Scat Daddybaby fighting bruise

AUBURN, Wash. – Robbie Baze’s best horse has a cool name – Scat Daddybaby – and a quick way of going. The 4-year-old gelding won his first start of the year in impressive fashion, running six furlongs in 1:08.20 here April 20 to earn a Beyer Speed Figure of 84. It remains the highest Beyer of the Emerald Downs meeting, and Scat Daddybaby outran a group that included six stakes winners.

Baze was all to set to take the next step with Scat Daddybaby, starting him in the $50,000 Governor’s Handicap on May 18. But Scat Daddybaby developed a minor injury, and his next start might have to wait.

“He has a bruise on a foot, which we’re working on,” Baze said Thursday. “It’s tough to say what’s going to happen. We were looking at that next stake, but we’re going to play it by ear for now.

“We’ve been wrapping it, trying to draw it out and toughen the foot up at the same time. Some bruises go away real fast, and some take a little longer. His has been there about five or six days, and that’s why we missed a workout. But he came out of the race really good. I was excited about running him in that stake. That was our goal.”

A homebred for Mike and Amy Feuerborn of Maple Valley, Wash., Scat Daddybaby has been on a steady ascent since early in the 2013 Emerald meeting. Baze removed blinkers from a headstrong Scat Daddybaby before his Aug. 11 start in an allowance race, and the horse responded with a romping victory. He has been unstoppable ever since, leading gate to wire in four consecutive starts.

How far can Scat Daddybaby go? His dam, Bianconi Baby, won the $100,000 Washington Breeders’ Cup Oaks at nine furlongs in her final start, so a mile – maybe even the Longacres Mile – should be well within his comfort zone. In fact, Scat Daddybaby is already 2 for 2 at the distance, albeit against lesser competition than he would see in a stakes event.

“I like him at a mile,” Baze said of Scat Daddybaby’s best distance. “I think he may be able to go farther. In the morning, he wants to keep going. I think he could carry it out to a mile and an eighth pretty easy. But we won’t know until we get to run him at the distance.”

Kenai King filled with potential

Kenai King is a horse to keep tabs on. A 3-year-old trained by Doris Harwood, he closed stoutly to finish second behind stablemate Del Rio Harbor in an allowance race May 4, and Kenai King’s against-the-grain effort was better than it looks on paper. The day featured a sloppy track and a pronounced speed bias, and Kenai King was one of the few horses to make up ground.

Kenai King has been a late-running sprinter through five career starts, without an opportunity to run around two turns. But the Harbor the Gold gelding is bred to run all day. His dam, Kirkela, is by Giant’s Causeway. Kirkela raced only three times, all at Woodbine. In her only route attempt, she won by seven lengths. So, naturally, Harwood is taking the long view with Kenai King, a homebred for Neal and Pam Christopherson’s Bar C Racing Stable of Hermiston, Ore.

“He’s a real hot-blooded horse,” Harwood said. “My challenge with him is to get him to relax and do what he can do without getting into a big tizzy. He washed out last time, and then he was nervous in the gate. We worked on some things between races; we have lived in the paddock and lived in the starting gate with him. He wants to run farther, too. We may give him a little easier spot next time, maybe a non-winners of two and let him win a race, and then if he wants to go long, we’ll see.”

One trick for Harwood this summer will be keeping her many talented 3-year-olds from bumping into one another. In addition to Kenai King and Trick Or Retreat, a maiden who will compete in Sunday’s fourth race, Harwood has Del Rio Harbor, who captured two stakes in 2013, and Noosito, a full brother to 11-time Emerald stakes winner Noosa Beach.

For the time being, Del Rio Harbor is the big horse in the barn. His allowance victory last Sunday was the opening salvo in a campaign that likely will include the $65,000 Emerald Downs Derby on Aug. 10.

“He impressed me,” Harwood said. “I felt I had him ready to run a good race, but he won that race on his class because he’s just so talented. I didn’t beat up on him to get him ready. He has really muscled up beautifully. I told the owners I want to win the derby with him. I wanted to get a nice out because my goal is later in the year, and then he does that and makes it look easy.”