by Tom Musgrave

After a layoff of more than three months, Edward Seltzer's homebred Wow Me Free raced from last to first in the $104,400 Next Move Handicap (G3) field, winning the 1 1/8-mile race by an emphatic 3 1/2 lengths on Saturday at Aqueduct.

Outrun early, Wow Me Free relaxed at the back of the five-horse field as Wild Hoots and 1.90-to-1 favorite Runway Rosie dueled for the lead through a half-mile in :47.57 on a track rated as fast.

Racing 5 ½ lengths off the pace through six furlongs in 1:11.88, Wow Me Free advanced along the inside in the second turn, while Runway Rosie and Wild Hoots continued their duel. Wow Me Free unleashed an explosive turn of foot under jockey Alan Garcia to post a clear win in the race for fillies and mares.

Time was 1:50.86 on a fast track.

"I was very confident in my filly," Garcia said. "The first time I rode her was in the [1 1/4-mile Ladies Handicap, which she won by a neck, on December 15 at Aqueduct], she was very skinny. She looked so much better today. I thought it was a different filly. I knew I had a lot of horse coming off the turn."

The Ladies Handicap was Wow Me Free's first start for trainer Kiaran McLaughlin after being transferred from the Canadian barn of Daniel Vella.

McLaughlin assistant Artie Magnuson said there were a few concerns about the four-year-old Menifee filly entering the Next Move.

"She had a couple of hiccups since her last race," Magnuson said. "She wasn't moving quite as well as when she was sent down to us."

Wow Me Free has won five of 13 starts and earned $200,739. She is out of the With Approval mare Double Wow.

For an Equibase chart, click here.

Tom Musgrave is internet content editor for Thoroughbred Times