A Single Fatal Step (tribute to Go For Wand)

“…She’s been mentioned in the form as being compared with Personal Ensign and Ruffian, and that’s really quite an honor—even to be categorized with that class of fillies” (Badgett).

Her name was Go For Wand, and she was something extremely special—the kind of horse that only comes around once in a lifetime. Born in 1987 to Obeah by way of Deputy Minister, Go For Wand was a terror on the track, winning ten of thirteen lifetime starts, and finishing second in two others. At two, she was second in the Frizette, and then went on to win the Breeder’s Cup Juvenile Fillies. She was the Eclipse Award Champion Two Year Old Filly of 1989. At three, she won the Beaumont Stakes at Belmont Park by eight and a half lengths, then won the Ashland Stakes by five before heading to the Kentucky Oaks. She was upset in that race, beaten easily by Seaside Attraction. But the resilient Go For Wand came back to win the Mother Goose, the Test, the Alabama (over previously undefeated Charon), the Maskette, and the Beldame, in which she set a new stakes record. For these wins, she was also later named Three Year Old Champion Filly by the Eclipse Awards in 1990.

Go For Wand’s next goal was the 1990 Breeder’s Cup Distaff, a much anticipated mach up between the top two fillies in the country—defending BCD winner Bayakoa, who was distinguished out west, and Go For Wand, the “terror of the sophomore distaff set” (Cantey). But the race did not go as planned for Go For Wand, to say the least. The 1989 BCJF and BCD winners promised a good show—and they both did their very best to deliver. But what appeared to be one of the best races in the history of the sport quickly turned into one of racing’s most tragic days.

The 1990 Breeder’s Cup Distaff may have been one of the most highly anticipated horse races of all time. Bayakoa, the returning champion, had been running well the entire year in the west, and Go For Wand was considered to be one of the best fillies of her generation. She was expected to win that afternoon. “I just can’t see that the number two horse, Go For Wand, can be beaten…” (Johnson). But these words rang eerily foreshadowing before the race began. “The question with her today is, this is her third start in 24 days. No matter how easily she’s winning, she has to put something into those races if she’s got an Achilles Heel, that could be the only one today” (Cantey).

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Randy Romero, who had ridden “Wanda” to all of her victories, was up again for this race. “I was riding Go For Wand in the Breeder’s Cup Distaff. It’s just like the Olympics. It’s the Ultimate” (Romero). The Champions paired up at the start of the race, and ran together throughout. They called it a “clash of champions” as the two, side by side, entered the homestretch of one of the greatest battles the sport has seen. “I could hear him [Bayakoa’s jockey] urging his mare to come to me, and he couldn’t come to me” (Romero). Go For Wand wouldn’t give in, and it appeared that Bayakoa didn’t have quite enough speed to run the younger filly down. Go For Wand was on her way to glory, she was beating all her rivals—horses her age, and older mares.

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“And my horse, I was the strength; I was the power at the time, when it happened, because I was in front” (Romero). Go For Wand was unwavering, and Bayakoa was battling back steadily. It was a two horse race at that point. “Go for Wand on the inside, Bayakoa battling back, a dramatic distaff…Go For Wand, Grimly holding on, Bayakoa right there” (1990 BCD Announcer Call). One of them had to falter. Bayakoa and Go For Wand had been dueling the entire race, and for both of them to cross the wire together—it would have brought back memories of Affirmed and Alydar in the Belmont Stakes. But no one expected or was prepared for the outcome of this race. “I was the man; I was the winner at the time that it happened, so far” (Romero).

Go For Wand’s Breeder’s Cup came to the most sudden and devastating of endings at the sixteenth pole. Her life and career were now in jeopardy as Bayakoa went forward to win her second consecutive Breeder’s Cup Distaff. “OH! And a TRAGEDY as Go For Wand has fallen at the sixteenth pole! And 55,000 here, in shock as Go For Wand has broken down at the sixteenth pole” (1990 BCD Announcer Call). Her right front ankle had given out, giving Bayakoa the freedom to run home to an easy win, and changing Go For Wand’s immediate goal to mere survival. But Wanda refused to give up. She stood back up. “I could see her out of the corner of my eye after I fell and hit the ground; I could see her leg was just flopping. She was just trying to run—to get to the wire, still trying to win” (Romero). Go For Wand was galloping along, just trying to do what she was born to do—win. As she ran, it was clear that her ankle joint wasn’t right—it was severely broken. It is likely that she actually broke her ankle earlier in the race, and her determination—her desire to continue running—is what caused it to finally give out. When Go For Wand fell, her situation immediately became life or death. “And it happened so damn fast. I mean, we’re talking about splits of a second” (Romero). Officials caught up with Go For Wand, and were able to get her back down. She was half standing on her hind legs, and her body was turned so that her neck and front legs were laying sideways on the track. “…and it is rapidly turning into the most tragic day in American horse racing history. A hollow victory [for Bayakoa] indeed…” (1990 BCD Announcer Call). The lower portion of her right front leg was pulverized; her injury was hopelessly severe. Go For Wand was euthanized right there on the track. “Right now, I can just picture it” (Romero). The fabulous filly’s jockey was put on a stretcher with multiple fractures in and around his shoulder, and taken to the hospital. “I didn’t think I was hurt that bad, but I was” (Romero).

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Bayakoa’s trainer, Ron McAnally, didn’t bring much peace to the situation with this quote:

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“As fans of this game, we must recognize and respect that sometimes these beautiful animals give their lives for our enjoyment” (McAnally).

But perhaps this was one of the most well put quotes about horseracing tragedy ever spoken. Go For Wand gave her life, for OUR enjoyment. But no one can deny that Wanda loved to run—it was all she knew. And she was great at it—probably one of the best fillies that ever set foot on the track. She’d been compared with Personal Ensign, a filly that never lost and defeated Kentucky Derby winning filly Winning Colors in the 1988 Breeder’s Cup Distaff. Randy Romero had ridden Personal Ensign to that victory, and his answer when asked if there was any comparison between the champ and Go For Wand was, “Awfully close, awfully close” (Romero).

Go For Wand was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1997. The Maskette Handicap, which she won as a three year old, was renamed the Go For Wand Handicap in her honor in 1992, and is run annually under that name. She was buried in the infield at Saratoga. She will never be forgotten.

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The Citations are:

Billy Badgett, Go For Wand’s trainer.
Charlsie Cantey, TV reporter on BCD Day.
Randy Romero, Go For Wand and Personal Ensign’s jockey.
Ron McAnally, Bayakoa’s trainer.
Go For Wand’s owner was Jane DuPont Lunger of Christiana Stables.