W – #8 – Waya – horseracing20thcentury99.com

Top Ten Turf Females Twentieth Century

#8

Waya

(1977 - 1979)

Waya winning the 1979 G1 Santa Barbar Handicap while toting 131 pounds. The French-bred daughter of Faraway Son ran the ten furlongs in 2:01 with Angel Cordero Jr. on board.

Photo: Santa Anita Race Track

PEDIGREE

Bay F

OWNER

Wildenstein/Brant/Strawbridge

TRAINER

A. Penna Sr./D. Whiteley

BREEDER

Dayton Ltd.

Some Facts

Waya was born in 1974. She was bred by Daniel Wildenstein in France and raced under his colors for her first seventeen career starts. Mr. Wildenstein was one of the most successful owners in the sport at the time. He campaigned four winners of the Arc de la Triomphe: Allez France, All Along, Sagace, and Peintre Celebre.
Waya was by Faraway Son, who was bred by Walter Jeffords Jr. from the famous Jeffords family, who owned the first horse ever sired by Secretariat. Purchased as a yearling by Mr. Wildenstein, Faraway Son won five stakes in France in 1971, including two grade ones, the seven-furlong Prix de la Foret and the one-mile Prix du Moulin de Longchamp. That year, the son of Ambiopoise also finished second to the great Brigadier Gerard in the Sussex Stakes.
Waya was foaled by War Path, a daughter of the American-bred sire Blue Prince. War Path won only one of nine starts in her racing career, but she had a good career at stud as she also produced G1 winner Warfever (1975 by Luther), which won the G1 Matchmaker Stakes at Atlantic City in 1979.
Waya began her career as a three-year-old in 1977 under the tutelage of trainer Angel Pena, and she was ridden by Yves St-Martin, who would ride her in all her starts in France. She won her first start, a one-mile maiden race by six lengths, and followed it with a one-length victory in the group three Prix de Royaumont. Her performance in this 1 5/16 mile race indicated that she was a stayer.
After winning her first two races, Waya cooled off and failed to win in her next five starts, though she did finish second by a head in her third and fourth starts, a pair of group threes. She won her final start at three, the group two Prix de l’Opera by a head over Beaune, her final one in France.
Waya’s first year in America was a good one. Away from the races since Arc day the previous October, she won back-to-back allowance races at Belmont Park in June and followed them with a pair of second-place finishes, to Pearl Necklace by three lengths in the New York Handicap and by a head to Late Bloomer in the Sheepshead Bay Handicap, both those races at Belmont Park. From there, she went on a four-race winning streak, which began with a stunning triumph over Pearl Necklace in the G2 Diana Handicap at Saratoga, her time of 1:45 2/5 for the nine-furlongs tying Tentam’s world and track record for the distance on turf. She then returned to Belmont Park and won the Flower Bowl Handicap over Magnificence, the Man o’ War over Tiller and Mac Diarmida, and the Turf Classic over Tiller and Trillion.
Waya’s final race that year was in the Washington D.C. International. Making what looked like a winning move, she got caught in traffic in the stretch and had to settle for a third-place finish behind Mac Diarmida and Tiller.
Following her four-year-old campaign in which she made nine starts and had a 6-2-1 record and earnings of $359,640, Waya was sold to Peter Brant and George Strawbridge for $1.1 million. Her new trainer for the balance of her career was David Whiteley, who trained 1976 three-year-old filly champion Revidere, and Just A Game, who was voted female turf champion in 1980.
Waya made her first three starts in her five-year-old campaign at Santa Anita. In her first, the ten-furlong G3 Arcadia Handicap, she finished second to Fluorescent Light as the 9-5 favorite. She then faced fillies and mares in her next two starts, winning the nine-furlong Santa Ana Handicap by 3-1/2 lengths over Amazer, which won the G1 Yellow Ribbon Stakes the previous year. She then carried a career-high 131 pounds in the G1 Santa Barbara Handicap and charged home an easy winner over Petron’s Love, which carried fourteen pounds less.
When her California campaign was over, Waya returned to New York and won her first start on dirt, the G1 Top Flight Handicap run on a sloppy track at Aqueduct. The 8-5 favorite, she defeated Pearl Necklace by a desperate neck while carrying 128 pounds, which was eight more than the runner-up. Following that, she won the ten-furlong Saratoga Cup in the slop at Belmont Park by a nose over Late Bloomer. Considered by many at the top of her game, she made seven more starts but could only manage to win one of them, the G1 Beldame Handicap, her third win in three starts on a sloppy track. Her final two starts were in the Turf Classic and the Washington D.C. International, but in both those races, she was never a factor, finishing sixth in each to Bowl Game and Trillion.
Waya made twenty-five starts during her career and finished with a 9-3-3 record and earnings of $845,072. She was sent to Derry Meeting Farm in Pennsylvania when she retired. She had an average career at stud, producing twelve foals, of which one, Vidalia (1981 by Nijinsky), was voted the 1983 two-year-old champion filly in Italy.
Waya won the Eclipse Award for older females in 1979 but lost out to Trillion for the Eclipse Award for top female turf horse. She was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2019. She died on December 12, 2002.