Go For Wand Buried at Saratoga

Go For Wand, the filly who was destroyed after a nasty spill at the Breeders’ Cup, has been buried at the site of two of the greatest triumphs of her short career.

The 3-year-old filly was buried Sunday night in the infield of the Saratoga Race Course, the 126-year-old track 30 miles north of Albany. Officials said a marker would be erected on the gravesite.

No ceremony was held to mark Go For Wand’s burial. Track officials had originally said the filly would be buried today, and that the public and the press would not be allowed to observe the burial.

Go For Wand won the Test Stakes on Aug. 2 and the Alabama Stakes on Aug. 11 at Saratoga. At the time, Jane du Pont Lunger, her 76-year-old owner, said she felt the Alabama was the most important race of her filly’s career.

“She has a kind of a sentimental place in her heart for Saratoga,” trainer Billy Badgett said, referring to Lunger. “She thought it would be a good place.”

Badgett, who said he considered it “an honor” to have Go For Wand buried at Saratoga, said he was not planning to take time off from the rest of his barn.

“It’s a tough game. You just gotta keep going,” he said Sunday night from his home in Floral Park, Long Island.

Neither Badgett nor Lunger would be present for the burial, said Lenny Hale, senior vice president of the New York Racing Assn.

In her maiden race on Sept. 14, 1989, Go For Wand won by four lengths. She culminated her 2-year-old season with a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and was named divisional champion off three wins in four starts.

She won the 110th edition of the one-mile Alabama in stakes record time of 2:00 4/5.

At Saturday’s $10-million Breeders’ Cup, three horses died on one of the biggest days of racing.

Hale recalled a conversation he had with Lunger after the tragedy.

“She said she was a great champion, and she died like one,” Hale said.

The New York Racing Assn. had offered to bury Go for Wand at Belmont alongside another great fallen filly, Ruffian, who died in 1975 after breaking down in a famous stretch duel with Foolish Pleasure.

Shaker Knit and Mr. Nickerson, the other two fatalities on Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup card, will be buried at Belmont. Mr. Nickerson collapsed during the Breeders’ Cup Sprint and Shaker Knight tripped over him.