Marathon King Next Officially Retired From Racing

Multiple graded stakes winner Next, who from mid-2022 through the end of 2024 dominated dirt racing at distances of 1 3/8 miles or more as well as any horse has ever dominated a single division, has officially been retired from racing. The 8-year-old son of leading sire Not This Time last raced in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) in November 2024 at Del Mar. After missing the entire 2025 season because of poorly timed setbacks and a shrinking dirt marathon schedule, he returned to training in an attempt to put together a final season of racing. He began breezing regularly for his return in late March with a target on the Aug. 13 Birdstone Stakes. Everything was going perfectly until his very last breeze Aug. 5 as trainer Doug Cowans noticed some inflammation on one of his knees. Cowans decided not to ship the gelding from Turfway Park to Saratoga Race Course for the Birdstone and, although his trip to the clinic revealed he would still be fine to race, Cowans and owner Michael Foster made the decision not to push any further. "With only a three-race plan for the season, he missed a couple works leading into the second race (the Sept. 19 Greenwood Cup at Parx Racing), we just felt like it was probably time to quit," Cowans said. "He was going to be retired at the end of the year anyway no matter what happened, even if he won all three." During his career, Next brought increased attention to the dwindling circuit of dirt stakes races scheduled beyond 1 1/4 miles through impressive displays of ability with rivals left distantly in his wake. In the process, he became one of racing's most popular stars. In 10 starts at distances between 1 3/8 miles and 1 3/4 miles, all in stakes, Next won nine times by a combined margin of 116 1/4 lengths—an average win margin just shy of 13 lengths. Jockey Luan Machado was aboard for all of them. Next set Delaware Park's 1 1/2-mile track record in 2:30.25 over a wet-fast track during the 2022 Cape Henlopen Stakes and Churchill Downs' 1 1/2-mile track record in 2:27.93 during the 2024 Isaac Murphy Marathon Overnight Stakes. His final time of 2:42.59 in the 2022 Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes (G2) was just 0.02 off of Keeneland's 1 5/8-mile track record. More records likely could have fallen had Machado not had the pleasure of being able to gear down the final furlong in most of his races. "He was true horse entertainment. That's probably the best description you could say," Foster said. "People enjoyed watching him do something very unique, and doing it at the top level." Next retired with a career record of 13-0-1 from 24 starts with earnings of $1,336,361. He won five graded stakes and 10 total stakes. Next for Next: A Second Career Cowans said the gelding is now at Bridle Run Farm in Ohio where he typically would spend his winters. The barn is a show horse barn, which gives a glimpse at his future. Cowans said that Next's gallop rider Amber Hodyka will soon start going up to the farm and begin working with him toward a new career, the goal being to compete in the Retired Racehorse Project's Thoroughbred Makeover. "I've seen her doing videos with him, teaching him all kinds of little things inside the arena without being on him," Cowans said. "He's very smart and he likes to learn. He likes when you show him something, he catches on real quick—especially when you give him candy." Foster said that retiring Next from racing was heartbreaking, but it is important for him that Next has a second career. "He loved what he does," Foster said. "He wants to be a competitor, he wants nothing more in life. I want that horse to have a great second career. I want him to be enjoying himself." Throughout his two decades of ownership, Foster has always kept an emphasis on making sure his horses go to good homes. "If you're going to get in this game, you do it right, and you do it with all of them," Foster said. "I've never just dumped them and walked off. Never done it, and never will." Foster said it was important for him that Cowans remains in control of Next's future, and Cowans said the farm is constantly sending him recordings from its cameras of whatever Next is up to. When the time comes for Next to fully retire from competition, Foster said he'll make sure he's taken care of. "When he truly has to retire, I will make sure monetarily that he is at the right place and is well taken care of," Foster said. "But right now, even at 8, he's still a pup. The guy is just an athlete, an unbelievably sound athlete." A Claiming Cinderella Story Every owner, breeder, trainer, and jockey spends their whole time in the industry searching for their horse of a lifetime. Some never get that experience, others get several and, some such as Foster and Cowans, get lucky enough to stumble upon one when they least expect it. The last foal out of the multiple stakes-placed Awesome Again mare Bahia Beach, Next was bred in Kentucky by Silverton Hill, who raced him at the start of his career with trainer Wesley Ward. At 2, he broke his maiden at second asking going 6 1/2 furlongs on turf at Kentucky Downs. He then won his next start going 1 1/16 miles on dirt in an off-the-turf Keeneland allowance before wheeling back in 13 days to compete in the 2020 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1), finishing last of 14. At 3, his career began to focus on the grass. In his second start of 2021, he won the 1-mile War Chant Stakes at Churchill Downs and competed in two subsequent graded stakes. By the end of the year, he was racing in allowance optional claiming races on Tapeta at Turfway Park, Cowans' home track. In both his starts at Turfway, Next was not available to be claimed, but Cowans and Foster began taking notice. The pair have claimed horses together for about 20 years. Foster retired early from Wall Street at age 56 and decided to start learning how to handicap races, more for entertainment purposes than money. However, not truly feeling like a gambler at heart, he decided one day it would be more fun to own and race the horses rather than handicap. Cowans came recommended by one of Foster's friends who was a breeder, and the two instantly hit it off. "Doug was really the only trainer I ever interviewed seriously," Foster said. "I knew it from the day I met him that he was a unique guy, and we've been doing it for 20 years." Still, that experience as a handicapper led to Next falling onto their radar. Given Next's previous history as a stakes horse, they knew he was obviously talented and well thought of by his connections, and they hoped that maybe bringing him to a smaller barn where he could have more of a focus on him would allow them to have some decent success with him. They never guessed it would become what it did. "Some things just pop out and stand out to you," Foster said. "We always felt like we could read between the lines on this horse." The opportunity then came April 16, 2022, when Next was entered in an allowance optional claiming race at Keeneland and was offered for a $62,500 tag. Foster and Cowans were the only ones to submit a claim. Next finished ninth that day going 7 furlongs on the dirt, and they brought him back in a straight $50,000 claiming race a month later at Churchill Downs going 1 1/8 miles on turf. He won, but the biggest victory came in the form of an empty claim box. From there, as Cowans got to know the horse through his training, an overabundance of stamina became evident. They gave him another try going 1 1/8 miles on turf in an allowance optional claiming race at Ellis Park, where he finished fourth, but Cowans wanted to shoot for something longer. "Every horse that comes into the barn, we try to figure out what they want and how they want it," Cowans said. "Whether that's distance, surface; the things that keep them happy. Not every time does that work. "One of the special things with this horse was listening to the horse and trying to follow what he wants actually worked. It was like a whole plan that came together." Cowans entered Next in the 1 1/2-mile Cape Henlopen Stakes at Delaware Park on turf, and the distance plan was aided by a bit of luck. Rain forced the race off the turf and onto the dirt course. Foster gave Cowans the green light to keep him in the race and the result was an 18 1/4-length victory in track-record time. "That's when we knew," Foster said. Winning an off-the-turf race was one thing, so next would be the challenge of graded company. Team Next marched on to Keeneland for the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes on the undercard of the Breeders' Cup, a true test to his talent. He romped by 6 1/4 lengths. "What a thrill that was," Foster recalled of the TAA Stakes. "That really put us into the true graded stakes level. I had never really been there before. I had been in Ohio stakes and other little stakes, but nothing at a graded stakes level. All of a sudden, you puff your chest out a little bit. The ride was just unbelievable." The ride Next took them on over the next two years was what Foster described as a Cinderella story, comparing Next's climb of the ladder after being claimed like finding his own Seabiscuit. "You get a claiming horse for some odd reason, and it usually didn't work out," Foster said. "Then bang, everything falls together and this horse is a monster, just a tremendous athlete. "He'll be a horse of all horses for me, there's no two ways about it." Cowans said taking the horse from a claimer and turning him into a graded stakes winner was a special moment for the team. "The horse himself was so special to the whole team because he took us to a lot of different places," Cowans said. "Not only did he take us there, he actually won every time he went there. It was just a special situation. Even when you get special horses, they're not going to win every time you go. We went, and he showed up every time. That made it pretty special." Next's routine then became quite predictable given the lack of stakes options for him at his preferred distance. In 2023 and 2024, he followed the same pattern: the Isaac Murphy Marathon at Churchill Downs during Kentucky Derby week; the Brooklyn Stakes (G2) held in June at Belmont Park in 2023 and in July at Aqueduct Racetrack in 2024; the Birdstone Stakes in August at Saratoga, and the Greenwood Cup Stakes (G3) in September at Parx Racing. Next's lone blemish on that schedule was the 2023 Isaac Murphy when, returning from a six-month layoff, he was not fully cranked and finished third. Cowans still blames himself for that lone marathon defeat, but the loss led to one of Foster's favorite moments of Next's career—the next year when Next and Cowans avenged themselves returning from a 7 1/2-month layoff to win the Isaac Murphy by 11 1/4 lengths in track-record time. "When we came back and won the Isaac Murphy the next year and set the track record, that was a really cool race," Foster said. However the moments from the journey that truly stick out to the connections were not necessarily the races themselves, but the experience around the races. Each time Next raced outside of Kentucky, Cowans and Foster were able to lease a private jet to fly themselves, their family and friends, and Machado and his family to the races. "We'd have a group of eight and fly to wherever for the day and just have a ball. Then we'd fly back home and have dinner at 8, 9 o'clock in Cincinnati," Foster said. "That was the biggest thing. Besides experiencing winning at the big level and having all the fun doing interviews and stuff, it was almost like an event, a vacation for us. It made it that much sweeter." "There was a lot of special moments spent with the horse and the people associated with him," Cowans said. "I tell everybody, there won't be another horse like that." A Unique Horse, A Fan Favorite One of the things that set Next apart on the track became his attitude. As he racked up more and more success, he knew it. By the end of his year-end turn out, he was itching to get back to the track, part of the reason why they gave him another chance in 2026. "This horse loves the racetrack, and one of the reasons he loves the racetrack is because he gets constant attention all the time," Cowans said. "The groom, the hotwalker, the gallop person, every person involved with the horse. He likes that interaction. At the track, it's just more because people are there constantly giving him that interaction." That constant interaction clearly registered with him that he was important, and mixing that with the fact he spent two years rarely seeing another horse within 6 lengths of him at the end of a race, he knew he was the guy. "He was the cockiest horse I ever owned," Foster said. "He wanted to be the star. If he was on the track and other horses were there, he expected them to get off the track or he'd kick their butt. That was his attitude: I'm the man and you're not." And where Next may be cocky, Cowans typically is not. Describing his trainer as a modest guy who does not pat himself on the back as often as he should, Foster credits Cowans' training job for Next's success. "Doug never gets enough credit," Foster said. "He's so hands-on and has such a dedication for these horses. We have claimed other horses that were totally basket cases, and within 30-60 days you're walking up feeding them peppermints and its changed their racing career. He has a smaller barn than some of these bigger trainers, and he's more hands-on himself. "I've always said he's just a good horseman. He understands the conformation of a horse, and he sees their issues and he knows how to work with them. I can't give him enough credit, and he's got a good crew that's always worked with him as well." Everything about Next was unique: his gray coloring, his personality, his division of racing, his ease of victories, his humble beginnings—all of which translated into him being a star for racing fans. Next was an easy horse to root for and, at the peak of his dominance in the summer of 2024, the crowds at Saratoga and Parx could do nothing but clap in a standing ovation as he jogged alone down the stretch. "I think it was because his races were different, a mile and a half or longer, just made it more unique," Foster said of Next's popularity. "He became a fan favorite not only because he won, but he's a different-looking type of horse, too," Cowans said. "He brought a lot of attention, and he has a lot of fans." Next's Legacy Next never won a grade 1, his only two attempts in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and Classic coming at distances he did not prefer, but his star power did point a spotlight on the state of the dirt marathon division in America. Races at 1 1/2 miles used to be among the most prestigious races in the country, but now they are few and far between. Despite Next's success, the division has taken some hits during his tenure and in his absence. The TAA Stakes, which was formerly the Breeders' Cup Marathon, was discontinued after the 2023 edition in which only five horses competed at Santa Anita Park. After being held at a shorter 1 3/8 miles at Aqueduct in 2024 when Next won it, the Brooklyn took a one-year hiatus in 2025, but at least is set to return at the new Belmont Park in December at 1 1/2 miles. Further, the Greenwood Cup was downgraded from grade 3 to listed status for 2026. However, Next showed there was still an excitement and a fanbase for the longer races, and other horses have followed suit. Almost as soon as Next exited, Parchment Party rose to prominence when he started running in longer dirt races. He recently lost the Greenwood to San Siro, who appeared to flourish in his first 1 1/2-mile dirt race. Horses such as Next, Parchment Party, and San Siro discovering their affinity for the division later in their careers makes one wonder how many other horses could excel in these races but never get the chance. "I don't know that it will make it more popular with the racing secretaries to maybe make a series, but he definitely brought some attention to the races themselves because of how dominant he was and became such a fan favorite," Cowans said. Next also acts as a champion for taking time with horses and truly identifying what they would excel at. That patience and recognition Cowans showed unearthed one of, if not, the best dirt marathoner of the 21st century. Perhaps one of the more underrated impacts that Next has had on the sport is what he has helped do for his sire: Not This Time. Next is a member of the Taylor Made Stallions sire's first crop foaled in 2018. That crop contained three grade 1 winners and four other graded winners, including Next. However, Next showed the depth of versatility and the longevity that Not This Time can produce. His early career saw victories sprinting on grass while he proved to be a generational talent going long on dirt. The peak of his dominance of the dirt marathon division in 2024 also coincided with Cogburn, a member of Not This Time's 2019 crop who spent 2024 dominating the turf sprint division. A month after Next set a track record for 1 1/2 miles at Churchill Downs, Cogburn set a then world record for 5 1/2 furlongs on grass in the Jaipur Stakes (G1T) at Saratoga. The two being successful in complete opposite divisions helped showcase the stallion, who has risen from a $15,000 stud fee when Next and Cogburn were bred to a $250,000 fee in 2026. At the time of Next's retirement, Not This Time leads all sires by progeny earnings and is threatening to end Into Mischief's seven-year run atop the standings. So where does Next rank historically? Could a horse like him make the Hall of Fame? He does not have the grade 1s, simply because they don't exist in his division. He does not have an Eclipse championship, although he did receive votes for champion older dirt male in 2024. What he does have is two track records, millionaire status, and he reigned as an undisputed king over his division for more than 2 1/2 years. Perhaps a proper comparison in other sports would be Devin Hester in the NFL. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2024 purely off his role as a punt returner, something no one else in league history had been inducted for. However, Hester was just too dominant at the position to ignore, and he is forever enshrined in Canton, Ohio, because of it. "We took some criticism that he had no competition. Well guess what, there are not many horses that ran the marathon level the way he did," Foster said. "Doug feels he should be a Hall of Fame horse. Of course I'm biased, I would say yes, too. "But that's not what this is all about. It's about Doug getting a horse and turning him into something very unique, and then kicking some tail with it and having a lot of fun while we did it."