DEL MAR, Calif. – For the last month, trainer Doug Cowans has been looking for any reason not to send Next to Southern California for the Breeders’ Cup. Unable to find anything, Next on Monday will be bound for California, where on Nov. 2 he will run in the $7 million Classic at Del Mar. In the off-chance that he finds something amiss between now and Monday, Cowans on Thursday listed Next’s participation in the Classic at “99.5 percent.” Cowans spoke by phone from Turfway Park after watching Next work five furlongs in 1:00.40 and continue out in 1:12.80, 1:27, and 1:42 under jockey Luan Machado. “All on his own,” Cowans said. “He went real nice today.” :: ON SALE NOW: DRF Breeders' Cup Packages! Get everything you need to win and save 41% off the retail price. Next also was pre-entered for the $5 million Turf, but that race is no longer being considered, Cowans said. “I just don’t know that I’m competitive with the Europeans,” Cowans said. “I’ll walk away [from the Turf] lost if he doesn’t run well. I need to take something away from this, even if it doesn’t go well.” Next, a 6-year-old gelding, has been the dominant marathon dirt horse in the United States the last two years. He has won seven consecutive races by a combined 91 3/4 lengths. In those races, at distances of 1 3/8 miles to 1 3/4 miles, Next has galloped inferior competition into the ground, including a 10-length victory in the Grade 3 Greenwood Cup on Sept. 21 at Parx Racing. “He’s as good as he ever has been, he’s carrying good flesh, he just looks happy,” Cowans said. “That’s the time I’m supposed to take a shot.” Cowans had been inundated by armchair horsemen urging him to run in the Classic. Knowing that he only has one horse this talented in his barn, he did his best to ignore the noise. “I totally blocked out running in the Breeders’ Cup, but after the Greenwood I started thinking that I made a bad decision the way I brought the horse along this year,” Cowans said. “But looking back, I wouldn’t have done this any other way. I didn’t miss any of the races I planned on and I’m bringing a horse to the Classic as fresh as if I brought him off the farm.” In the marathon dirt races, the early pace is typically slower than it will be in the Classic at 1 1/4 miles. Cowans said he will instruct Machado to ride Next the same way he has been. “You ride your race, get him in his rhythm,” Cowans said. “If his rhythm isn’t good enough to win this race, then we’ll see what happens. I think he can run from anywhere. I don’t know that you got be on the lead.” :: BREEDERS’ CUP CLASSIC: See DRF’s special section with top contenders, odds, comments, news, and more Cowans said he only wanted to come to the Breeders’ Cup if he thought he could win. “I don’t have horses like this every year. I don’t want to throw him to the wolves just because I can,” Cowans said. “I want it to be a thing where we’re thinking we’re winning this thing, not just going to run. If that was the case I wouldn’t do it.” Pyrenees outside looking in Pyrenees, the Grade 3 Pimlico Special winner and runner-up in two Grade 1 stakes this year, did not make it into the body of the field for the $7 million Classic, much to the chagrin of her connections. The Classic, limited to 14 runners, drew 16 pre-entrants. Pyrenees was placed 15th, or first on the also-eligible preference list, meaning he would need one defection to get in. One horse who got in ahead of Pyrenees was Derma Sotogake, the 2023 Classic runner-up who this year finished fifth in the $20 million Saudi Cup, sixth in the Dubai World Cup, and fifth in a stakes in Japan. “You would think finishing second in two highly regarded Grade 1s [Stephen Foster and Jockey Club Gold Cup] and winning a Grade 3 would be enough and his record is recent,” Pyrenees’s trainer, Cherie DeVaux, said. Tom Robbins, part of the nine-member Breeders’ Cup Racing Directors/Secretaries Panel, said the fact Derma Sotogake finished second in last year’s Classic played “a significant role” in him making this year’s field. Robbins said the discussion about the Classic, with just 16 horses, lasted as long as other races that drew more than 20 pre-entrants. “It was a very tough call. It went more than 90 minutes, which you wouldn’t appreciate if you weren’t there,” Robbins said. “It was a tough choice and one that didn’t come down to a unanimous vote.” DeVaux said that Pyreness will continue to train as though he is running in the Classic. If there are no defections between now and entry day, Monday, Pyrenees could be entered as an also-eligible, which would give him more time to perhaps draw into the race were there a scratch after entries. DeVaux said she and owners Adam Cordoff and Bonnie Baskin of Blue Heaven Farm will discuss that possibility before deciding whether to ship him on Monday. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.