Trainer Keri Brion is a strong advocate for steeplechase racing (she also trains on the flat) who has offered to share her analysis on the six horses whose past performances are included in the statistical information distributed to Eclipse Award voters for the 2023 racing season.
Voting for those awards is now under way and closes on Jan. 3, 2024.
Brion does so without any conflicts of interest (none of the horses are from her stable) but with the hope that this information will help Eclipse Award voters better understand the steeplechase division and some of its best races, and lead to fewer voter abstentions in this category. Over the last five years, an average of 30 voters have abstained in the steeplechase category, representing about 12 percent of all voters casting ballots for Eclipse Awards each year. The voters are from Daily Racing Form, National Thoroughbred Racing Association/Equibase, and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters. Daily Racing Form past performances for the six leading steeplechase candidates can be seen here.
A former assistant to the late Hall of Famer Jonathan Sheppard who opened a public stable in 2021, Brion trained Eclipse Award champion The Mean Queen in her first full year of training. In 2022 she became just the second trainer to exceed more than $1 million in steeplechase earnings in a single season in North America. – Ray Paulick
By Keri Brion
It is an interesting year for the steeplechase category as there is no real standout on paper. Hopefully, I can shed a bit of light about each nominee and help keep people from abstaining in this category. The majority of these horses have beaten one another at some stage, and the weights they have carried during the Grade 1 handicaps are something Eclipse Award voters may want to consider.
Awakened
Awakened is one of the two American-bred nominees bred by the Phipps Stable and was a consistent horse all season, with five starts, two wins, a second, and a third. He was third in a never won two allowance race at Middleburg before winning an alw1x at Radnor in the spring. He then went to Saratoga in a novice stakes where he was second to McTigue carrying 153 pounds when McTigue was carrying 147. A few weeks later he came back in the Grade 1 Jonathan Sheppard and turned the tables on McTigue when carrying 146 pounds (McTigue carried 150). The first three finishers of the G1 Jonathan Sheppard were novice stake horses jumping up into open company, the fourth-place finisher was Merry Maker – whom I will talk about in a few. The summer stakes in the steeplechase circuit are all handicaps so you will want to keep that in mind when deciding how to weigh the wins of each horse. Awakened finished his year in the Grade 2 Zeke Ferguson at Great Meadow, where he finished third behind Snap Decision. If you are looking for consistency, Awakened has done nothing wrong.
Merry Maker
Merry Maker is an Irish-bred gelding who finished in the top three in four of his five starts this season. He started his season with a win in a never won 2 allowance race at the Gold Cup. He then went to the same novice stake as Awakened and finished 13 lengths third behind both McTigue and Awakened carrying the same weight (153 pounds) as Awakened. He then also came back in the Jonathan Sheppard and was defeated eight lengths when fourth behind three novice horses like those mentioned above while carrying the bottom weight of 144 pounds. Three weeks later he won the G1 Lonesome Glory, which the top three finishers from the Jonathan Sheppard chose to skip. Snap Decision did finish fourth behind Merry Maker in this Grade 1, although it should be noted that Merry Maker was carrying 142 pounds where Snap Decision was carrying 162. Merry Maker finished out his year with a very impressive second-place finish in the G1 American Grand National at Far Hills behind fellow nominee Noah and the Ark at level weights.
Belfast Banter
Belfast Banter is another Irish-bred who looked to have just found his form in the summer before being sidelined for the rest of the season. He started his year with a distanced third behind Snap Decision in a Grade 2 at Middleburg before finishing third in another Grade 2 at Great Meadow. He then went to the Grade 1 AP Smithwick and absolutely blew the field away carrying one of the bottom weights of 144 pounds. He soundly beat fellow nominee Noah and the Ark, who finished fourth in this outing although Noah was carrying 12 pounds more than Belfast Banter. It was a huge effort that suggested there would be bigger things to come from him but, unfortunately, we did not see him again after the big victory.
Scaramanga
Scaramanga is yet another Irish-bred gelding among the contenders and is the only one who is not American based. Champion Irish trainer Willie Mullins brought him over to the Iroquois in the spring and he soundly won the Grade 1 three-mile race under Irish champion jockey Paul Townend. This race was also level weights and he beat fellow nominees Noah and the Ark and Snap Decision. He went back to Ireland to run once more with little success and then never ran again this season.
Noah and the Ark
Noah and the Ark is the fourth Irish-bred gelding among the six contenders and, after struggling to put together a big performance all year, he came out with an undoubtedly career best performance to win the Grade 1 American Grand National at level weights in October. He ran fifth in the Iroquois behind fellow nominees Scaramanga and Snap Decision before a distant fourth and eilghth in both Grade 1 races in Saratoga. However, it should be noted that in the G1 AP Smithwick he carried the top weight of 158 pounds when the winner (Belfast Banter) was carrying 144 pounds. And in the G1 Jonathan Sheppard where he finished eighth, he also carried the top weight of 158 pounds whereas the winner (Awakened) carried 146 pounds and fellow nominee Merry Maker (who finished fourth) carried 144 pounds. At level weights in the American Grand National he came out and handily won what could be said to be our biggest Grade 1 in steeplechasing, defeating Merry Maker and Snap Decision.
Snap Decision
Snap Decision is only the second American-bred horse in this group of six and both were bred by Phipps Stable. He had a bit of a roller coaster year, but it is important to not overlook him. He started his season winning a Grade 2 at Middleburg carrying 158 pounds, where he beat fellow nominee Belfast Banter, who was carrying 140 pounds, along with the rest of the field. He then finished second to Scaramanga in the Iroquois at Nashville while beating Noah and the Ark at level weights. He took the Saratoga summer off because as the top-rated horse in the country he would have ended up carrying 15-20 pounds more than most of his competitors. He came back out In the G1 Lonesome Glory to use as a prep for his fall campaign, finishing fourth carrying 162 pounds. The winner (Merry Maker), along with the rest of the field, carried 142 or 140 pounds, so Snap Decision carried 20-22 pounds more than all of them. He then went to the American Grand National where he pulled up on yielding ground, which is ground he does not enjoy or run well over. However, he came back out a week later in the only other option for him before the end of 2023 to win a Grade 2 at Great Meadow carrying 162 pounds. Awakened (who finished third) carried 150 pounds and the rest of the field carried 146, 142, and 140 pounds. With that win, Snap Decision joined a very elite group in steeplechase history as a million-dollar earner.
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