Delaware: Go For Wand a chance for four to rebound

Four 3-year-old fillies who faltered when thrust into graded stakes competition earlier this season will attempt to prove they deserve another shot when they square off in Saturday’s $75,000 Go for Wand Stakes at Delaware Park.

The Go for Wand, run at a mile and 70 yards, is the local prep for the Grade 2, $400,000 Delaware Oaks on July 14.

Saturday’s nine-horse lineup includes And Why Not, badly beaten in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks and Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks in her last two outings; Wait Til Dawn, fourth in the Grade 2 Fantasy at Oaklawn Park and the Grade 3 Selene at Woodbine; Captivating Lass, third in the Grade 2 Davona Dale at Gulfstream and sixth in the Gulfstream Oaks; and Plum, eighth of nine in the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan.

The most intriguing filly in that group might be Captivating Lass, part of the vast Darley Stable empire. Based at the Greentree Training Center adjacent to Saratoga Race Course, Captivating Lass has been freshened since taking two shots at Grade 2 foes in Florida during the winter.

Her trainer, Kiaran McLaughlin, is 6 for 26 (23 percent) with horses returning in a route with a purse of $60,000 or greater after a break of 61 to 180 days.

And Why Not looked good in her final start at 2, rallying from 11th to get second in the Grade 2 Pocahontas at Churchill Downs. But she failed to show a closing kick in her first two starts this season.

Wait Til Dawn won back-to-back starts in Florida, including the Suncoast at Tampa Bay Downs, but could not maintain her form when moved up in class, either on dirt or Polytrack. Trainer Todd Pletcher is off to a 3-for-6 start with the horses he has shipped into Delaware this spring, and he gave Wait Til Dawn a half-mile breeze last week to get her familiar with the local surface.

Among those with limited stakes experience, Ageless stretches out around two turns for the first time after finishing third in the listed Miss Preakness and Wicked Mizz must overcome post 9 while making her first start since missing by a nose in an overnight stakes at Aqueduct two months ago.