Old pros Wine At Nine, Grinder Sparksaglo fight it out in sprint

With 33 wins between them, Wine At Nine and Grinder Sparksaglo know where the wire is. They will vie for favoritism in the feature race Wednesday at Emerald Downs.

The six-furlong dash for 3-year-olds and up running for a top claiming price of $25,000 drew seven horses and goes as race 9 on an 11-race card that begins at 2:25 p.m. Pacific.

It is a coin flip between the two classy old-timers.

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Wine At Nine has the most wins with 18 and is a year younger than the 9-year-old Grinder Sparksaglo. However, Grinder Sparksaglo has the most money earned in the field with $257,052. Wine At Nine is second with $137,730 in the bank.

Trained by Robert Baze, Grinder Sparksaglo could get the right trip stalking Tumac Mountain and Wine At Nine. A Washington-bred son of Grindstone, Grinder Sparksaglo is coming off a runner-up finish going 5 1/2 furlongs at the same level July 29. With Juan Gutierrez aboard, Grinder Sparksaglo got bumped around at the start but quickly recovered. After stalking Bullet Drill and Tumac Mountain, he made a strong three-wide move on the turn and looked like a serious threat turning for home. However, Bullet Drill kept running along the rail to win by 1 3/4 lengths.

The 72 Beyer Speed Figure that Grinder Sparksaglo was given is the best last-race figure in the field.

He will break from post 5 with Gutierrez retaining the mount.

Wine At Nine won four races at Emerald last year, and in all of his victories he had the lead at the first call. In his runner-up finish in a conditioned allowance race with a $15,000 claiming option on July 15, he stalked a three-horse duel before finishing well.

Wine At Nine could be sitting on a peak performance in the third start of his form cycle. He will break from post 4, and with Tumac Mountain appearing to be the only other serious speed, it would not be surprising to see jockey Javier Matias be aggressive with him.

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The Jose Navarro-trained Tumac Mountain will break from the inside post, from where jockey Gary Wales will likely try to put him on the lead.

He finished fourth after dueling through fast interior fractions in Grinder Sparksaglo’s race on July 29.

Wheel Rally came from a stalking position to win a $10,000 starter race with a $15,000 claiming option July 16 in his initial start of the year. He is trained by Robert Meeking.

With a 5-4-2 record from 15 starts, Wheel Rally is very reliable and could take a step forward with a race behind him. He may not be the winner, but at the very least he should be part of any exotics ticket.