Thoroughbred trainer Mike Biehler won his 1,000th career race when Medalla Match won the ninth race at Remington Park in Oklahoma City Friday night. Biehler, 59, is a native of Fairmont, Minn. and got his start working at a training center in 1985 nearby what was then Canterbury Downs. He began galloping horses at the Shakopee racetrack the following year for several trainers including D. Wayne Lukas.
Biehler’s training career began in 1989 when he became a private trainer for Curtis Sampson, who later purchased Canterbury. Biehler’s first win was July 1 of that summer with Raise a Wolf. He eventually became a public trainer and has raced at Canterbury each season, winning the training title in 1992. He has won 684 races at Canterbury. Biehler trained Wally’s Choice to a victory in the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park in 2004. Wally’s Choice, bred by Sampson, is one of only four Minnesota breds to win a graded race.
Biehler has raced at several tracks in the Midwest including Oaklawn, Prairie Meadows and Aksarben. His trainees have earned $16,441,160 in purses in 6,982 starts. He was inducted into the Canterbury Park Hall of Fame in 2022.
