The use of cobra venom to help reduce pain and increase the performance of race horses has been on regulators' rador, and now it looks like "Frog Juice" is getting in on the action.

The Nebraska Racing Commission is investigating the use of a product called "Frog Juice" as an illegal enhancement for racing horses.

Insiders at horse-racing tracks call it frog juice, and concerns about its use as a performance-enhancing drug in Louisiana, Oklahoma and other states have spread to Nebraska.

The Nebraska Racing Commission is investigating a case in which a urine sample drawn from a horse in the July 15 field at Horsemen’s Park in Omaha tested positive for a drug known scientifically as dermorphin.

The drug is extracted from a South American tree frog and acts as both a painkiller and a stimulant. And, as of Aug. 4, Adams horse trainer Kim Veerhusen has been suspended and ordered to pay a fine of $1,500 pending review of the incident by the commission.

According to the formal complaint, a horse named Cheatin’ Cowboy may have had dermorphin in its system when it finished second in the first race of the day in Omaha last month.

Cheatin' Cowboy since has been disqualified as a source of purse money, and Veerhusen has been suspended through Sept. 19 while drug allegations are investigated. Along with that, entry of any horses he owns or trains will be denied for the rest of the race season as it continues in Columbus.

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