Snap Decision began his career as a solid enough racehorse, running for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey on tracks in New York and Florida.
He needed to begin jumping, however, to find his true calling.
Snap Decision switched to a steeplechase career under Maryland-based Hall of Fame trainer Jack Fisher in 2019, and after years of strong results, he recently won the Eclipse Award as North America’s top steeplechase horse of 2024. He had been a finalist for the award the previous four years.
“He’s unique,” said longtime Maryland horseman Charlie Fenwick, who has co-owned Snap Decision with Brown Advisory CEO Mike Hankin and Charlie Noell for the last six years.
Snap Decision won three races, two of them Grade 1 stakes, in his 10-year-old season, reaching his apex when he took the $250,000 American Grand National by a neck in October. He had run in that prestigious race at New Jersey’s Far Hills three previous times without winning.
“I would say that’s the best race he ever ran,” Fenwick said. “Here he is a 10-year-old; 10-year-olds aren’t even allowed to run in New York anymore, because they’re thought to be too old. And this horse is putting in the best race of his life. It’s wonderful.”
Snap Decision also surpassed $1 million in career earnings, where the gelding ranks No. 2 all-time among U.S. steeplechase horses.
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“There was something that just didn’t connect completely,” Fenwick said, reflecting on Snap Decision’s earlier career running over flat surfaces. He credited Fisher, no stranger to training Eclipse winners, with bringing out the horse’s best.
Will Snap Decision keep running at age 11? Fenwick said the plan is to point him toward the Grade 1 Iroquois Stakes in May, but the final decision will be Fisher’s. Snap Decision long ago exceeded any reasonable expectations.
“He’s close to a once-in-a-lifetime horse,” Fenwick said.
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