For his next impression, Forego?
Next staged another brilliant performance in winning the $200,000 Brooklyn Stakes (G2) Friday at Aqueduct, joining select company as a two-time winner in 135 editions of the race.
Next. Coglianese Photo.
Next picked up a second consecutive Brooklyn win
A year from now, the striking 6-year-old gray marathon man could have a chance to join the great Forego (1973-75) with three straight Brooklyn victories.
That’s a long way off but Next was simply sensational over 1 3/8 miles at the Big A, cruising just off the pace, taking command outside the quarter-pole, and pulling away under Luan Machado for a 9 ¼-length victory – his fifth in a row.
“I always say that I don’t know if the horse can do any better than he has, but he continues to come out and put on performances like that,’’ trainer Doug Cowans said. “He just loves this, and we’re going to try and keep doing it with him.’’
After being claimed for $65,000 by Michael Foster in April 2022, Next was moved from grass to dirt and began to excel at longer distances.
“We’ll run him 4-or-5 times a year whatever the marathon races are,’’ Cowans said. “Just keep doing it with him and hope he’s around for a while because he’s fun to be around and he’s fun to watch do this.”
During his win streak, Next has won by a combined margin of 59 ½ lengths. Yes! The number is correct – in 2023 he won the Brooklyn by 2 ¼ lengths, the 1 ¾-mile Birdstone by 11 ¾ lengths, and the 1 ½-mile Greenwood Cup by 25 lengths; and he opened 2024 by winning the 1 ½-mile Isaac Murphy Marathon by 11 ¼ lengths in May.
Sent off as the overwhelming favorite at .45-1 in a field of seven, Next ($2.90 to win on a $2 win bet), followed comfortably in second behind pacesetter Drake’s Passage for opening mile, and then moved steadily to the lead and lengthened the margin through the stretch.
Crupi closed to finish second, with Drake’s Passage third. The winning time was 2:13.68.
“When you get to the quarter pole when the horses are going this long, you feel like they are kind of flattening out, but he doesn’t,” Machado. “He feels like he keeps kicking on in the last quarter mile.”
Next is now 11-0-1 from 21 starts with earnings of more than $1.1 million. He’s won eight of his last 10 races.
Other multiple winners of the Brooklyn are Discovery (1934, 1935, 1936); Assault in 1947 and 1949, and Waquoit in 1987-88.