Robbie Medina

Did you hear the one about the wrestler who opted for three foals and a submission? Understandably, Jeff Kerber feels a little conflicted about the "submission." In his youth, as Iowa's first high school wrestler unbeaten through four years of varsity competition, everything came down to what he could do with his bare hands. In lately discovering a flair for a second walk of sporting life, however, Kerber had to make a pragmatic concession to the economic odds against him. His entire Kentucky program comprised four mares, and one of...

Katey Caddel always knew she'd build a life around horses, but it was the sense of community within the Thoroughbred industry that made her fall in love with racing. The camaraderie, early mornings and shared passion for the sport drew her to the racetrack and kept her there for good. When trainer Robbie Medina opened his public stable in 2023, Caddel came on board as his assistant trainer and helped build the operation from the ground up. Three years later, the barn is making headlines with Praying (Vekoma), who handed...

Trainers Will Walden and Robbie Medina likely booked their first Breeders' Cup starters with stakes winners at Keeneland over the weekend. Walden earned his first Grade I win when Rhetorical (Not This Time) came home first in the GI Coolmore Turf Mile Saturday. "He ran big and we are so proud of him," Walden said of Rhetorical, who returned to Churchill Downs Saturday night. "He was doing so good and training better than he ever has. We use a lot of metrics with our horses and he was just off...

8th-Churchill Downs, $132,695, Alw, 11-6, (NW2$X), 3yo/up, 7 1/2f, 1:28.66, sy, head. LIBERAL ARTS (c, 3, Arrogate--Ismene {MSW, $236,990}, by Tribal Rule) entered the Triple Crown trail with a 2 3/4-length score in this track's GIII Street Sense Stakes last fall ahead of a third to future GI Kentucky Derby hero Mystik Dan (Goldencents) in the GIII Southwest Stakes Feb. 3. Sixth, placed eighth, in the GI Arkansas Derby Mar. 30, the gray was last seen finishing a well-beaten sixth in the Apr. 13 GIII Stonestreet Lexington Stakes, his final...

Evan and Stephen Ferraro's homebred Liberal Arts, relishing the added distance and sloppy conditions, charged to the lead inside the final furlong to win the GIII Street Sense S. by a widening 2 3/4 lengths at Churchill Downs Sunday. The gray colt trailed the strung-out field as Gettysburg Address (Constitution) skipped along on an unchallenged lead through fractions of :23.73 and :47.93. The field began bunching up heading into the far turn, but Liberal Arts was still last at the top of the lane. Informed Patriot was first to overtake...

Trainer Robert "Robbie" Medina has opened a public stable based out of Lexington, KY and is now accepting new clients. Since April 2020, Medina has served as the general manager and trainer for Blackwood Stables, the state-of-the-art training center near Lexington. At Blackwood, he focused on breaking, training, and rehabilitation for many of the sport's leading owners and trainers. He also ran horses under his own name at Kentucky tracks for a few select clients, including August Dawn Stable's Gun Runner S. winner Play Action Pass (Cairo Prince), who was...

by Brian DiDonato, Jessica Martini & Christie DeBernardis LEXINGTON, KY--The Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearlings Showcase, a hybrid of the company's July yearling sale, Saratoga sale and New York-bred yearling sale brought about by COVID-19- induced rescheduling, kicked off the 2020 yearling sales season Wednesday with signs of life for the market. A total of 172 yearlings changed hands for gross receipts of $27,166,000--good for an average of $157,942 and median of $100,000. The RNA rate was 34.4%. "At the outset, we had no expectations for the statistics," said Fasig-Tipton president and...