Billy Badgett

Trainer Billy Badgett won't be in the owner's box when his Go for Wand runs in the $1-million Breeders' Cup Distaff at Belmont Park Saturday. He will be roaming the grandstand minutes before the race, looking for a television monitor. Normally, a trainer of such a talented 3-year-old filly would sit with the owner of the horse. But Jane du Pont Lunger, the 76-year-old Wilmington, Del., woman who bred and owns Go for Wand, is extremely superstitious.

Trainer Billy Badgett won't be in the owner's box when his Go for Wand runs in the $1-million Breeders' Cup Distaff at Belmont Park Saturday. He will be roaming the grandstand minutes before the race, looking for a television monitor. Normally, a trainer of such a talented 3-year-old filly would sit with the owner of the horse. But Jane du Pont Lunger, the 76-year-old Wilmington, Del., woman who bred and owns Go for Wand, is extremely superstitious.

Go For Wand, winner of last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Filly race, was one of 12 3-year-old fillies entered today for Friday's $200,000-added Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs. Go For Wand, trained by Billy Badgett, will be ridden by Randy Romero and start from the No. 1 post position for the 1 1/8-mile Grade I stakes, which highlights the program the day before the Kentucky Derby. Trainer D.

If all goes according to superstition, Jane du Pont Lunger could have the Horse of the Year by the end of the week. Lunger, owner of the 3-year-old filly Go For Wand, will wear the same shoes with the same mud she wore nearly three months ago, and trainer Billy Badgett will be banished from the owner's box again Saturday.

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.

Trainer Wayne Lukas, who failed to win with 67 starters at the Santa Anita meet, hopes things go better when Keeneland begins its 15-day spring season today. Lukas, who had four victories at the fall meet in Lexington in 2003, will send out Heroic Moment in the fourth, Race For Glory in the seventh and Grand Warrior in the 10th. The Hall of Fame trainer doesn't have a runner in the day's feature, the $100,000 Transylvania, a Grade III at a mile on the turf for 3-year-olds.

In terms of winning percentage, Isaias Enriquez is the hottest rider at Santa Anita. The jockey, who is clicking at about 9% for the year, won with six of his first 16 mounts at the Oak Tree meet. Those hoping to take advantage of this hot streak will have only one chance this afternoon. Enriquez has a single mount on the eight-race card -- 20-1 shot Serious Smoke in the fifth. More power to Enriquez if he's able to get that one home.

Until the final yards, the duel between Go For Wand and Bayakoa in the Breeders' Cup Distaff had been a classic, one of those races that lovers of the sport would be watching on film 20 years from now. Instead, it became a spectacle that you can't stand to watch again, as Go For Wand snapped her ankle, collapsed, and then struggled to get up again--only this time on three legs. In the aftermath of any disaster, people invariably look for explanations, or for culprits.

The colts may have to step aside this year at the Breeders' Cup, where upsets and injuries have opened the door for the fillies. With nearly three weeks left before racing's $10-million day at Belmont Park on Oct. 27, all but the $1-million Juvenile Fillies race was wide open. Breeders' Cup officials expect the $3-million Classic, the highlight of the seven-race program, to draw one of the largest fields ever.

Not even the newly expanded playoffs are going to be big enough for the Rams. . . . They put it all together Monday night--lousy offense, lousy defense. . . . Cleveland Gary would be a more effective running back if footballs had handles. . . . Is this the Steel Curtain defense all over again in Pittsburgh? Well, maybe aluminum. . . .

Although he misses his friends and family, Corey Black isn't sorry he left California to try riding in the East. "I don't miss riding two (horses) a day," he said. "I'm riding more horses and that's all I can ask for." Black, 22, was an immediate hit when he went on the road. Unable to generate much business locally, he hired agent John Gaspar, went to Keeneland and, despite missing a day of the short 16-day meeting, became the leading rider with 26 victories.