Barn Tour: Newly on his own, Medina has a Derby hopeful

It was not quite a year ago when Robbie Medina announced that he had opened a public stable after working as general manager and trainer for Blackwood Stables, a training center near Lexington, Ky.

Today he has a horse on the road to Kentucky Derby 2024 in Liberal Arts, winner of the Grade 3 Street Sense in October, his most recent start and Medina’s only graded-stakes victory. The Arrogate colt, owned and bred by Stephen and Evan Ferraro, is entered in Saturday’s Southwest (G3) at Oaklawn, where a win would bring 20 Derby qualifying points. With a third-place finish in the Iroquois (G3) last September, he already has 13 points, putting him in fifth place on a leaderboard that will look very different late Saturday.

Not a bad start to a solo training career.

“He's good for business, and hopefully it keeps on going on,” Medina told Horse Racing Nation on Monday. “He sure acts like a horse that, as the distances increase, then that's what he wants. So I would be surprised, I'm not saying he's going to win the Southwest, but I'd be surprised if he's not running a bang-up race in there.”

Medina said Liberal Arts was off for about a month after the Street Sense, “and his training's been very, very good. So we're excited to get him started.”

Working at Medina’s base at the Thoroughbred Training Center in Lexington, Liberal Arts breezed three furlongs Monday in 39.0 seconds after going four furlongs in 47.0 seconds last week.

“He's a bigger-type horse,” Medina said. “When we started with him, you'd look at him and you're thinking he's going to run probably late in the summer or early fall type of horse. And he kind of showed his hand a little bit early, because he's pretty forward. I think he ran at the end of May, so he kind of tipped his hand that he had some ability.”

His debut was, in fact, in May, when he was third in a maiden special weight at Churchill Downs. Liberal Arts has finished in the money in all five of his career starts.

As for the Southwest, Medina said, “he's coming into the race well. Looking at the horses in there, I think he fits. So you just hope everyone gets a clean trip.”

Medina, who worked for Shug McGaughey before joining Blackwood, has about 35 horses in training, with a goal of having 50 to 60. He updated on other talent in his barn for the latest in HRN’s Barn Tour series.

Archie the Giza. The 5-year-old son of Cairo Prince broke his maiden in his sixth start in November and was second last out in a Turfway Park allowance on Jan. 5. He’s entered in an optional-claiming allowance at Turfway on Friday. “Very talented horse,” Medina said. “Even though he's 5, his experience is very limited because Archie got hurt very early, I think like January or February of his 2-year-old year. And the people that own him thought that was pretty much it for him. And then after that, then he had like a colic surgery. And then Archie did not come back into training until the end of his 3-year-old year. So he had all that time off. So he's way behind the eight ball. And he is a very, very talented horse. If you saw him train, you would be asking, what stake is he going to run? I mean, he has a lot of ability. But in his races, it's taking him a long time to try and figure things out. Because, like I said, he's way behind. And finally, when he won, he was kind of lugging in because he's just kind of a big old baby. And his last race, he didn't really make any mistakes. He ran good, had kind of a wide trip, but he had a wide post, which that's to be expected. So he's running this coming Friday, and I think he'll run very well.”

Googol Joke. The 3-year–old son of Practical Joke won his second start in November and then was third last out in a black-type stakes at Oaklawn on Dec. 31. After the colt was purchased in December, Medina said, “I tried to get him in a race and it didn't go so I wound up putting him in the stake race at Oaklawn and he caught a pretty nice horse of Steve Asmussen's named Valentine Candy, and he finished third to him. And it was just his third start, I thought he ran very well. He kind of broke a tad slow and kind of had to make a wide run, He breezed today. There's a stake on the 10th called the Ozark at Oaklawn, we’ll point to that. If not, we'll run him in an allowance race. He's a big horse, kind of a big old Baby Huey-acting horse. His best racing's way out in front of him. I'm hoping that he could be a nice summer type of horse.”

Little Jamie. A 3-year-old filly by Collected, she is looking for her first win after three starts and is entered Friday in a maiden special weight at Oaklawn. “Little Jamie is very nice filly. I ran her just to get a race into her at Keeneland, and then I ran her two turns because that's what I thought she'd want to do. And she ran good, she was in front the whole way, finished third, got just a little tired. Then I ran her at Oaklawn, and she had the 1 post and kind of broke just a hair slow and the race didn't flow the way it should have, just kind of got buried down in the inside, finished fourth. She's going to be nice. She's an average-size horse, but she's a heavy horse. So she's going to need some racing. But she's another one that I think the more races she gets, that she has a chance. She's got some quality to her.”

Liam’s Champ. A 4-year-old daughter of Liam’s Map, she won her third start at Aqueduct and didn’t return until December, when she was fifth in a Turfway Park allowance. She’s entered in an optional-claiming allowance at a mile Wednesday at Turfway. “She's got some ability, she's kind of a filly that has a mind of her own. She's in on Wednesday. She's not the easiest horse in the world to train, but she has plenty of ability. When she ran at Turfway, it was in a six-furlong. A little short for her because she kind of kept running home pretty good.”

Make the Boys Wink. The 4-year-old daughter of More Than Ready is 2-for-10 and was third last out in the Mrs. Revere (G3) in November, her first graded-stakes start. “Make the Boys Wink is a really, really nice filly. She was bought at the November sale. And I ran in the Mrs. Revere, and they took the race off turf, I think just a couple hours before the race. She had run all year, so that was going to be her last race of the year anyway, so we were going to give her a month off afterward. So we decided to run her on the dirt, and she ran very well. She made a run approaching the turn like she was going to maybe catch them. But she got to them and they of got away from her a little bit, but that's OK. And the plans are to run her in the Hillsborough at Tampa. She's a very nice filly, and I think this year when she gets a chance to run a mile and an an eighth or maybe a little further than that. She's a quality filly. I think she's a graded-type course.”

Karlwithanarl. This 3-year-old Klimt colt broke his maiden last out at Turfway in his fourth start and is entered in a one-mile starter allowance there Friday. “Karlwithanarl is a big ol' horse. He's big. He trains good on the dirt, but pedigree suggests probably grass. So I started at Keeneland going short, and he doesn't want to run short. He needs to run long. His first couple races, they weren't any good. But after I ran him at Churchill, I was like, he's probably a grass horse. So I took him down to Turfway and I ran him, and he ran fair. And then I put some blinkers on him and ran him a mile and sixteenth, and he ran very well. It's probably a little bit of the blinkers helped and the distance helped. And he's in on Friday in a starter allowance race. The mile is too short for him, but there could be a light bulb going off in his head. He's not any world beater, but I think he has a chance to be a good, useful horse, hopefully this spring, when we get him on the turf and run him really long.”

Lips Say Bliss. The 4-year-old gelded son of Cairo Prince won his November debut then was third Sunday in an Oaklawn allowance. “I think he’s going to make some noise as the year goes on. He's a very nice horse. That was just his second start. He won his first start. And he was third (Sunday) going a mile and sixteenth, so I think he's pretty nice horse.”

Medina also has a couple of promising horses who have yet to race.

Indy Charge, a 3-year-old son of Take Charge Indy, is an also-eligible for a Turfway Park maiden special weight Wednesday. “I think he's pretty nice horse,” Medina said.

Alicit Intention, a 3-year-old filly by Mitole, is “a filly that I like, and she's ready to run. She was meant to run on the third, but being that they postponed the Southwest, they used that entire card for the third, so I'm kind of in limbo when they're going to bring that race back for her debut. Six furlongs, maiden special weight. She's kind of a rangy, scopy filly, but she's very nice.”

Sava. Medina bought this 3-year-old Connect filly for $32,000 in November and owns her with friends. She’s a couple of months away from racing, he said, but “she's a very nice filly … so we're pretty excited about her.”