Longtime Fonner Park horse trainer suspended for four years following three violations

Longtime horse trainer David Anderson has been suspended for four years by the Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission. The commission and Anderson’s attorney came to a stipulated agreement, rather than holding a hearing, according to the Paulick Report.

A horse that Anderson trained tested positive for the respiratory drug albuterol. Goldies Claim finished first in a mid-February race at Fonner Park, and a urine sample collected the same day tested positive for the drug, according to Fonner Park Board of Stewards documents. The sample was sent to a lab in Colorado, then a lab in Kentucky — both of which found albuterol present.

Fonner previously suspended the trainer for one year and referred its findings to the Racing and Gaming Commission for consideration. Anderson has been fined a total of $2,000 by Fonner Park this year for three violations.

The first ruling from the Board of Stewards at the track came on March 8, when the trainer was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine for “being in possession of a needle and syringe in his assigned tack room.” Andersen pleaded no contest to the complaint. On April 9, Anderson was suspended for one year by Fonner Park and fined $500 for the albuterol incident. In a ruling issued a day later, he was fined an additional $500 for an incident involving a separate horse named Goldie’s Lock. That horse tested positive for CBD at a March 22 race. Goldies Claim and Goldie’s Lock were disqualified, and the board officially changed the final results of the two races.

According to the Uniform Classification Guidelines for Foreign Substances used in Nebraska’s racing rules, Albuterol is listed as in the class of drugs that “may or may not have an accepted therapeutic use in the horse. Many are drugs that affect the cardiovascular, pulmonary and autonomic nervous systems. They all have the potential of affecting the performance of a racing horse.” It receives the highest possible penalty and is completely banned in quarter horse racing due to continued abuse and its ability to increase lean muscle mass. Fonner Park is a thoroughbred race track.

Nebraska tracks are regulated by the Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission. National organizations like the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority don't govern Fonner Park, because the track doesn’t simulcast outside of Nebraska.