LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska horse trainer has been suspended and fined $1,500 pending an investigation of a horse that tested positive for a powerful stimulant called “frog juice” that is barred from use in the United States.
The Lincoln Journal Star reports (http://bit.ly/PMpgXn ) that a urine sample showed a horse named Cheatin’ Cowboy may have had dermorphin in his system when he finished second at a race July 15 at Horsemen’s Park in Omaha.
Dermorphin is produced naturally as a skin secretion in certain species of South American frogs, but it also can be produced synthetically.
The trainer, Kim Veerhusen, could not be reached to comment. The executive director of the Nebraska Racing Commission, Tom Sage, confirmed its investigation but declined to make any other comments.
