Not This Time’s incomparable marathoner Next was at his best yet again in Friday’s $200,000 Brooklyn S. (G2) at Aqueduct, rolling to a 9 ½-length victory and earning a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 109.

Next began his current five-race winning streak in last year’s Brooklyn. Since that 2 ¼-length score, the striking gray 6-year-old has won four stakes by a combined 57 lengths. He is one of four graded stakes winners in 2024 for Not This Time, who also has eight stakes winners and 17 stakes horses overall to date this season.

Next let Drake’s Passage control the pace for the first seven furlongs of the Brooklyn before ranging up alongside the early leader midway through the final turn. When he was cut loose at the top of the stretch, he sprinted clear of the field to win going away in 2:13.68 for the 1 3/8-miles on a fast main track, less than a half-second off the track record.

“I always say that I don’t know if the horse can do any better than he has, but he continues to come out and put on performances like that,” winning trainer Doug Cowans said. “He just loves this, and we’re going to try and keep doing it with him. We’ll run him four or five times a year, whatever the marathon races are. Just keep doing it with him and hope he’s around for a while because he’s fun to be around and he’s fun to watch do this.”

Next, who was claimed for $62,500 in April of 2022 by his current owner Michael Foster, has won eight of 10 starts since then. His overall record is 11-0-1 in 21 starts, with eight wins coming stakes races. He has earned $1,145,861.