Firm ground will aid Snap Decision in Grand National

Firm turf may be the key to a long sought-after win by Snap Decision in Saturday’s Grade 1 American Grand National at Far Hills Racecourse in New Jersey.

Snap Decision has been a fixture in the $250,000 race since 2021, with mixed results.

He was a close second on firm turf in 2021, but sixth of nine a year later on yielding turf. Last year, again on a yielding course, Snap Decision was pulled up.

Snap Decision’s chances, along with the weather, are brighter this weekend. Temperatures are expected to be in the low 70s with clear skies forecast.

Snap Decision, owned by Bruton Street-US, will be favored in a field of nine that includes Galvin, fourth in the Grand National at 4 5/16 miles at Aintree Racecourse in England in his last start in April, and Noah And the Ark and Merry Maker, who were first and second in the 2023 Grand National.

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Snap Decision has had a disrupted campaign this year. He won two of the leading races in the spring – the Grade 2 Temple Gwathmey Hurdle at Middleburg, Va., on April 20 and the Grade 1 Iroquois Stakes at Percy Warner Park near Nashville on May 11.

Snap Decision did not start at Saratoga. He is 10, too old to race there, according to New York Racing Association rules. Instead, Snap Decision had the summer off before finishing a well-beaten third in the Grade 3 Mariann de Tejeda Stakes at 2 1/8 miles at Foxfield Races in Charlottesville, Va. on Oct. 6. On Wednesday, trainer Jack Fisher described the race as “a good work.”

There was no betting on the Foxfield race. Fisher had four of the six runners in the Tejeda Stakes. Snap Decision, who will be ridden by Graham Watters, tends to race near the front or in a stalking position.

Noah And the Ark, also 10, races from off the pace. The Grand National will be Noah And the Ark’s first start since a fifth in the Iroquois. In 2022, Noah And the Ark was second by 11 lengths in the Grand National to the Irish-trained Hewick.

Galvin, trained in Ireland by Gordon Elliott, is a 10-year-old who is winless in eight starts since a victory in a three-mile steeplechase at Punchestown, Ireland in October 2022. This is Galvin’s first start in a race over hurdles since a fourth in a field of eight in the Grade 2 Boyne Hurdle in Ireland in February, a prep for the Grand National in April.

In that famous race, Galvin was fourth, beaten 8 1/2 lengths by I Am Maximus, who won the grueling marathon by 7 1/2 lengths. Galvin is the only foreign-based runner in Saturday’s field.

In addition to Snap Decision, Fisher also starts the 10-year-old Sebastapol, who won the Tejada for his first win in the United States in his third start in this country. In the spring, Sebastapol was fourth in the Temple Gwathmey and Iroquois.

The Grand National is part of a six-race program that begins at 12:50 p.m. Eastern.

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