By Randy Monk
sports.desk@theindependent.com

Most of all, Anderson loves the thoroughbred racing industry in Nebraska, an industry the Nebraska-bred owner/trainer/spokesman wants to see thrive once again in his home state.

Most racing fans know Anderson as either the owner of Anderson Racing, or as a public trainer who has won eight training titles at Fonner Park, but few know that he spent his first 10 years after high school working with horses, but on his family's farm and not at the track.

"I graduated from Ashland High School in 1973 and went to work for my Dad at the farm," Anderson said. "The 10 years working with horses on the farm was really the best education I could have received for being a trainer."

The close proximity of Ashland to Omaha's Ak-Sar-Ben in the 1970s provided the Anderson family with opportunities to work with many trainers with Nebraska ties.

"We would catch the overflow from Ak-Sar-Ben in it's heyday and board a number of runners," Anderson said. "In addition to helping trainers with horses at our farm, we prepared two-year-olds for the track.

"We faced the same problems with horses at the farm that they did at the race track."

After Anderson's family sold their farm, David Anderson decided to open his own public stable in 1983.

"I was lucky in that with my connections," Anderson said. "I had some clients right away."

Anderson started racing with nine horses in the summer of '83 in Omaha. His first winner was a two-year-old maiden, developed on the farm named Flashy Diamond.

Anderson's first appearance at Fonner Park was the following spring. He had some success, which blossomed in 1988 with his first Fonner Park training title.

"That was a very exciting year for us," Anderson said of the 1988 campaign. "We won 41 races that year, breaking Don Von Hemel's record. Looking back, that's kind of the year we really arrived."

Anderson, who is currently second in the training standings behind Milton Gaede and is looking to add a ninth training title to his name at Fonner Park, is embedded in the present, likes to recall the past affectionately, but is a strong advocate concerning the future of thoroughbred racing in Nebraska.

"It's amazing how things that happen in the past come back to bite you in the future," Anderson said. "In the '70s and '80s, we actually restricted owners of mares from Iowa and Kansas, saying that only owners from Nebraska could have Nebraska-bred horses. Now, the playing field has had an entire reversal."

The reversal that Anderson speaks of is the state of racing in Iowa and Kansas, as those two states are currently reaping the benefits of expanded gambling that help the racing industry.

It's a benefit for Hawkeyes and Jayhawks that have seen a drop of around 900 Nebraska-bred foals per year in the 1980s to approximately 200 foals in the state last year.

"We used to be in the top 10 in the nation in the number of thoroughbred foals per year," Anderson said. "Now we have a hard time filling out a Nebraska-bred race."

Anderson sees expanded gambling in the form of slot machines in racinos as the best way to save the thoroughbred industry in Nebraska, an industry that he says is a strong factor in trickle-down theory of economics in the state. For instance, Anderson has more than 40 horses stabled in Grand Island and 15 employees.

"We're staying nightly at a motel, we eat our meals out, we deal with independent contractors such as horse-shoers and vets," Anderson said. "I'm buying six tons of hay and five tons of grain each week. The local economic impact of the races is huge."

Anderson points to the success neighboring Iowa and Kansas are having with racinos.

"It's almost a no-brainer," Anderson said. "They've realized the economic impact of the racing industry. With funds earmarked through gambling taxes, states such as Iowa and Kansas have surpassed Nebraska in purse structure and in the breeding industry.

"Their states have rescued their racing industries for the good of their state's economies."

Looking into his crystal ball Anderson said he sees two possible futures for Nebraska racing: One rosy and one very cloudy.

"If we don't get legislative help, in five years, racing in Nebraska as we know it, just won't exist," Anderson said. "However, if we can get the legislative help, with our strong tradition of Nebraska racing, we could be better off than ever before."

Personally, Anderson said he has no doubts for himself.

"I'm a Nebraska-bred," Anderson said. "I have Nebraska-bred horses and believe in Nebraska racing. If the ship goes down in this state, I'll be on board.

"I just want to do everything I can to save the industry."