The Nebraska Racing Commission struck a blow for the integrity of horse racing Friday, and the blow landed squarely on a Hall of Fame thoroughbred owner and trainer from Ashland.

Commissioners suspended David C. Anderson's license for three years and fined him $4,000 for rules violations involving Class I narcotic drugs found in urine tests of two of his horses last year.

Commission Chairman Dennis Lee of Omaha was part of the 2-1 majority in favor of the penalties.

"I've been affiliated with the racing commission for 26 years," Lee said afterward, "and this is the first time that I'm aware of a positive test for a Class I."

Racing regulators heard witness testimony and sorted out details of a staff investigation in November, but delayed a decision on punishment to Friday's agenda.

The illegal drugs were found in horses Storms of Life and Overnite Surprise after each finished second in races at Horsemen's Park in Omaha in July 2009.

Anderson was suspended and fined in Iowa in September for a similar infraction.

Lee initially proposed a four-year suspension, but backed off a year after fellow commissioner Helen Abbott Feller of Wisner countered with a motion for a smaller fine and a shorter suspension that would be more in line with Iowa sanctions.

Lee and Commissioner Janell Beveridge of Paxton weren't willing to go lower than three years and $4,000.

"I have the utmost respect for Mr. Anderson," Beveridge said, "but the facts are out here and it happened twice in the same day."

Anderson declined an offer to make a statement prior to the vote, shook his head at one point as the results became clear, and declined comment again as he left the commission's Walker Avenue headquarters in north Lincoln.

His attorney, Mike Kelley of Omaha, wasn't interested in answering questions either, although he did say taking the matter to court was one option.

"We will look at it and discuss it," Kelley said of the ruling. "Right now we feel it's a pretty harsh penalty and I don't want to make any other comment."

In laying out the commission's stance earlier, Lee said a trainer's responsibilities prior to a race are as "the absolute insurer of the condition of the horses entered."

Anderson denied any involvement at the November hearing in the circumstances that led to the positive urine tests. Kelley suggested then the horses might have been tampered with as an act of jealousy by a racing competitor.

"I think it's pretty clear from all the evidence that Mr. Anderson is absolutely innocent," Kelley said Friday prior to the vote.

Lee said it may well be true Anderson had no direct involvement in the drugs getting into the horses' systems.

"Our order today doesn't in any way impinge on Mr. Anderson's testimony or the truthfulness of his testimony."

Nonetheless, the horse-drugging result is "a gravely serious offense that impinges on the integrity of horse racing in this state."