Sabin losers top Next Move

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Smok'n Frolic and Passing Shot are both coming off poor efforts in the Grade 3 Sabin at Gulfstream Park, but they are standouts in Sunday's $100,000-added Next Move Handicap at Aqueduct.

Seven fillies and mares were entered in the Grade 3 Next Move. Green Jeans, Stake, Our Tune, U K Trick, and Virgin Voyage will have their work cut out for them when they face graded winners Smok'n Frolic and Passing Shot in the 1 1/8-mile race.

, a winner of $1.3 million for Dogwood Stable, won last year's Next Move carrying 120 pounds. She totes 119 as the highweight Sunday.

In her last start, Smok'n Frolic finished seventh as the favorite in the Sabin on Feb. 15. Trainer Todd Pletcher said Smok'n Frolic occasionally gets stirred up in the paddock, but had never done anything out of the ordinary in a race until the Sabin. Going into the first turn, Smok'n Frolic bore out badly while racing on the rail and carried a few horses extremely wide, including Passing Shot. Pletcher said Smok'n Frolic's actions might have been the result of her shying from another horse.

Since the Sabin, Smok'n Frolic has worked well and is the horse to beat under Richard Migliore from post 4.

, who probably took the worst of it in the Sabin, finished last in her first start since October.

"She didn't have much chance after that," said Allen Jerkens, Passing Shot's trainer.

Last year, Passing Shot became a Grade 1 winner in the Personal Ensign at Saratoga. She ended the season by finishing last in the Grade 1 Beldame on Oct. 4. Jerkens said he believes Passing Shot might have been showing the signs of a long season in the Beldame.

Jorge Chavez, who returns to Aqueduct on Sunday after riding at Gulfstream this winter, rides Passing Shot. Jerkens said Passing Shot's best races are when she is "three to four lengths" off the early leaders.

U K Trick ran well to finish second behind Austin's Mom in the Rare Treat on Feb. 16, but has never met foes as strong as Smok'n Frolic and Passing Shot. Virgin Voyage is coming off two losses in sprints. Her last win came in the slop at Belmont Park last May.

Our Tune, a winner of a second-level allowance race last month, is the likely pacesetter.

Stake is a winner of her last two starts in allowance races. Green Jeans is coming off back-to-back losses in stakes.