Merriam-Webster defines a superstar as one who is considered extremely talented and has great public appeal. They define dominant as commanding, controlling, or prevailing over all others.
In horse racing, those definitions only need to be one word long: Next .
What is more dominant than winning with measurable ease every time one steps on the track? What earns superstardom more than continuously reaching the finish line alone while the crowd roars?
“He’s different than any other horse America has seen in a long time,” said trainer Doug Cowans. “He goes back to earlier times of how horses ran, we’ve kind of lost that in America.”
Next has brought the spotlight back to dirt marathon racing, a division that has seen its importance in proving champions diminish over time. Next’s ease in covering the longer distances has made every start must-see television, and will likely pack the Saratoga Race Course grandstand for the 1 3/4-mile Birdstone Stakes Aug. 4.
“Horses can win by open lengths, but their stride deteriorates,” said retired jockey and New York Racing Association TV analyst Richard Migliore. “With Next, his stride never deteriorates. If anything, he gets stronger as he goes. His legs are like pistons, he looks like a machine to me.”
Next draws away from his competition in the 2023 Greenwood Cup Stakes at Parx Racing
Of course, a division can’t properly operate with only one contender, and Next’s dominance is sure to start scaring away some competition. In the Birdstone, he will face only four competitors.
Stakes races offered on dirt at marathon distances are few and far between with only a handful of graded options and no grade 1s, nor do they generally offer large purse money.
Next, a generational talent, will compete for the winner’s share of a $150,000 purse Sunday in a listed stakes, the only option within his division of the entire month. Cowans hopes that Next’s emergence and popularity will help spark some more participation, and therefore more purse attention, to the marathons.
“I’m sure there are several other horses out there in America that could do this,” Cowans said. “We just haven’t seen them because there isn’t the opportunity to run them and there isn’t a lot of money in the division. I think if there was more money and more races out there, you might see more horses that show up and can do it.”
After all, Next’s marathon prowess was not known from the beginning. Starting his career sprinting, the gray or roan gelding never raced beyond 1 1/16 miles during his first two years.
Next’s success was moderate to start his career for trainer Wesley Ward and owner/breeder Silverton Hill, winning the one-mile War Chant Stakes on the Churchill Downs turf in a four-horse field but failing to break through with consistency.
Next wins the 2021 War Chant Stakes at Churchill Downs
As a 3-year-old turning 4, Next was running against tough competition in one-mile allowance races at Turfway Park, catching the attention of Cowans.
“I noticed (Next) had come out of a few tough races at Turfway that winter, some of the horses that exited won stakes,” Cowans said. “I believed that the horse had some talent and he’d be useful somewhere.”
Cowans took out his trainer’s license in 1993 to help his grandfather, trainer Jack Nelson, as an assistant in Ohio. After graduating from the University of Ohio in 1998, the call of the track beckoned and he began his own stable with a few local Ohio owners and breeders.
“As I had certain clients for years and years, we spread our fingers out and tried to get better horses and get into Kentucky,” Cowans said. “Recently, Kentucky got the slots (historical horse racing) and that’s when we really took off in that direction.”
The chance to pick up a horse of stakes quality came April 16, 2022, as Next was offered for a $62,500 tag in a seven-furlong allowance optional claimer at Keeneland, finishing ninth. Cowans was the only one to submit a claim.
“The day I claimed him, I had no intentions of making him a marathon horse at all,” Cowans recalled. “I quickly realized after claiming the horse that he had a lot of stamina.”
Given the horse’s prior success on grass, Cowans decided to stick with that surface and stretch the son of Not This Time out to 1 1/8 miles for the first time in his career. The spot was a risky one, a $50,000 claiming race at Churchill Downs.
“I felt like nobody would claim the horse that day because he ran so bad the day I claimed him and I did not shake for him,” Cowans said. “I just rolled the dice. The horse needed some confidence and that was where he needed to be.”
Next returned to the winners’ circle a 2 1/2-length winner and, more importantly, was not claimed. He would finish fourth in allowance company in his next start, but Cowans was starting to hatch an idea.
“I realized he had an unusual amount of stamina every time he breezed,” Cowans said. “I kept telling all the guys that I would like to run him in a really long race. I did not know how that would work, the one thing I knew for certain was that he worked lights out on the dirt.”
Cowans pitched the idea to jockey Luan Machado, who had been breezing the horse in the morning and had been working with Cowans for many years.
“We started to tame the breezes toward that kind of race,” Cowans said. “More of a rhythm, slower, letting him gallop out nice and strong as long as he wanted.”
The day to test Cowans’ gut feeling came Sept. 8, 2022, in the off-the-turf 1 1/2-mile Cape Henlopen Stakes at Delaware Park.
“The idea was get the horse into a rhythm and get him in front, slow everything down,” Cowans recalled. The plan failed.
Next was unable to be the pacesetter and made Cowans fear that he made the wrong choice as he began tugging on Machado through the early portions of the race. However, Machado was able to relax the gelding and, when he gave him his cue, Next took off.
Next hit the wire 18 1/4 lengths in front while setting a new track record.
“You have some gut feelings and you try certain things with horses,” Cowans said. “It doesn’t always work. In this situation, it did.”
Next would follow up with an easy 6 1/4-length win in the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes (G2) on Breeders’ Cup weekend at Keeneland, earning Cowans, Machado, and owner Michael Foster their first graded victories.
Doug Cowans
That was when Cowans realized he had a horse of a lifetime. Since the Cape Henlopen, Next has gone 7-for-8, his lone hiccup when returning from a six-month layoff. In those seven victories, he has won by a combined margin of 84 lengths, an average win margin of 12. Next is now a four-time graded stakes winner and millionaire with two track records.
“He accentuates how beautiful stamina is in the Thoroughbred,” Migliore said. “I think there’s potential for people to start appreciating that more in the fashion it should be appreciated.”
His dominance has led to a growing fanbase that includes Migliore, who has been one of Next’s strongest supporters on air.
“He makes me feel like the 10-year-old version of myself that was falling in love with racing,” Migliore said. “I just want a picture with the horse, that’s how much he affects me.”
Following his most recent tour de force in the July 5 Brooklyn Stakes (G2), shortened to 1 3/8 miles this year when moved to Aqueduct Racetrack due to ongoing construction at Belmont Park, many are beginning to wonder whether Next could handle top classic division horses, a move Cowans is hesitant to make.
“To try and shorten him down too much, I believe that will be the demise of the horse,” Cowans said. “I don’t know how short that would be, a mile and a quarter is probably somewhere around the thing that makes me iffy. You’re going to change everything; the tempo of the race, the set-up, the way he’s setting up the race.”
Fully in support of his decision is Foster, whose partnership with Cowans extends more than a decade when the owner first got into the horse business. The pair are more concerned with Next’s longevity rather than chasing the high dollars.
“It’s really not about money. I sat down with Mike several times and had this discussion. We would like to see the horse around for more time,” Cowans said. “The harder we make him run, the least amount of time he’s going to be around.”
However, Cowans realizes change might be needed. At some point, Next’s utter domination of dirt marathons might lead to races not filling with competitors. Should the need for change take place, Cowans said it is more likely that Next would return to turf and stay at longer distances than shortening to 1 1/4 miles on dirt.
“There’s more advantages,” Cowans said of switching to turf. “You keep the marathon distance and you always run that great risk of them taking it off the turf and you get exactly what you want.”
A switch in surface could open up possibilities for Next to earn a grade 1 title and take on top stayers from around the globe. Cowans mentioned that he has been contacted by Australia’s Melbourne Cup (G1), but leaving the country is unlikely for the gelding.
For now, Team Next is content with their star dazzling over the dirt as he prepares for the longest race of his season in the Birdstone, which he won emphatically by 11 3/4 lengths last year.
“There’s no limitations to how far he can go,” Cowans said. “I was saying (in last year’s Birdstone) at some point he’s going to tap out here. He never took a deep breath. I don’t really know where the end of that is.”
Doug Cowans (right) greets jockey Luan Machado after Next’s victory in the 2023 Birdstone Stakes at Saratoga Race Course
Should Next continue his reign for several more years, what kind of accolades should he earn? In a division with no grade 1, his chance at earning Eclipse Award honors is slim. Likewise, would a horse with no grade 1s and no championships be voted for enshrinement within racing’s Hall of Fame?
When being evaluated for these honors, questions will be raised about the quality of his competition. What Next has in his corner so far is millionaire status, two track records, and the visual appeal of barely expending effort while decimating fields.
“I don’t know what kind of recognition he should get, but I do believe he deserves some kind of recognition the way he’s dominated his division,” Cowans said. “He’s not just doing it, he’s doing it in hand.”
“The fan reaction to him is accolade enough,” Migliore said. “I would imagine a marathon race will be named in his honor. I couldn’t imagine they wouldn’t at least do that for him.”
Regardless of the honors he receives, Next will stand as a symbolic champion for connections listening to their horse and allowing them to flourish by doing things the way the horse wants.
“I think he could handle very good horses at a mile and a quarter, but I also have so much respect for his trainer and the way he talks about playing to a horse’s strength,” Migliore said. “I think he’s got a really good handle on his horse and what is fair and proper for his horse. I appreciate and admire the whole team. I think they really showed people how to do it.”
“I found something the horse really wants to do,” Cowans said. “He loves what he’s doing and he thinks he’s unbeatable.”
Entries: Birdstone S.
Saratoga Race Course, Sunday, August 04, 2024, Race 2
- STK
- 1 3/4m
- Dirt
- $150,000
- 4 yo’s & up
- 1:44 PM (local)
