Nine One One goes for the hat trick

Nine One One might be based at Hastings, but he loves the surface at Emerald Downs. Saturday, he will try to stay perfect at the Auburn, Wash., oval when he runs in a first-level allowance race that carries a $40,000 claiming option. The 6 1/2-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds and up drew eight horses and goes as the sixth race on a seven-race card that begins at 2:15 p.m. Pacific.

Nine One One, trained by Rob Gilker, started his career at Hastings on Sept. 3, 2020, and he showed a lot of promise when he was the runner-up in the $50,000 CTHS Sales stakes for 2-year-old colts and gelding that had passed through a Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society Sale in Western Canada.

Nine One One did not race again until he resurfaced at Emerald on this year’s opening day, May 15, and he was impressive winning a maiden special weight race by three lengths on a track rated sloppy. With Alex Cruz aboard, he broke inward at the start, had to gather himself, and not long after was dueling for the lead. He eventually drew off in the final sixteenth to win decisively.

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The British Columbia-bred 4-year-old gelding by Maclean’s Music proved his strong performance was no fluke when he repeated over a fast surface in a nonwinners-of-two or nonwinners-of-three Washington-bred allowance race on July 9. He again broke inward from the two hole in the six-furlong dash, bumped with Forty Smooches who was breaking from the rail, but soon took command and posted a half-mile time of 44.13 seconds before drawing off to win in hand.

Nine One One appears to have maintained his sharpness, as he was not asked to do much by exercise rider Vicky Gilker when he breezed a bullet half-mile in 47.40 on July 24 at Hastings. He could be a handful, especially if he breaks in a straight line from the outside post with Cruz up.

The Blaine Wright-trained Torpedo Away will appreciate the class relief after finishing eighth in the $50,000 Budweiser in his first start at Emerald on June 26. Torpedo Away was not going to win the Budweiser, but he would have finished a lot closer if he did not lose a lot of momentum when he was forced to steady at the sixteenth pole.

A 6-year-old Washington-bred gelding by Jake La Gold, Torpedo Away is an eight-time winner on Tapeta at Golden Gate, but he is winless in four starts on dirt and needs to prove he can handle a traditional surface. With two bullet interim works a week apart, he just might do that Saturday.

Torpedo Away does his best running late and should have speed to run at. He will break from the inside post with Juan Gutierrez aboard.

Bobby Brinkley goes from turf to dirt for trainer Frank Lucarelli, who the past five years has a 19 percent strike rate and $2.02 ROI with horses making the surface switch.

A three-time winner on dirt, Bobby Brinkley is coming off a third-place finish going five furlongs on the Lone Star turf course in an allowance race for Texas-breds on June 4.