Once the golden boy of horse racing, Bob Baffert now the face of its disgrace.

It wasn’t long after the running of the 123rd Kentucky Derby, where a grey stallion named Silver Charm trained by Bob Baffert claimed victory. It was only Baffert’s second time to enter a horse in the race and it turned him into a national star. And for many years Baffert was quite successful at charming the media, fans of horse racing, and the betting public.

He went on to claim more Derby titles and wins around the globe and ended the 37-year drought of a Triple Crown winner with American Pharoah’s 2015 victory.

That same year, following American Pharoah’s victory we started working with Reps. Andy Barr, R-Ky., and Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., to enact federal legislation to end doping in American horseracing. As each Congress passed, new versions of the bill were introduced that expanded the measure to cover other breeds of horses and eliminate the use of race-day medication while creating a uniform national standard for testing and enforcement with one national set of rules to be overseen by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

As the issue was elevated, Congress held hearings on the matter in late 2016, and again in 2018. Soon thereafter a rash of racehorse deaths at Baffert’s home track, Santa Anita Park, in Arcadia, Calif., drew national attention, as horses were dropping like flies. The public outrage grew and ultimately led to a terrible discovery: Justify, Bob Baffert’s second Triple Crown winner, who claimed victory in 2018, had a dirty little secret.

The public learned that Justify had tested positive for an illegal drug when he won the Santa Anita Derby, a qualifier for the Kentucky Derby and a key step for the horse to become only the 13th in American history to win the Triple Crown. That positive drug test was swept under the rug by the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB), whose vice-chairman also had a horse in training with Baffert at the time. That’s when the tide turned against Bob Baffert.

Then in early 2020, the FBI raided numerous stables in Florida, and the U.S. Dept. of Justice indicted 27 trainers, owners, veterinarians, and other parties in the largest illegal doping scandal the horse world has ever seen.

To his credit, Baffert penned an op-ed that week in support of the anti-doping legislation that week, but it was already too late – the Washington Post, published an editorial the same day as Baffert’s piece entitled “Horseracing Has Outlived Its Time.” The unthinkable for the industry was now in print with one of America’s key newspapers of record. That would get the attention of the horse racing world but concerns about horse racing were subordinated to the national crisis over the pandemic.

But one reader was still paying attention: U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, a regular at the Kentucky Derby in McConnell’s hometown of Louisville. The Post’s headline hit too close to home, and McConnell stepped into action.

By fall of 2020, McConnell, Barr, Tonko, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and those of us in the Coalition for Horseracing Integrity forged a new bill: the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA). It not only accomplished a ban on race-day medication and establishment of a national standard and set of rules, but it also contained new safety provisions brought by McConnell and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. We saw the enactment of HISA in December of 2020, and the measure takes effect this July.

Not long after the enactment of HISA, Baffert’s Medina Spirit crossed the finish line first at the 2021 Kentucky Derby. And more controversy followed. Medina Spirit’s drug test on Derby Day revealed the horse had illegal levels of betamethasone in his system. Baffert denied the claim, but later walked his story back, admitting the horse had been treated with an anti-fungal agent that contained betamethasone.

Churchill Downs and the New York Racing Association suspended Baffert for two-years, and as usual, lawsuits followed.

Then Medina Spirit dropped dead on the track at Santa Anita last December.

It wasn’t until the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission officially suspended Baffert in February, and removed Medina Spirit’s Derby title, that we saw some resemblance of justice. And after Baffert failed in multiple attempts to skirt the 90-day suspension, it took effect on April 4, preventing Baffert from running horses in any of the 2021 Triple Crown races.

With the impending implementation of the new anti-doping law that’ll prohibit the use of drugs on race-day across the U.S., Baffert’s history of utilizing drugs on horses, and his recent suspension, one must wonder, has Bob Baffert jumped the shark?

Only time will tell. It’s too late for Medina Spirit, but it’s not too late for Baffert and American horse racing to reform.

Marty Irby is the executive director at Animal Wellness Action, and an 8-time world champion equestrian who was honored by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, II for his work to protect horses.