On March 11, embattled trainer Jeff Mullins got his get out of jail free card. The 30-day penalty during which all horses he ran at Santa Anita had to go to a detention barn for the 24-hour period before they raced ended. His barn will be under surveillance until March 26. Then, the man who was caught milkshaking a horse will be as free as a bird.

Sorry, but how exactly does such a light punishment fit such a serious offense?

Horse racing still wants to slap its offenders on the wrist. Until that changes, the sport is going to have an awfully hard time cleaning up a drug mess that has never been a bigger issue or done more damage to the thoroughbred racing's image.

Had Mullins, the man who thinks horseplayers are idiots, committed a similar offense in Europe or Australia or just about anywhere else he surely would have been banned for at least year. Had the feds been involved in the case he might even be facing jail time. That's exactly where trainer Greg Martin might be headed. After wiretaps revealed that he had allegedly milkshaked a horse at Aqueduct, Martin was indicted on fraud and conspiracy charges.

At least Santa Anita has cracked down on milkshaking. Since the potion, which enhances performance by preventing the buildup of lactic acid which causes fatigue in the muscles, started becoming the juice of choice for many trainers few tracks have reacted. But Santa Anita, NYRA and Gulfstream are tracks that have started testing for shakes. The question became, what should be done with those who were caught?

Santa Anita's penalties aren't nearly tough enough or enough of a deterrent to stop someone who insists on breaking the rules. Mullins, when he shot his mouth off to the Los Angeles Times' T.J. Simmers implied that he's proud to be an outlaw trainer and didn't exactly sound like a guy ready to clean up his act.

"I train to win and that's all I care about," he said. "It's not my problem (if the general public is deceived). They ought to bring in slot machines, then we could run our horses and make a living without worrying about some crybaby calling the stewards and raising a fit."

Beyond the one milkshake incident, no one can say for sure that Mullins is a cheater. But, frankly, just about everyone believes that he is. Can it be a coincidence that Mullins, who usually wins about 30 percent of the races he enters, won with just five of 35 starters (14.3) percent while his horses were in a detention barn? Are hay, oats and water the only things going into horses in a stable that is capable of winning at a 33 percent rate, which it did in 2000. (This, by the way, is the same trainer who could do little right in the late eighties and early nineties. He won with five percent of his starters in 1987 and with eight percent in 1986.)

You can, however, accuse him of being a loudmouth. It's hard not to after the venomous attack he leveled at fans, the lifeblood of the game, in the Los Angeles Times. He blamed his problems on "all the addicts and idiots crying because they lost a $2 bet," and added, "if you bet on horses, I would call you an idiot."

You can't punish someone for saying something stupid, yet it's disappointing that none of Mullins' owners haven't fired him over the incident or come out and said they are questioning their professional relationship with a trainer who has so little regard for the fans who put food on his table. Apparently, his owners don't care much about the fans either. They seem a lot more interested in employing a trainer who wins an ungodly high percentage of his races, and how that is accomplished is not a big deal to them. These are the same owners who won't be able to fire him fast enough if he keeps winning at a human 14.3 percent.

It will be interesting to see what happens with Mullins once the heat is off. Will he jump right back up and start winning at 30 percent again or will he take a more cautious approach that will lead to fewer winners?

He shouldn't have that chance. His horses should have been placed in a detention barn for one year, minimum. And he should have been suspended for the same year while an assistant trainer had to run the stable. A second offense should be worth a five-year suspension and five years operating out of the detention barn. A third offense should be worth a lifetime ban. These are the type of meaty punishments the game needs. Then, and only then, might the bad guys start to think twice about cheating.