Snap Decision, 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. He earned $1,258,150 over jumps, second only to Hall of Famer McDynamo's $1,310,104 in North American history. A son of Hard Spun and the Unbridled mare Salute, Snap Decision 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 Grade 2 Temple Gwathmey Handicap in April and a second in the Grade 1 Iroquois Steeplechase in May. In his final start, he finished fourth behind Irish shippers Zanahiyr and Ballysax Hank in the Grade 1 American Grand National at Far Hills, N.J. Oct. 18.
The announcement closes one of the great careers in U.S. jump-racing history. The other millionaires on the U.S. earnings list, McDynamo and Good Night Shirt, are in Thoroughbred racing's Hall of Fame as is Lonesome Glory, fourth on the list at $965,809. 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.
"We would have loved to have seen him catch McDynamo, but that's OK," said Mike Hankin, co-owner with Charlie Fenwick and Charlie Noell. "Will we ever own another horse like him? We'll see. I don't know. He really embodied what Bruton Street was about, which is three friends getting together to own and enjoy racehorses. He's done everything we've asked of him."
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 3 turf stakes. Hankin credited the early care from those connections, and their willingness to see their horse find a second racing career. The bay gelding hails from a deep Phipps family as a grandson of the great Personal Ensign, an undefeated champion, member of Thoroughbred racing's Hall of Fame and multiple Grade 1 producer. Snap Decision's dam, Salute, also produced Grade 1 winner Mr Speaker and Grade 3 winner Vigilantes Way.
"A lot of people helped make him who he is, and we're grateful to them," said Hankin, mentioning jockeys Graham Watters, Sean McDermott and Willie McCarthy and Fisher staffers Ashley Randall, Jenna Elliott and Sandra Webb. "The Phippses always followed him even though they didn't own him anymore. Darren Fox at Darley (home to sire Hard Spun) is very proud of him. He's got a lot of fans out there."
In an era of foreign imports on the American steeplechase circuit, Snap Decision stood out as an American-bred former flat horse who excelled at a new challenge. 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 made his jump debut in April 2019 with a second in maiden special weight company. Second again in May, he won for the first time at Monmouth Park July 4. That relatively basic maiden victory kicked off a nine-race winning streak that spanned two years and included seven stakes capped by the Grade 1 Iroquois in June 2021. The streak tied a North American steeplechase record set by Thrice Worthy in the early 1980s.
The roll ended with a second to The Mean Queen at Belmont Park in September 2021, but Snap Decision stayed at the top of the sport with major wins over the next four seasons. In all, he won the historic Grade 2 Temple Gwathmey a record four times and the Grade 1 Iroquois a record-tying three times. His 2024 championship campaign included victories in the Gwathmey, Iroquois and Grade 1 American Grand National in a three-way photo finish after getting passed in the stretch.
"It was just guts, pure guts that he won that race," said Fenwick. "He tried so hard and just won that race when he had to."
After four years as a finalist, Snap Decision won the Eclipse Award with 182 of the 193 first-place votes cast.
Hankin gave credit to Fisher for navigating the lengthy career and giving Snap Decision an opportunity to win the title.
"Snap Decision's talent came with him," said Hankin. "That's his DNA, but to manage his career for this long, allowing him to run this many times over this many years without ever having a soundness issue is incredible. No one should underestimate Jack's influence on a horse, taking his time, picking out races and giving the horse the best chance at being successful. Jack took his time, didn't put pressure on the horse and allowed him to develop into the horse he is."
The connections didn't arrive at the retirement decision easily. As Fisher put it, Snap Decision could have run once more this year— Sunday's Colonial Cup in South Carolina is the final Grade 1 of the season—and even in 2026.
"He didn't quite tell us it was time, he didn't blurt it out anyway, but he's going to be 12 years old next year," said the trainer. "There isn't much more he can do and he's done a lot. To walk away sound and still happy, that's the best part, that's the cool thing. Just having an 11-year-old running was cool. He's done so much for the sport, for horse racing in general and for us."
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 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."
