Nebraska trainer suspended three years

The Nebraska State Racing Commission has banned perennial leading owner/trainer David Anderson until February 2013 for positive tests involving two of his horses during the Horsemen's Park meet in July 2009. The positive results were for the painkillers oxymorphone and oxycodone, both Class 1 prohibited substances.

Anderson began serving a one-year suspension in Iowa late last summer following a similar positive at Prairie Meadows involving the multiple stakes winning Reach One More. In accordance with that suspension, Nebraska officials banned Anderson during the Columbus meet in which he had won the training title the previous seven consecutive years.

His two positive results at Horsemen's Park were in a pair of claiming races on July 16. Both runners, Storms of Life and Overnite Surprise, finished second in their respective races. Reach One More's positive in Iowa came following his victory in the $86,000 Iowa Stallion Stakes on Aug. 1. Redistribution of the purses in all three races are still pending.

Anderson has won four straight training titles at Fonner Park and nine straight titles at Lincoln's State Fair Park. His suspension runs through Feb. 5, 2013. According to published reports, Anderson's attorney Mike Kelley has indicated an appeal of the decision may be made.