Abaan Denies Champion Snap Decision in Iroquois

Strong-finishing Abaan denied champion Snap Decision to win the $250,000 Calvin Houghland Iroquois Stakes (NSA-G1) over jumps May 10 at Percy Warner Park in Nashville, Tenn. Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Daigneault Thoroughbreds' Abaan, an 8-year-old son of Will Take Charge, turned the tables on Snap Decision—last year's Eclipse Award-winning steeplechase horse—who had edged him at Middleburg three weeks ago. Abaan, a former flat competitor who won the 2022 W. L. McKnight Stakes (G3T), is now trained by Kate Dalton and was ridden Saturday by her husband, Bernie. Vae Patron (FR) ran third in the three-mile, 16-jump race. Only four competitors finished the race after one jockey came off his mount, and in a separate incident, three other riders were unseated in a three-horse spill exiting one of the final fences. Stewards conducted an inquiry but made no change to the order of finish. The top three runners were clear of the incidents. Snap Decision, age 11 and a 17-time winner over jumps, had been going for an unprecedented fourth win in the Iroquois, the longest of the nine National Steeplechase Association grade 1s.