Photo:

Bill Denver / EQUI-PHOTO

Bensalem, Pa.

Next continued his dominance of long-distance dirt stakes Saturday when he won the Grade 3, $200,000 Greenwood Cup at Parx Racing by 10 lengths. That was his seventh victory in a row and his ninth since trainer Doug Cowans and owner Michael Foster first ran him in a stakes race at 1 1/2 miles or longer.

Right after the celebration in the winner’s circle was complete, the question came up. Will the Breeders’ Cup be next for Next?

“He has an unusual amount of stamina that no other horses can do,” Cowans said. “He runs them off their feet early and late. He keeps it going.”

Click here for Parx entries and results.

“You have to remember that he’s better this year than he was last year, and nobody could touch him last year,” Foster said. “Nobody has been able to touch him since we started to go long at a mile and a half.”

The longest distances at the 2024 Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar will be the Classic run at 1 1/4 miles on the main track and the Turf at 1 1/2 miles on the grass.

Cowans and Foster claimed Next for $62,500 from Wesley Ward in April 2022 out of a seven-furlong, optional-claiming allowance at Keeneland. Since, he got one of his three career grass wins but has not run at the 1 1/2-mile distance in seven turf starts.

“My gut tells me to stay with a longer distance and give up the surface”, Cowans said. “If I do something like that and go for a mile-and-a-half on the grass, I know you have to face the Europeans that have a good turn of foot and things like that. That’s the thing that I worry about there.”

The last 10 starts for Next were on the dirt in stakes races at seven different tracks. He earned triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures in all nine of the victories, according to Daily Racing Form.

“But going to the dirt at a mile-and-a-quarter, I worry about the pace scenario that the horse will get into,” Cowans said. “I mean you can even see that (Saturday) he was tugging in the bridle. You put up a 23 or 46, and he’ll get to tugging on you pretty good. I don’t know where that leaves him if he jumps off to quick lead. They struggle getting him off the pace.”

“Do I want to go a mile-and-a-quarter on the dirt against the boys in the Classic?” Foster said. “I do. There’s no doubt in my mind and heart that he can run with them. But we don’t change the horse. He proved what he can do at a mile-and-a-half. He’s just good at it. But we’ll see.”

In 2024, Next has won his four starts as the odds-on favorite by margins of 11 1/4, 9 1/4, 22 1/4 and now 10 lengths. His career record stands at 23: 13-0-1 with earnings of $1,336,361.

“I don’t know if you ever get another horse like this,” the trainer said. “You know you’ll get good horses that win races, but to win as many in the fashion that he has? He doesn’t need a track. He takes his surface with him. It could be deep, and it could be fast or sloppy. It doesn’t matter for the horse. He does his thing. It’s pretty special to have a horse like that. He even makes me look good.”

Next trains at Turfway Park and will prepare at the Kentucky track for the possible start in the Breeders’ Cup.

“The deadline will be at his first breeze, which would be somewhere 15 to 17 days after his race here,” Cowans said. “If all systems are go, I’ll sit down with Mr. Foster and have a serious conversation about what he wants and what the horse wants.”