A year after he was inducted into the Nebraska Racing Hall of Fame, Ashland thoroughbred trainer David Anderson denied Friday he was involved in giving illegal drugs to two horses before they raced at Omaha's Horsemen's Park in July 2009.

In a two-hour hearing before the Nebraska State Racing Commission in Lincoln, Anderson's attorney asked him if he had any knowledge of how the horses could have tested positive for a pain-killing drug called oxycodone.

"None whatsoever," he responded.

Horses named Storms of Life and Overnite Surprise both finished second in their races.

Anderson was suspended from the Iowa horse-racing circuit for one year in September after regulators there heard evidence against him for similar infractions.

The Nebraska attorney general's office is asking for the maximum penalty: a five-year suspension and a $5,000 fine for each of two counts.

Glancing toward two inches of paperwork that had piled up in front of him by the end of the hearing, Commission Chairman Dennis Lee of Omaha said a ruling from him and fellow commissioners Janell Beveridge of Paxton and Helen Abbott Feller of Wisner would be delayed until at least Jan. 6.

Assistant Attorney General Natalee Hart pressed her prosecution case by calling Rich Berggren, the commission's director of investigations, and other witnesses.

"Nebraska policy has zero tolerance for the presence of these drugs in race horses," Hart said.

In a formal complaint, Hart said, "the trainer is the absolute insurer of the condition of horses entered in an official workout or race and is responsible for the presence of any prohibited drug or medication."

Anderson's attorney, Mike Kelley of Omaha, said his client, a fixture at Nebraska racetracks since the 1980s, was smart enough and experienced enough to know giving horses a drug not approved for equine use would bring him nothing but trouble.

"It would not help the horse, number one," Kelley said during a recess in the disciplinary hearing at commission headquarters in northeast Lincoln. "Number two, it's guaranteed to turn up" in urine tests that are routinely done of winning horses.

Someone else had to have done it, Kelley said. "One of the problems of being a leading trainer is there's a lot of jealousy."

Although Kelley said it was "clearly a plant, in my view," Anderson's denial of responsibility obviously did not sway the outcome in Iowa, where one of the results was forfeiture of $47,000 in purse winnings.

Part of Hart's evidence was an 18-page report on Anderson's previous racing history which she said contained numerous instances of less serious drug violations.

During the break in the hearing, Commission Director Tom Sage said this is the first hearing based on an alleged Class I violation in several years. "A disciplinary hearing like this is rare, yes."

In his turn in the witness chair, commission veterinarian Dell Hogan said oxycodone is a prescription drug for human use. Depending on the dosage, it could act as either a stimulant or a depressant in a horse's system.

Anderson and his attorney said the limited security monitoring in horse barns could have been a factor in someone else administering illegal drugs.

Who might that have been?

"We have no way of knowing," Kelley responded. "That's the evil part of this rule."

Reach Art Hovey at 473-7223 or at ahovey@journalstar.com.