Snap Decision scoring his Grand victory. (©2024 Tod Marks courtesy of National Steeplechase Association)
By Maribeth Kalinich
Snap Decision made his debut on October 19, 2016, at Belmont Park. The Hard Spun gelding finished fifth with Jose Ortiz in the irons. It would take two more tries to score his maiden win Jan. 28, 2017, at Gulfstream Park.
The grandson of Unbridled would go on to place in the Grade 3 Palm Beach Stakes at Gulfstream before traveling back north. Taking third his Equibase Speed Figure was noted at 104, nine points higher than his maiden win.
Bred in Kentucky by Phipps Stable Snap Decision would make 47 career starts with 18 of those for Hall of Fame Shug McGaughey at Belmont Park, Saratoga, Keeneland and Aqueduct. It was at the latter where he made his last start in a flat race on Nov. 17, 2018, under Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez.
Snap Decision would get a five-month layoff coming back into a new discipline of racing — jump racing. And the 5-year-old gelding would take to the fences like a fox hunter.
His first start over the hedges was at Charlotte in North Carolina. Now under Maryland-based Hall of Fame trainer Jack Fisher’s conditioning, Snap Decision would rise to the challenge finishing second.
After another second at Percy Warner in Nashville, Tenn., Snap Decision and Fisher would embark on a string of nine victories starting at Monmouth Park on July 4, 2019, continuing back to Percy Warner on June 26, 2021. He would accomplish this at Saratoga, Belmont, Far Hills, Great Meadow, Saratoga and Glenwood.
Along the way he had won two Grade 1 and a Grade 2 race in his seven stakes.
Hitting the board in all but two races, the bay gelding had his weakest finishes in the Grade 1 Grand National at Far Hills with a sixth place in 2022. And in the 2023 edition he did not finish traveling mid pack before pulling up on the backstretch on the final circuit.
Seven days later Snap Decision would win the Grade 2 David L. Zeke Ferguson Memorial.
Snap Decision would get a well-deserved five months off before coming back with back-to-back wins in grades stakes in late April and early May of 2024.
After another five-month hiatus and a third place in a Grade 3 it would be at Far Hills on Oct. 19, 2024, that Snap Decision would finally win the Grade 1 American Grand National by a neck under jockey Graham Watters.
“He’s unique,” said longtime Maryland horseman Charlie Fenwick to the Baltimore Sun.
“I would say that’s the best race he ever ran,” Fenwick to the Sun. “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 closed out his 10-year-old campaign with career earnings of $1,338,334.
The fairy tale continued in January of 2025 when after four consecutive Eclipse Award nominations for Steeplechase Horse he finally received the Eclipse honor.
In attendance at the Eclipse Awards was Snap Decision’s groom for the past four years Jenna Elliott to watch her charge receive his due award.
The 31-year-old horsewoman from Monkton, Md., who works for trainer Jack Fisher was also a winner in the Resolute Racing Eclipse Awards Sweepstakes. Elliott’s name was randomly selected from 340 entries.
Elliott and a guest attended the 54th Resolute Racing Eclipse Awards and were also guests of Resolute at the Pegasus World Cup on January 25 at Gulfstream Park.
“It was such a surreal feeling to look down and see a missed call from the NTRA knowing today was the day for the drawing,” said Elliott.
“Working with these racehorses every day and being able to witness them crowned for their achievements really pulls together everything we as horsemen and women strive for. This is an incredible opportunity. I’m very thankful for Resolute Racing and the NTRA for this weekend of a lifetime.”
As part of the promotion, Resolute Racing and the NTRA encouraged fans to enter either themselves or someone they feel would enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime weekend experience.
Elliott saw the promotion on Facebook and wrote: “After years of waiting, this is finally the year where Snap Decision should get his crown… Once in a lifetime opportunity to be able to attend and witness in person.”
