Next

Next (Not This Time) isn't just winning races. He is destroying the competition. A marathon-race specialist, he did it again last week at Parx, when he won the GIII Greenwood Cup S. by an astounding 25 lengths. It's been quite a ride for his trainer, Doug Cowans, who claimed the now 5-year-old last year for $62,500. To talk about Next and to discuss his future plans, Cowans joined this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland. He was this week's Green Group Guest of the Week. Despite his horse's...

Doug Cowans, trainer of graded stakes-winning marathon specialist Next, joins the TDN Writers' Room.

There will no doubt be a tendency to dismiss Next (Not This Time) as a novelty act, even after his 25-length romp in Saturday's GIII Greenwood Cup on a sloppy, dreary day at Parx. That comes with the territory when your speciality is marathon-distance races of 12 furlongs or more. But to do so would be a mistake. While it's true that he does not face the best of competition in these races, Next is obviously a seriously talented race horse. You have to be to win a graded stakes...

4th-Keeneland, $70,706, Alw, 10-24, (NW2L), 2yo, 1 1/16m (off turf), 1:44.32, gd, 11 3/4 lengths. NEXT (c, 2, Not This Time--Bahia Beach {MSP, $141,104}, by Awesome Again), a midfield sixth when favored on his June 14 debut over the Woodbine synthetic, shed the blinkers and fought his way to a half-length graduation sprinting at Kentucky Downs Sept. 16. The 9-5 second favorite broke running and settled nicely up front through fractions of :23.67 and :47.52 with token pressure to his outside. Rated along on the turn, the gray displayed a...