Report: Jamie Ness is suspended 6 months but will appeal

Trainer Jamie Ness was suspended six months by the Pennsylvania Racing Commission due to a failed drug test by the 3-year-old gelding Crabs N Beer after winning a race at Parx on Feb. 23. 

Ness, who was also fined $5,000, is scheduled to serve the suspension from Sept. 5 through March 3, 2003. However, Ness's attorney Andrew Mollica told Thoroughbred Daily News the discipline will be appealed.

"We will take this the whole way," Mollica told TDN. "He obviously vehemently denies any wrongdoing. The law and the facts our on our side."

Ness, who plies his trade largely in the Mid-Atlantic region, entered Friday's action ranked third in the U.S. with 198 wins. He was winning at a 28 percent clip. 

Crabs N Beer tested positive for Bufotenine, which according to brittanica.com is "a weak hallucinogenic agent active by intravenous injection."

TDN reported Mollica provided the publication with a document by the Association of Racing Commissioners International that states Bufotenine has "no effect on the physiology of a racing animal except to improve nutrition or treat or prevent infections or parasite infestations..."

It also noted Bufotenine is found in reed canary grass and if eaten, it can be detected in a horse's urine sample, TDN reported.

"We already know its a contaminant, not because I say so, but because ARCI says so," Mollica told TDN. "ARCI went out of their way to carve it out and say it should not result in a positive. I thought this was pretty straight-forward. I am shocked we are here. How this got to this level is unfathomable to me. Our position is quite clear."

Ness has saddled 3,703 winners in his career while winning at a 25 percent clip.