Waquoit (February 10, 1983–June 14, 2007)
Background
Standing close to seventeen hands, Waquoit was bred in Kentucky and sired by Relaunch, a multiple stakes winner who sired several top runners including two Breeders' Cup winners. Waquoit's dam was Grey Parlo, a daughter of Grey Dawn, the French Champion Two-Year-Old Colt who was the only horse to ever beat
Sea-Bird and who became the leading broodmare sire in North America in 1990.
Waquoit was purchased at the 1984 Keeneland Sales
for a very modest $15,000 by Joseph Federico, a Boston, Massachusetts building contractor and a native of Sulmona, in the Abruzzo of Italy. The colt was given the name of the village of Waquoit on Cape Cod.[ Boston Globe - September 7, 1986] He was trained by Guido Federico, the owner's cousin.
Racing career
Waquoit became known for his ability to run on muddy dirt tracks. He began racing from a base at
Suffolk Downs in Boston. While he won several minor stakes as a two-year-old, during the latter part of his three-year-old campaign he began to show his true ability in October 1986 with wins in the
Jamaica Handicap at New York's
Belmont Park[ Boston Globe - October 7, 1986 Waquoit Surprised Big Boys] followed by the Yankee Handicap at Suffolk Downs.
[ Providence Journal - October 14, 1986 article titled Waquoit romps in Suffolk's Yankee] As a four-year-old in 1987, Waquoit won the Massachusetts Handicap in a thrilling stretch duel with
Broad Brush. He also added the prestigious Brooklyn Handicap at Belmont Park.
[ New York Times - July 26, 1987] He was voted Horse of the Year by members of the New England Turf Writers Association.
[ Providence Journal - October 22, 1987]
Having been injured early in the year, Waquoit did not return to training until April 2, 1988. Making his first start on June 4, the now five-year-old Waquoit won the Governor's Handicap at Suffolk Downs by seven lengths. On July 24, he defeated Personal Flag to win his second consecutive edition of the Brooklyn Handicap.[ Akron Beacon Journal (Ohio) - July 24, 1988] On October 8, 1988, he scored a fifteen-length win in the mile and a half Jockey Club Gold Cup.[ Toldo Blade - October 9, 1988] Waquoit was not nominated for the Breeders' Cup, so his owner paid a $360,000 supplemental fee in order to run him in the 1988 Breeders' Cup Classic. In the final start of his career, Waquoit finished third to Alysheba.[ USA Today - November 3, 1988]
Syndicated to stud
Syndicated for $3 million, beginning with the 1989 breeding season Waquoit stood at stud at the newly established Northview Stallion Station on acreage that had been
Windfields Farm Northview Annex at Chesapeake City, Maryland.
[ Washington Post - November 2, 1988] He sired 348 winners including thirty stakes race winners. Of his progeny, millionaire Grade 1 winner
Halo America was the most successful on the track.
[ Thoroughbred Times - June 18, 2007] Through his daughter Ice Beauty, Waquoit was the damsire of Sweetnorthernsaint.
Twenty-four-year-old Waquoit was euthanized due to infirmities brought on by old age on June 14, 2007, at Northview Stallion Station in Chesapeake City, Md.
Sire line tree
Pedigree
Waquoit is [[inbred|inbreeding]] 4S × 4D to the stallion Mahmoud, meaning that he appears fourth generation on the sire side of his pedigree and fourth generation on the dam side of his pedigree.
