Horse Racing: State board considers Anderson's painkiller case

LINCOLN — Thoroughbred trainer David Anderson must wait six weeks for the Nebraska Racing Commission to decide his fate after two of his horses tested positive last summer for banned substances.

The three-person commission — Dennis Lee of Omaha, Helen Abbott Feller of Wisner and Janell Beveridge of Paxton — heard arguments from both sides during a two-hour hearing Friday at the commission office. The trio will weigh the evidence and render a decision Jan. 6 at 1 p.m. at the same site.

At stake is the reputation and training future of Anderson, a member of the Nebraska Racing Hall of Fame.

Representing the state, Assistant Attorney General Natalee Hart presented evidence involving two of Anderson's horses that tested positive for the powerful painkillers oxymorphone and oxycodone after racing July 16 at Horsemen's Park in Omaha. Use of the drugs are considered “Class 1'' violations, the heaviest infractions in racing's five-class rating system.

In the legal complaint against Anderson brought by Attorney General Jon Bruning, the state is seeking to fine the trainer $5,000 and suspend him for no less than five years from licensing in Nebraska.

Anderson already is serving a one-year suspension imposed by the Iowa Racing Commission after one of his horses tested positive for oxymorphone after winning an Aug. 1 stakes race at Prairie Meadows in suburban Des Moines. In addition to the suspension, the trainer was fined $1,000 and the horse's owners had to forfeit the $49,761 winner's purse.

Anderson, who was represented by Omaha attorney Mike Kelley, said he had never heard of the drugs until he was questioned about them by a Nebraska Racing Commission investigator. He added that he did not know how the drugs ended up in the systems of his horses.

Kelley presented evidence of a lie detector test that Anderson had taken and passed, but Hart objected to that evidence by saying it was not admissible. Kelley also called into question the security at racetracks and pointed out Anderson's status as a respected trainer in the state.

Anderson, from Ashland, Neb., received his training license in 1983 and has become one of the most successful trainers in the Midwest. When he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008, his horses had won more than 1,500 races. He has won 10 straight training titles at Grand Island's Fonner Park and nine straight at Lincoln's State Fair Park.

Anderson previously served a suspension for the final five weeks of the 2004 Fonner meet and was fined $1,000 for medicating a horse within 24 hours before a race. Regulations prohibit administering any medication other than for anti-bleeding during that 24-hour window.

“All the evidence points to the absolute innocence of David Anderson,'' Kelley said after the hearing. “At some point, it's incumbent on the state to come up with security that's more appropriate.''

Contact the writer:

444-1350, mike.patterson@owh.com