2021 Eclipse Awards: Snap Decision

Snap Decision had a lofty reputation when the 2021 steeplechase season began in the spring. By year’s end, his lengthy winning streak had ended, but Snap Decision’s status in the sport was hardly diminished.

With two important stakes wins in the spring and early summer, followed by two game second-place finishes in the fall in top-class races, Snap Decision earned a position among the finalists for the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding steeplechaser of the year.

The success was not a surprise. Snap Decision won his final four starts of 2019 and all three of his races in 2020. The difference between those campaigns and Snap Decision’s 2021 races were the competition. Snap Decision often raced against novices in 2019 and 2020, but faced the nation’s toughest runners in 2021.

From the start, Snap Decision showed he belonged with the group. Owned by Bruton Street-US and trained by Jack Fisher, Snap Decision began the 2021 season with an eye-catching nine-length win in the Grade 2 Temple Gwathmey Hurdle at 2 1/2 miles in Virginia on May 1 and followed with a win in the Grade 1 Iroquois Hurdle by 3 1/2 lengths at 2 3/4 miles at Nashville on June 26.

:: Full list of 2021 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories

Fisher opted not to start Snap Decision at the prestigious Saratoga meeting during the summer to give the 7-year-old Kentucky-bred gelding a break, and also to keep him from carrying lofty weight assignments in the major stakes of that season.

Instead, Fisher pointed to a two-race campaign of major stakes at Belmont Park and Far Hills in the fall. By then, Snap Decision had to face the upstart mare The Mean Queen.

In the Grade 1 Lonesome Glory Hurdle at 2 1/2 miles on Sept. 16 at Belmont Park, Snap Decision closed from fifth in a field of seven to get within a head of The Mean Queen in the stretch, but could not sustain the effort and was beaten two lengths as the 4-5 favorite. Snap Decision was beaten for the first time in nine starts.

The rematch occurred in the Grade 1 Grand National Hurdle before a large crowd at Far Hills, and did not disappoint. Fisher knew in advance the daunting task facing Snap Decision.

“If The Mean Queen wasn’t in there, he’d look like a good thing,” Fisher told Daily Racing Form in the days leading to the race.

Snap Decision was third in the small field of four for the first part of the race at 2 5/8 miles, and moved closer to the front when The Mean Queen took the lead at the second-to-last obstacle.

Snap Decision was quickly in contention, but could not catch The Mean Queen in the stretch, losing by a half-length in the most exciting jump race of the American season.

Snap Decision may have been beaten for only the fourth time in 13 jump races, but his season as a whole was one easy to admire.