The 2025 racing season has been full of thrills across the board, but for the dirt marathon division, it was more defined by the absence of it's star.
That star is Next, Michael Foster's Not This Time gelding who worked up a 9-for-10 record in dirt races of 1 3/8 miles or more from September 2022 through September 2024 with an average win margin just under 13 lengths.
READ: Up 'Next': A Spotlight on the Marathon Division
Last seen exiting the starting gate when finishing 14th in the 2024 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1)—an experiment to cut back to 1 1/4 miles against the world's best that was upended by a blistering hot pace—the marathon king is now back in trainer Doug Cowans' Turfway Park barn with a target circled on a final season of racing in 2026.
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The 2025 season was supposed to be one that echoed his dominant marathon campaigns of the past, but bad weather, setbacks, and a shrinking dirt marathon schedule all played a role in keeping him off the track.
Next returned to Cowans' care in January of 2025 after a few weeks off following the Breeders' Cup. Soon after, Florence, Ky., would be blasted by winter weather that led to track management canceling training on many occasions due to track conditions. That left Next unable to properly build up a foundation, and when he developed a small illness in February it knocked him off the timing he'd need to make his traditional season debut in the Isaac Murphy Marathon Overnight Stakes at Churchill Downs during Kentucky Derby (G1) week.
Next's yearly schedule was already limited by the number of stakes options offered at 1 1/2 miles or longer on the dirt. Cowans plans each year as a four-race schedule, featuring the the Isaac Murphy in May, the Brooklyn Stakes (G2) in New York in June or July, the Birdstone Stakes at Saratoga Race Course in August, and the Greenwood Cup Stakes (G3) at Parx Racing in September.
After missing the Isaac Murphy, Next's attempt at a 2025 campaign was further complicated by the New York Racing Association's decision to furlough the Brooklyn Stakes, which he won at Belmont Park in 2023 and Aqueduct Racetrack in 2024, for a season while construction was completed at Belmont Park.
READ: NYRA Puts Brooklyn Stakes on Furlough Until 2026
"Once we got him ramped up, there was no real races for the horse with the marathon schedule the way it is," Cowans said. "There's only about four opportunities a year to run the horse. (It looked like) we were only going to make one race, at best. That was going to be pushing things along so we decided to just go ahead and give the horse more time and try to bring him back (for 2026)."
After that extended rest, Next returned to Turfway Park in mid-November, recently stepping up from jogging to galloping. Cowans said Next is looking great and he hopes to get him on a breeze schedule within the next two or three weeks.
Those breezes will be a telling factor in whether or not Next will make a campaign in 2026 when he will be 8. Cowans said breezing will give regular jockey Luan Machado a chance to climb aboard and see whether or not he feels like the same horse he was at his peak.
Should Next not return the same horse, Cowans said all members of the team are in agreement that the horse owes them nothing.
"The plan is to get the horse breezing, and if he's not the same horse he'll be retired," Cowans said. "If he is, we would point toward the Isaac Murphy, since it's in our backyard. That's always kind of been the comeback race for the horse, but we're just going to let the horse tell us where to go from here. It's all up to him. If he's not the same horse, he won't come back."
Even if he does return with the same dominance he had before and sweeps his traditional series, Cowans said they have already agreed that 2026 will be Next's final racing season. He should have plenty of future career options open for retirement—assistant trainer Justin Atkins joking that he and Cowans would end up in court fighting over custody rights.
Cowans noted he would enjoy seeing Next have the opportunity to learn another discipline and potentially compete in the Retired Racehorse Project's Thoroughbred Makeover event in the future.
"He definitely needs a job because he loves to work," Cowans said. "We'll see how things go in the next few months. He always has a home here, so there's no pressure and we'll see where things take us."
