The problem, Mullins said, "are all the addicts and idiots crying because they lost a $2 bet," and then demanding a level playing field. "It will never be a level playing field. There are a lot of things people don't know, and won't know."

I interrupted to suggest it's not fair for the members of the general public who pay $4 for parking, $5 for admission, $2 for a program, $4 for the Daily Racing Form and who think that, with a little work, they might figure out who is going to win a race. The same idiots, of course, who bet money, which accounts for the purses won by Mullins' horses.

"If you bet on horses, I would call you an idiot," said Mullins, who finished 11th nationally last year in money earned in horse racing. "I don't bet; there's a reason they call it gambling.

Mullins needs to be ball batted three times a day and four on Sunday. He, like so many in the industry, just don't get it. Without us pouring the billions through the betting windows, there is no sport. There are no purses. There are no jobs. Mullins and his ilk would be hot walkers on some quiet gentlemens farm.



May they all come home safely!