Snead, Hall of Fame circling back to form for allowance

For a hot minute last season at Fair Grounds, Hall of Fame and Snead might’ve had a glimmer of hope at making a Triple Crown race. Neither in the end came especially close, and now the pair of 4-year-olds hook up in the featured sixth race Sunday at Fair Grounds.

Hall of Fame, rail-drawn, and Snead in post 6 comprise one-third of the entrants in a 1 1/16-mile dirt race open to second-level allowance horses or $50,000 claimers. One of the claimers, Cat on Time, earned a 102 Beyer Speed Figure last out that few will take seriously. The morning line has Hall of Fame, Jose Ortiz riding for trainer Steve Asmussen, a 7-5 favorite and lists Snead, Jareth Loveberry for trainer Brendan Walsh, at 9-5.

The favorites’ shared history goes further back than the 2023-24 Fair Grounds meet. Both sold at Fasig-Tipton’s select Saratoga yearling sale in 2022, Snead, a son of Nyquist and the A.P. Indy mare Raffle Ticket, bringing $210,000.

The following May, Snead was pinhooked and fetched a winning bid of $325,000 at the Timonium 2-year-old sale, then made his racing debut in August. Snead needed several starts to find himself before taking a sizeable forward step opening week at Fair Grounds, winning a first-level dirt route allowance by 7 1/2 lengths. His stakes debut came one month later, Snead finishing a creditable second – then going on the shelf until September.

:: Access morning workout reports straight from the tracks and get an edge with DRF Clocker Reports

Snead’s pre-layoff start came in the Gun Runner Stakes. Gun Runner sired Hall of Fame, and the horse who beat Snead two Decembers ago was Track Phantom, trained by Asmussen, who also trained Gun Runner during his Hall of Fame career. Hall of Fame, out of the Giant’s Causeway mare, Flag Day, topped the Saratoga sale, purchased for $2.3 million by M.V. Magnier.

Hall of Fame didn’t debut until Nov. 23 of his 2-year-old season, three days before Snead’s allowance romp. Second sprinting in his debut, Hall of Fame made his second start Jan. 20 in a Fair Grounds maiden route and won by 10 1/2 lengths, earning a 94 Beyer and a chance at graded stakes racing. At odds of 7-2, Hall of Fame was a tough-trip seventh in the Risen Star, ran worse when 10th in the Louisiana Derby, and didn’t race again until Dec. 1.

Hall of Fame hit a higher peak during his first form cycle than did Snead and made a splashier comeback, capturing a first-level allowance at Churchill over a one-turn mile by two lengths with a 92 Beyer. The performance obviously pleased Asmussen, and unlike during the period encompassing his 3-year-old stakes starts, Hall of Fame has kept to a steady, weekly workout pattern at Fair Grounds. Hall of Fame still must demonstrate he can string together high-level performances.

Snead, as happened when he launched his career, needed racing last fall to come to a peak – and might only now be reaching it. Nothing went right for him in September at Churchill and in October at Keeneland, but Dec. 7 at Fair Grounds, racing at this class level and distance, Snead chased the good colt Maycock’s Bay through slow fractions and checked in a creditable second, equaling his career-best 88 Beyer.

“He’s doing very well and he’s about to run his best race since he came back,” Walsh said.

But if Hall of Fame runs his best, Snead simply might not be fast enough.

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.