It’s time for trainer Doug Cowans to mull what’s next for Next.
Marathon man Next took a stroll around the main track at Saratoga Race Course on Sunday afternoon, picking up the pace in the stretch for a 22 ¼-length blowout in the $150,000 Birdstone Stakes.
Next. Coglianese Photo.
What’s Next for the streaking Next after Birdstone win?
As the 6-year-old gray gelding extended his lead over Masqueparade from seven lengths to the final margin, track announcer Frank Mirahmadi encouraged the crowd to “let him hear it.
They did, cheering him all the way past the finish under Luan Machado and into the winner’s circle. Next covered the 1 ¾ miles in 2:57.83.
“That was a very fun ride. He took me for a ride,” Machado said. “He always seemed very superior all the way around, it was a fun ride. As soon as I felt Manny (Franco, aboard Masqueparade) coming close, I just gave a little check-in and, like you saw, he just took off with ease.”
Six in a row by a combined 81 ¾ lengths
Next, owned by Michael Foster, is on an amazing six-race win streak since 2023 — two Brooklyn Stakes (G2), two Birdstones, an Isaac Murphy Stakes, and a Greenwood Cup Stakes (G3). Incredibly, he’s won those races by a combined 81 ¾ lengths
Is the time at hand for Next to drop off the marathon trail and go for a coveted Grade 1 win? The Jockey Club Gold Cup at the Spa on Sept. 1, perhaps, which offers an all-fees paid berth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) at Del Mar on Nov. 2. Or will Cowans opt for another Greenwood Cup at Parx Racing on Sept. 21?
“Well, we will see how things go. When we get home, we will make a plan,” Cowans said. “I stick to what I’ve always said, the horse, you can watch him in the races, he really enjoys himself out there, loves doing what he’s doing. So when I start to shorten him down, I don’t know how well he will like it, but maybe we will have to try it at some point.”
Birdstone unfolds in weird way
The Birdstone was race 2 on Saratoga’s Sunday card, with five horses entered. Nimitz was a trainer scratch. Slip Mahoney took a lead after a quarter-mile, dropped back and was eased to the finish by jockey Luis Saez. Time for Trouble broke first, but jockey Flavien Prat pulled him out of the race around the first turn.
All the weirdness that went on didn’t bother Next.
“He takes everything in stride every day,” Cowans said. “Something going wrong in the race, I don’t think it even phased him at all.”
Added Machado: “I didn’t know what was going to happen next. I just got him separated from the field and let him do his thing.”
Next has a career record of 22-12-0-1 and earnings of $1,228,361. Cowans claimed Next for $62,500 after a claiming race at Keeneland in 2022 and turned him into a long-distance runner. He’s won nine of 11 since the claim.