quality horses, lots of good trainers. Maryland racing is very, very competitive,” Potts said. “This horse, he means a lot to me. I'm taking [the DQ win] and running with it. I've been disqualified from races before and I was a little upset about it and the guys that got the win were smiling and walking away, so that's what I'm going to do.”

Potts said he will take his time finding a spot for American Sailor to run back. Laurel will be hosting the $100,000 Laurel Dash for 3-year-olds and up sprinting six furlongs on its world-class turf course Monday, Sept. 7 during the extended summer meet.

“We're going to play it by ear,” he said. “I'm going to take the next week, week and a half to see how he comes back and then get him back on the racetrack and go from there. I'm in no rush to wheel him right back.”

Potts was quick to credit Maryland Jockey Club outrider and ex-jockey Kaymarie Kreidel and current Laurel-based rider Tais Lyapustina with American Sailor's development. Lyapustina is recovering from a spill at Laurel three hours before the Troy was run.

“Kaymarie gallops the horse for me and Tais works him all the time for me. The two have done a great job with him. Believe it or not, a guy cannot gallop him. He doesn't get along with them. He's a ladies' man. Both of those ladies have done a fantastic job,” Potts said. “I actually spoke to Tais [the next day]. She said she was a little sore but everything's well. Nothing was broken, which was great news for herself and me. I use her a lot at Laurel.”

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Hall Of Famer D. Wayne Lukas Sidelined By COVID-19

Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, 84, is currently under home isolation after testing positive for COVID-19, his grandson, Brady Wayne Lukas, announced via Twitter on Wednesday.

“Wayne recently tested positive for COVID-19 and has since been isolating at home and following CDC and health care provider recommendations,” wrote Brady Lukas, son of the late Jeff Lukas. “Fortunately, he had not been at work for several days prior to the first symptom, so no one else at the barn is impacted.

“Wayne is on the road to recovery and looks forward to getting back to the track.”

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‘This Is What I Love Doing’: Breen Leads Monmouth Trainer’s Standings At Mid-Way Point

In some ways, Kelly Breen is as surprised as anyone that he will reach the midpoint of the Monmouth Park meet atop the trainer standings and as the favorite to win the title.

That's because he originally thought he was too heavy on 2-year-olds, too light on claimers, didn't have the overall numbers and wasn't sure how consistently he would be able to keep adding to his stable as the meet progressed.

“I thought I came in here a little short on the stock that a normal leading trainer would have,” said Breen. “Approximately one-third (19 of 62) of the horses I have here are 2-year-olds. With the pandemic you can't get to the 2-year-olds until later in the season. So they're pushed back. You're training horses more than you are racing horses.

“I knew to offset that we would have to be active in the claim box.”

The adjustment seems to have worked. Breen, who won the training title at Monmouth Park in 2005 and 2006, heads into the 18th racing day of the now 36-day meet on Friday with 12 winners from 45 starters to top the trainer standings.

He is three winners ahead of his closest competitor, Ben Perkins, Jr., but will only have one opportunity to add to his total during the six-race twilight card on Friday that starts at 5 p.m. Breen will send out Life On The Edge, already a winner at the meet, in the sixth race

“I'm still on the fence about my chances (to win the title),” he said. “So many different things go into winning a training title. A lot of variables.”

Breen said he “lost about six horses I liked for Monmouth Park at Gulfstream, and you can't replenish because Florida rules are you can't take them out of state for at least 90 days. I was coming back here before that so it just didn't work out. You come in feeling you're a little short.”

He also knows with the logjam behind him in the standings that a trainer is just one hot streak away from joining or passing him atop the standings. That happened with Perkins, who had four winners on Sunday's card and has won with seven of his last nine starters.

Jose Delgado, Mike Dini and Jerry Hollendorfer, each with eight winners, are in the title chase mix as well.

For the 51-year-old Breen, though, the training title would be especially significant since the New Jersey native has called Monmouth Park home since he started training in 1992.

“When you're this close of course you want to win it. There isn't anybody out there who would say no,” said Breen, who set a personal best with 66 winners overall a year ago. “This is a prestigious racetrack. To put another feather in my cap would be awesome. This is my home track so there are a lot of things going for me here, owners that have been with me a long time.

“I won the title here in 2005 and 2006 and then I was a private trainer and I did that for a while. So you lose contact with some owners and a lot of the big outfits I used to train for aren't racing as much. I'm on the market again and making more phone calls to get horses than I ever have in my life but this is what I love doing. It's just different. So winning the title again, if that happens, would mean a lot.”

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West Calls Out Saudi Cup Officials For ‘Shrouding This Investigation In A Cloak Of Secrecy’

Maximum Security's co-owner Gary West released the following statement on Wednesday, following Tuesday's announcement by the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia that purse money from the inaugural running of the $20 million Saudi Cup would be paid out to all except the winner, due to the sealed federal indictment of then-trainer Jason Servis.

On Feb. 29, 2020, Maximum Security, owned by Gary and Mary West and the Coolmore partners, was the impressive winner of the inaugural running of the $20 million Saudi Cup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the world's richest race. Now, five and one half months later, the winner still hasn't been declared official and no information has been made public regarding this matter. In the annals of international racing, this is unprecedented.

It is standard operating procedure in the Americas, Europe, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Hong Kong, and Dubai to test horses for the presence of prohibited or illegal substances and to disqualify horses if the presence of such substances is found in post-race laboratory results. This internationally accepted level of transparency is both fair and vital to the integrity of the sport. However, it's just as important and fair to declare a race official in a timely manner and to release purses if horses test negative. Those are the rules by which all major racing centers operate, but this is apparently not how racing is conducted by the Saudi Arabia Jockey Club (SAJC), which developed the Saudi Cup as an entrée into the big leagues of international racing. Nothing like this has ever happened in the history of horse racing.

Following Maximum Security's victory in the Saudi Cup, which reinforced his position as one of the best racehorses in the world, the colt's then-trainer, Jason Servis, was indicted by the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Southern District of New York (SDNY) in early March on one count of “misbranding conspiracy,” the details of which are in the public record. Subsequently, a decision was made by the representatives of the Saudi Cup to conduct an “investigation” into Maximum Security, even though the SDNY indictment of Servis was limited to his conduct between February and October of 2019. After that time frame, Maximum Security won the Grade 1 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct on Dec. 7 before the Saudi Cup on February 29, 2020, and he has never once tested positive for an illegal or prohibited substance during his career.

NOTE: Under the direct supervision of The Saudi Jockey Club, Maximum Security was tested before he left the states, when he arrived in Saudi Arabia and post-race by two of the best testing labs in the world in Paris and Hong Kong. If any of those tests would have been positive, Maximum Security would have been disqualified long ago.

We understood, once the Servis indictment was announced, that the original test results, which were extensive, including blood, urine, and DNA hair testing, needed to be re-examined post-race by the top drug-testing laboratories in the world. Thereafter, we received two requests from the Saudis for bank wiring instructions, leading us to believe that all test results had been negative (as we believe they were) and funds would be forthcoming. Instead of receiving the purse monies, we received a letter dated April 29 from a 'Private Investigator' who had been hired by the JCSA to conduct an 'investigation' of Maximum Security's entitlement to the purse. If this race is decided by a 'Private Investigator', it will be the first time in the history of horse racing that a 'Private Investigator' will decide the outcome of a horse race. Winning horses are always decided on the racetrack and backed up by post-race testing. If a horse wins the race to the satisfaction of the stewards and passes post-race testing, it is universally accepted that the horse is the winner of the race, with the possible exception of the SAJC.

We have repeatedly asked through our counsel to have the Saudi Cup officials publicly announce whether Maximum Security's test results revealed performance enhancing or illegal medications of any kind and they have refused to provide that information. We have also requested a split sample so that we may have tests performed, but that request has also been denied, which is something that would never happen in the U.S.

We can only assume if Maximum Security tested positive for any illegal or prohibited substance, the news would be out, the horse would have already been disqualified, and any 'investigation' would be irrelevant. We have cooperated and intend to continue to cooperate with the 'investigation', but we call on H.R.H. Prince Bandar and the representatives of the Saudi Cup to make this process transparent and swift to the international racing community. Transparency serves the integrity of racing and the reputations of the Saudi Cup and Maximum Security, both of which have been badly tarnished by these unheard of delays and bizarre circumstances. The entire process has been unfair and the international racing community deserved to know the outcome months ago.

If the SAJC wants to compete on the big stage of international racing, they need to let everyone know what they are investigating and what their plan is. If there was a bad test, that was known long ago and the results should be made publicly available immediately. If Maximum Security tested positive for any illegal substance he should be disqualified. Shrouding this investigation in a cloak of secrecy is not how to gain the respect of and faith in the international racing community.

For the purpose of analyzing the fairness of this decision by the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia let's assume that any horse tested positive for cocaine, cobra venom, frog juice and 10 other PED's in previous races. Prior positive test results would not disqualify that horse from running in the Saudi Cup or any other race. And, if the horse won and tested negative by testing labs chosen by the racing authorities, that horse would be officially declared the winner of the race. That is the way things work everywhere in the world with Saudi Arabia Jockey Club being the only known exception.

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