Trainer Potts will serve suspensions totaling 75 days

Embattled trainer Wayne Potts will serve an overall 75 calendar days’ suspension - April 10 through June 23 - after the New York State Gaming Commission hit him with a 45-day penalty for a drug found in his Belmont Park tack room that has not been approved by the FDA for use in Thoroughbred horses.

The commission issued the ruling Sunday.

The New York penalty is split into two parts – April 10 through May 6 and June 6-23. The reason is that Potts must serve a 30-day suspension issued by the New Jersey Racing Commission from May 7 through June 5. That penalty was issued to Potts and his assistant, Bonnie Lucas, for not allowing a horse they ran in the sixth race on Aug. 6 at Monmouth Park to be vanned off following that race at the request of the state veterinarian.

Potts will be eligible to start horses again on June 24, according to the New York ruling.

The drug found in Potts’s tack room was not identified in the New York Gaming Commission ruling.

Potts, however, revealed in a text the medication in question was EquiFlow, “a biologic intended to support a reduction in the risk of exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH),” according to the web site ReCellerate, which manufactures the medication.

A letter supplied by Potts from Karl Norbert, the president of EquiFlow, says “it is all natural … is not a drug, is not a race-day medication (it is intended to be used seven days before a strenuous activity), is delivered by nebulizer (not a needle for injection) and is not a performance enhancer.”

Norbert states that stem cell treatments are similarly not approved by the FDA and concludes his letter by writing “to find fault with EquiFlow’s use would mean that every horse in New York that has received stem cell therapy to date should be excluded from racing in the State.”

Potts confirmed in a text that he is no longer appealing his 30-day Monmouth suspension.

“I’m taking my days and clearing everything up,” he wrote.

Last fall, Potts served a 30-day suspension by the New York Gaming Commission for the transfer of a claimed horse to him from Amira Chichakly that was done in a prohibited time frame.

Potts was recently one of six trainers who were denied stalls by the New York Racing Association for the Aqueduct and Belmont Park spring meets. At the time, Potts said no specific reason was given to him by NYRA officials for the denial of stalls. Potts has previously been banned by the Stronach Group from stabling or racing at their tracks, which include Laurel Park, Pimlico, Gulfstream Park, and Santa Anita. Also, Delaware Park has previously banned Potts as well.

Despite the denial of stalls, Potts - when not under suspension - is still permitted to race at NYRA tracks. He has started five horses at the current spring meet with a win, a second and a third. He has a horse entered on Thursday at Aqueduct and can run there through Saturday.

Potts finished 10th in wins at the Aqueduct winter meet with a record of 11-15-10 from 55 starters.