Having come out of his Oct. 16 five-furlong breeze in great shape, star dirt marathoner Next will take his talents to Del Mar for a start in the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, trainer Doug Cowans confirmed Oct. 18.
“Everything was in good order,” Cowans said of Next’s one-mile jog at Turfway Park Friday morning. “He was pretty happy with himself and looked good.”
Cowans has not yet made a final decision on whether the 6-year-old Not This Time gelding will shorten to the 1 1/4-mile distance in the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) or keep his preferred 1 1/2-mile distance and swap surfaces in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1T). The race decision will come once Cowans has an opportunity to evaluate pre-entries for both fields—which will be publicly announced Oct. 23—and watch Next’s final breeze at Turfway Park Oct. 24. The gelding will ship to Del Mar Oct. 28.
“Once I see the pre-entries, it will probably be an easy decision from there,” Cowans said.
Trainer William “Doug” Cowans
Regardless of which race he chooses, Next’s participation will mark his first start outside of the dirt marathon division since running fourth in a 1 1/8-mile allowance optional claiming race over the Ellis Park turf course July 16, 2022.
In his last 10 starts, all held at distances between 1 3/8 miles and 1 3/4 miles, Next has won nine times by a combined 116 1/4 lengths. His lone blemish came when third off a six-month layoff in the 2023 Isaac Murphy Marathon Overnight Stakes, a finish he avenged this year when winning the Isaac Murphy off a 7 1/2-month layoff by 11 1/4 lengths while setting a new Churchill Downs track record for 1 1/2 miles on dirt. Since being claimed by Cowans and owner Michael Foster for $62,500 in April of 2022, Next is 10-for-12.
Cowans, who has never been to Del Mar before, will be making his Breeders’ Cup debut with Next.
“It’s pretty exciting to have a horse in the thoughts of Breeders’ Cup and to actually feel like I have a chance to win, not just running in the race,” Cowans said. “That’s the main goal for me to go there is if I have a chance to win. It’s pretty exciting and I’m a little nervous, too, because it’s unchartered waters going to Del Mar.”
Unlike his trainer, Next has run in the Breeders’ Cup before. In 2020, he ran in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) at Keeneland for trainer Wesley Ward—a field that included eventual Eclipse champions Essential Quality and Jackie’s Warrior as well as grade 1 winners Hot Rod Charlie and Rombauer . In the 1 1/16-mile race, Next was hurried to chase a quick pace while stuck wide into the clubhouse turn. He faded to last of 14 by the midway point on the far turn and was eased in the stretch.
Two years later, he returned to Keeneland with Cowans and won the 1 5/8-mile Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes (G2) by 6 1/4 lengths on Breeders’ Cup Friday, his first of five career graded stakes victories.
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