Fonner Park Trainer David Anderson Fined $1,000 for Needle, Syringe Possession

Nebraska Racing & Gaming Commission investigators walked into David Anderson's assigned tack room at Fonner Park on March 6 and found a needle and syringe. Six days later, Anderson had a $1,000 fine on his record and no suspension keeping him from the track.

The ruling, posted on the Association of Racing Commissioners International website, shows Anderson waived his right to a formal hearing and entered a no-contest plea to the possession violation. The fine was the only penalty imposed; the NRGC ruling did not affect his ability to enter or run horses over the following weekend.

Anderson was not some fringe presence at Fonner Park when the items were discovered. He ranked third among trainers at the Grand Island, Neb., meet, having sent out 12 winners from 61 starters since the meet opened February 14. That kind of volume makes the no-contest resolution and the relatively modest fine worth noting.

Fonner Park CEO Chris Kotulak did not mince words when asked about the situation. "I have no sympathy for cheaters, but I do believe in due process," Kotulak said, adding that he could not elaborate further "due to an ongoing investigation." That last phrase signals the matter may not be fully closed at the track level, even if the NRGC has issued its ruling.

One jurisdictional detail matters here: Fonner Park is not regulated by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority because the track does not export its simulcast signal out of state. That puts the NRGC squarely in charge, and the commission's $1,000 fine represents its complete public action to date.

The regulatory history attached to Anderson's name gives the 2026 possession ruling additional weight. According to Equibase, Anderson has saddled 2,264 Thoroughbred winners since 1984, generating career earnings of $15,330,766, numbers that reflect decades of sustained activity at the track. But that career has included serious regulatory trouble. Thoroughbredrulings.com records a three-year NRGC suspension served between 2010 and 2013 stemming from a pair of positive tests for oxymorphone.

The roots of that suspension trace back to July 16, 2009, when two horses Anderson trained, Storms of Life and Overnite Surprise, both finished second at Horsemen's Park and subsequently tested positive for the banned painkillers oxycodone and oxymorphone. The Nebraska Racing Commission voted 2-1 to suspend Anderson for three years and fine him $4,000, blocking him from applying for a license until February 2013. The state attorney general's office had sought the maximum penalty: a five-year suspension and a $5,000 fine on each infraction. At the time of the Nebraska ruling, Anderson was already serving a one-year suspension in Iowa following a similar infraction at Prairie Meadows. Commissioner Dennis Lee called the Nebraska sanction the stiffest the board had handed down since he joined it in 1988.

A $1,000 fine for needle and syringe possession, with no suspension attached, sits at the lighter end of the regulatory spectrum. Whether the ongoing investigation Kotulak referenced produces anything further will determine how this chapter ultimately reads in Anderson's long and complicated record with Nebraska regulators.