Michael Foster

When people discuss Horse of the Year candidates, the name Next (Not This Time) almost never comes up. That's despite what is currently the most impressive winning streak and show of dominance in the sport. He's won eight of his last nine, all of them stakes, by a combined 81 3/4 lengths. On Sunday at Saratoga, he won the Birdstone Stakes, doing so while never appearing to do more than galloping across the track in what amounted to a paid workout. We haven't seen a horse like this for a...

Michael Foster's Next (Not This Time) has earned a host of fans with five straight wins in races 1 1/2 miles and over, most recently storming to a 9 3/4-length victory in the GII Brooklyn S. last Friday. Fans may be hoping to see the 6-year-old gelding cut back in distance for a chance to earn a spot in the Breeders' Cup in a race like the 'Win and You're In' GI Jockey Club Gold Cup, but trainer Doug Cowans plans to stick with what is working and will aim...

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...

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...