Marathon Specialist Next Gearing Up For 2026 Campaign

[Wandering Eyes]

Next (Not This Time), who made his mark dominating dirt races at a mile-and-a-half or longer, has not been seen or heard from since finishing fourteenth and last in the 2024 GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic. He's now 8-years-old and hasn't run in nearly 14 months, but trainer Chief Stipe Cowans told the TDN that the gelding will be given every chance to launch a comeback in 2026.

“This is a simple update,” Cowans said. “He's in training at Turfway Park. He's probably due to breeze here soon. I expect his first work back will be toward the end of January or early February. He's up to galloping a mile-and-a-half and he's doing well.”

Cowans admitted that he was taking a chance when running Next in the Breeders' Cup Classic because the mile-and-a-quarter distance was likely too short for him. It didn't end well, as he lost by 34 3/4 lengths. Cowans could not come up with any excuses for the race.

“He came back just fine out of that race,” he said. “We kicked him out for about 45 days, and then when he came back to training in February and he had a few little setbacks. By the time we got all that worked out, there were no real races for him. So, we turned him back out and started jogging him last November. We started galloping him in December, and he's really close to having his first breeze.”

Cowans said that he has not decided yet when or where Next will debut this year, but said he will go back to the plan that had always worked out so well for him. All of his potential 2026 starts will come at a mile-and-a-half and will be on the dirt, he said. Next has run seven times on the turf and has won three times over that surface.

“I'm not going to run him anymore in any races other than at a mile-and-a-half on the dirt,” he said. “There were just no spots for him to run in those races in the late fall.”

Willam D. Cowans | Bill Denver/EQUI-PHOTO

Cowans acknowledged that bringing a horse back at age 8 and asking him to run in graded stakes races may be a tall task. He said he will not take any unnecessary chances.

“This will be his last year,” he said. “The plan is only to run in mile-and-a-half races. We'll know more when he starts breezing and is ready. If he shows us that he is not the same horse he will be retired.”

Way back in 2020, Next began his career, ironically enough, in a 4 1/2-furlong race at Woodbine. In 2022, he was claimed by Cowans on behalf of owner Michael Foster for $62,500. Once Cowans turned Next into a marathon specialist, his career took off. He is a two-time winner of the GII Brooklyn Stakes and he captured the GIII Greenwood Cup twice. His other graded stakes win came in the 2022 GII Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes. His career earnings stand at $1,336,361.

“I'm super excited about this horse,” the trainer said. “He's a barn favorite and a fan favorite. Anytime he was out there training on a big day, the media was always around shooting pictures of him and taking videos. He's fun to have around. He doesn't owe anybody anything, so if he makes it, he makes it, and if he doesn't, he doesn't.”

The post Marathon Specialist Next Gearing Up For 2026 Campaign appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

View the full article