Champion Steeplechaser Snap Decision Retired

[Wandering Eyes]

Snap Decision (Hard Spun), champion steeplechase horse of 2024 and the second-leading earner in United States steeplechase history, has been retired by owner Bruton Street-US and trainer Jack Fisher.

Bred in Kentucky by Phipps Stable, the 11-year-old gelding won 17 of 32 starts over hurdles, finished second eight times and was third twice while racing from 2019-2025. Snap Decision earned $1,258,150 over jumps, second only to Hall of Famer McDynamo's $1,310,104 in North American history. The gelding won an Eclipse Award as champion steeplechaser of 2024 and was a finalist for the 2023, 2022, 2021 and 2020 awards. He won five Grade 1 stakes, captured 15 stakes overall and led the National Steeplechase Association annual earnings table in 2024 and 2022.

The retirement decision came this week after a 2025 campaign that included four starts, a win in the G2 Temple Gwathmey Handicap in April and a second in the G1 Iroquois Steeplechase in May. In his final start, he finished fourth in the G1 American Grand National at Far Hills, N.J. Oct. 18.

Snap Decision's 17 North American wins match Lonesome Glory and exceed the totals put up by McDynamo, Good Night Shirt and the others on the top 10 earnings chart.

Prior to becoming a steeplechaser, Snap Decision made 18 starts on the flat for Phipps and trainer Shug McGaughey–winning twice and placing in a Grade III turf stakes. A grandson of champion Personal Ensign, Snap Decision is out of Salute, who also produced Grade I winner Mr Speaker and Grade III winner Vigilantes Way.

His 2024 championship ended a string of nine consecutive Eclipse Awards earned by horses bred in Britain, Ireland or France. The Kentucky Thoroughbred Association honored him as its Kentucky-bred steeplechase champion five times.

Snap Decision heads to a potential career as a foxhunter with Fenwick not far from Fisher's base in Maryland.

“The hope is he will just become part of the community of horses we have on the farm,” said co-owner Charlie Fenwick, a former trainer and amateur steeplechase jockey. “He will get ridden regularly and will see the hounds before the end of this hunting season. That's the goal, let him see the hounds, let him see what he thinks and how he wants to behave and hopefully that's a new life for him. If that's not something he wants to do, he'll hack around the farm.”

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