Next puts on another show in Greenwood Cup

By Parx Racing media team (Bill Denver/EQUI-PHOTO above of Next winning Parx’s Greenweed Cup for the second straight year)

The Next express rolled into Parx Racing again Saturday and rolled out with a second straight dominating victory in the Grade 3, $250,000 Greenwood Cup Stakes. 

Michael Foster’s 6-year-old Not This Time gelding stayed perfect on the season and won his seventh straight with a 10-length score in the 1 1/2-mile Greenwood Cup under Luan Machado. Next won his ninth stakes and added the 2024 Greenwood Cup to his 25-length victory in last year’s renewal. 

Ridin With Biden, winner of the 2022 Greenwood Cup, took the early initiative and led Next and others through early fractions of :24.96, :49.94, 1:16.55. Next cut the deficit up the backstretch and inched within a head of Ridin With Biden to the mile in 1:42.97. Next took over around the far turn and opened up quickly by 3 lengths past 10 furlongs in 2:09.03.

Next cruised through the lane under a hold from Machado, widening from 7 lengths in midstretch to 10 lengths at the finish. Magic Michael finished second, 5 lengths ahead of Treble Clef in third. Next, the 1-9 favorite in the field of nine, won in 2:33.61. 

Next added the 2024 Greenwood Cup to victories this season in the Isaac Murphy Marathon at Churchill Downs, Grade 2 Brooklyn Stakes at Aqueduct and Birdstone Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. Claimed by Foster and trainer Doug Cowans for $62,500 in April 2022, Next improved to 13-for-23 and boosted his earnings to $1,336,361. 

Winning owner Michael Foster: “He’s a machine. Business as usual. I don’t want to be overconfident or cocky, but it was just like a paid workout. We work him harder every morning than this. We’re tickled to be back here and win the (Greenwood) Cup again. To be able to own this horse is beyond my dreams.”

On a possible start in the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar: “We will see how he does in the next two weeks. Do we want to go out West? Damn right we do. No doubt about it. We love the mile and a half and out. At his distances, we feel like he can run with anyone in the country right now. On the dirt, (and) we think on the grass a mile and three eighths and out. We don’t want to change the horse. Ever since he’s been going a mile and a half, nobody’s touched him.”

Winning trainer Doug Cowans: “I saw what I expected to see. He has an unusual amount of stamina that no other horses can do. He runs them off their feet early and late. And he keeps it going. Whatever he does, we want to keep him in his own rhythm. When he does that, he is good to go. The instructions are always the same; to get the horse in his rhythm. It doesn’t matter if he is in front or 10 behind. Just get him into his rhythm.  

Could he get better? “I don’t know. I always say no, but he just keeps on getting better, doesn’t he? Every time he runs, it’s something special for me. I just try to get Mike (Foster) to take in and enjoy the horse for what it is. I don’t know if you will ever get another horse like this that can do this. You will get good horses that win races, but to win as many as he has in the fashion that he has … he doesn’t need a track, he takes a surface with him. It can be deep, it can be sloppy, it doesn’t matter for the horse. He does his thing. Pretty special to have a horse like this. He even makes me look good.”

Could the Breeders’ Cup be considered? “There are a lot of things that can go wrong in that kind of race. I am not saying we are against it, but we will sit down and have a big conversation. The thing about the horse is we always want to have fun with him. The money doesn’t matter. We found something the horse likes to do and we want to keep doing it with him. It’s not solely my decision but my gut tells me to stay with the distance and give up the surface (dirt and run on turf) if I would do something like that. I know you got to face the Europeans, and they have a good turn off foot. You worry about that. Going to the dirt mile and a quarter I worry about the pace. We don’t know where we will go but we will see.”

Winning jockey Luan Machado: “I don’t think it gets easier. It was fun out there. Just like he does always. It’s a feeling I can’t explain with him. We try and work so hard our whole lives and work so hard to find a horse like this and when you get it you just enjoy every second that we can. Theres not many horses of this kind. It’s very rare to find a horse with this big of a heart.

“He was sitting very comfortably off the lead, and that’s happened before, other horses getting the lead on him. When I checked on him early, he was always just going easy. Just me and him. He was just taking me around. I just feel like the passenger. Just let him take me around.

“The first time I rode him, he broke the track record at Delaware, so I already knew he was very good, but he just keeps on improving with every race he’s in. He surprises me every time I ride him, but each time I’m on him, I get the same feeling like the first time I rode him.

“I don’t know about how he would be on the grass. I never rode him on it. He does anything. I really loves him on the dirt. He just seems really comfortable but watching his races I would think he really likes the dirt. Between here and his race and Saratoga, these were probably the softest tracks he’s run on, and he just runs as good on any surface. He’s just a comfortable horse. It doesn’t matter to him.”

Jockey Frankie Pennington (Magic Michael, second): “Next is something special. We finished a good second, very happy the way he finished out. It’s horse racing, and anything is possible. I have seen more crazy things. You have to be in it to win it. We kind of got shuffled back a little at the three-eighths and he ran his race. Hats off to Next. Everybody knows Next was the horse to beat. Every time he wins, it’s by double digits. When you have a decent horse like Magic Michael, you always try to give everything you have and hope for the best. Who can’t be a fan (of Next)? He is a phenomenal horse. I would rather watch him on TV than fight him on the track.”