The text message, summarizing Snap Decision’s condition in advance of Saturday’s Grade 1 American Grand National Hurdle at Far Hills, N.J, went quickly to the point. “He’s flying,” jockey Graham Watters wrote recently to co-owner Mike Hankin. “We can’t get him anymore ready than he is, great form.” Snap Decision, the Eclipse Award winner as the nation’s outstanding steeplechase horse of 2024, won the Grand National last year for the first time in his fourth appearance. He was second on firm turf in 2021, sixth of nine on yielding turf in 2022, pulled up on yielding turf in 2023, and won on firm turf last year. The going is expected to be in his favor in Saturday’s $250,000 race at 2 5/8 miles. The lineup includes the Irish shippers Ballysax Hank and Zanahiyr, both winners of their last two starts; Vae Patron, unraced since a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Iroquois Hurdle in Tennessee in May; and Swore, winner of the Grade 1 Lonesome Glory Hurdle on Sept. 18 at Aqueduct. Snap Decision, expected to be favored, is 11, the senior member of an eight-horse field. Snap Decision, trained by Jack Fisher, was fifth of seven by 11 lengths in the Grade 3 Mariann de Tejeda Memorial Stakes at 2 1/8 miles in Charlottesville, Va., on Oct. 5 in his first start since a second in the Iroquois. Snap Decision had the same schedule last year, finishing third in the Mariann de Tejeda in advance of the Grand National. “The goal was to get a good work in him,” Hankin said of the Oct. 5 race. Hankin, who races as Bruton-Street US along with Charlie Fenwick and Charlie Noell, expressed concern about Snap Decision’s age compared to his rivals. Ballysax Hank and Swore are 6, Vae Patron is 7, and Zanahiyr is 8. “We have a lot of years under us,” he said. “He doesn’t owe us a thing. Obviously, we’re closer to the end” of his career. Snap Decision is still determined to win, Hankin said. “If he’s got a horse right next to him, he will dig in,” Hankin said. “He’s so competitive.” :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Zanahiyr, trained by Gordon Elliott, has not won a race over hurdles since November 2023 but won steeplechases in early 2024 and an allowance race at 2 3/4 miles at Galway in Ireland on Aug. 3. Zanahiyr won a flat handicap at 2 1/8 miles at Bellewstown in Ireland on Aug. 26. Zanahiyr tends to run near the front, a strategy unlikely to change. “We’ll keep it simple,” Elliott said Wednesday. “This is a race we’ve been looking forward to.” Ballysax Hank won the Summer Plate Handicap Chase at 2 11/16 miles at Market Rasen in England in July and won a maiden race on the flat at 1 3/4 miles at Gowran Park in Ireland on Sept. 2. That last race was designed as a prep for the trip to Far Hills, trainer Gavin Cromwell said. Both of those races were on good turf. “He’s a young horse that’s progressive,” Cromwell said. “I think he’ll be suited to the conditions.” The Grand National is the fifth race on a six-race program that begins at 12:50 p.m. Eastern. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.