Waquoit

Waquoit (February 10, 1983–June 14, 2007)[1][2] was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won races at short and long distances en route to career earnings of more than $2.2 million.

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 fall yearling sale for a very modest $15,000 by Joseph Federico, a Boston, Massachusetts building contractor and a native of Sulmona, in the Abruzzo Region of Italy. The colt was given the name of the village of Waquoit on Cape Cod.[3] He was trained by Guido Federico, the owner's cousin.

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[4] followed by the Yankee Handicap at Suffolk Downs.[5] 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.[6] He was voted Horse of the Year by members of the New England Turf Writers Association.[7]

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.[8] On October 8, 1988, he scored a fifteen-length win in the mile and a half Jockey Club Gold Cup. [9] 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.[10]

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's Northview Annex at Chesapeake City, Maryland. [11] 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.[12] Through his daughter Ice Beauty, Waquoit was the damsire of Sweetnorthernsaint.[13]

Twenty-four-year-old Waquoit was euthanized due to infirmities brought on by old age on June 14, 2007, at Northview Stallion Station.[2]

Waquoit was inbred 4x4 to Mahmoud, meaning Mahmoud appears twice in the fourth generation of his pedigree.