by Murray Brown

One doubts that there has been a person who has owned as many high-quality, classic race-winning horses as Jeff Snyder, almost all of them were purchased as yearlings and raced by him throughout their careers.

They include Rocknroll Hanover ($2,754,038), Well Said ($2,569,342), Cam’s Card Shark ($2,498,204), Royal Flush Hanover ($2,153,893), Michaels Power ($1,908,226), Village Jolt ($1,634,220), Dealt A Winner ($1,513,258), Aetos Kronos ($1,347,000), Michelle’s Power ($1,287,371), Mac’s Jackpot ($1,008,229), Red River Hanover ($965,426), Million Dollar Cam ($880,255), Beyond Delight ($875,784), Michael’s Marvel ($831,828), Date Night Hanover ($800,636) and Alexas Power ($762,666).

Their stakes wins include four North America Cups, three Meadowlands Paces, three Little Brown Jugs, three Adios’, two Metros and numerous Breeders Crowns.

He has owned two Horses of the Year: Cam’s Card Shark and Rocknroll Hanover and Pacer of the Year. He was also the owner of Village Jolt and Michelles Jackpot who won divisional honors.

What makes Snyder’s success as an owner even more significant, is that he rarely, if ever, owned as many as a handful of horses in training at any given time. His success for the most part is as a result of wise shopping.

Let’s start at the beginning. How did you get into the game?

“To quote Neil Diamond, ‘I’m New York City born and raised.’ I first started sneaking into Yonkers and Roosevelt to gamble when I was 16 years old. I met a trainer named Larry Wolfson with who I bought my first horse named Senator Finn. We started him in claimers with a tag of $6,000. He gradually raced himself up to the point where he was a competitive $40,000 claimer.

“I met Buddy Regan, who at the time had the top stable at the New York tracks. I raced horses with Buddy and Gary Mosher in New York for several years. We did just fine, not great, but certainly with some success.

“I met a young trainer from Saratoga named Mickey McGivern. I began going to the Lexington and Harrisburg sales with him. In the interim, I had made the acquaintance of Ed Friedberg, a lawyer from California, who owned Jef’s Standardbred Country Club and an interest in Cam Fella. I had bought a horse named Cam’s Magic Trick, a colt that earned almost a half-million for me as a 2- and 3-year-old from Ed.

“Friedberg had a full brother to him that he said he would sell. His name was Cam’s Card Shark. I went to Heritage Hill Farms to look at him. As they say, it was love at first sight. I bought him. Of course, he went on to become a great racehorse, becoming the Horse of the Year in 1994; a great sire and the sire of the leading all-time money winning sire Bettors Delight. From that time forward, I was in the yearling game full blast.”

You have had extraordinary success in the sport. What is it that you do and have done that has enabled you to secure the great horses that you have bought?

“There are several factors that go into it. Primarily, I like to think that I work at it, as hard as anyone and harder than most. I begin my shopping ventures as soon as I get the Harrisburg and Lexington catalogs. I go through them thoroughly and often. I ultimately will concentrate on those pedigrees that appeal to me. I naturally tend to gravitate to those families with which I have had the most success. I have had a long and quite successful association with Dr. David Goodrow. Once I’ve made my choices based on pedigree, I have Dr. Goodrow go to the various farms to judge the individuals. He assesses them and watches them move in the paddock. I’m a firm believer in seeing the yearlings turned out in a paddock and watching them perform there. I think that videos serve a purpose, but I prefer seeing them move in the flesh over watching them in a video.

“I also try to get the feeling of various people in the sport whose opinion I trust in addition to, of course, my trainer. I then put it all together to determine which yearlings I’m going to bid on. It’s no secret that I play at the top. The ones that I like are more often the ones that others do as well. I try to evaluate them prior to the beginning of the sale. I set a price in my mind and go to that price.”

In recent years you’ve switched from owning an almost entirely pacing operation to one where the only yearlings you now buy are trotters. Why?

“There are several reasons. Probably the major one is the challenge that trotters present. I’ve been fortunate enough to win just about everything worth winning with pacers. Now I’d like to do the same with trotters. My goal would be to have a stable of top Grand Circuit trotters.

“Another reason would be that trotting is more of a world-wide sport. Several years ago, I met Jerry Riordan. Jerry is an American trainer who has been based in Europe for some time, first in Italy and now in Sweden. We have had horses with him and he has done quite well with them for my son Michael and me. Actually, I think that Michael might prefer racing in Europe more than he does here. We have a horse Aetos Kronos who earned $1.347 million in Europe, who we have recently brought stateside to race here. We are hoping that he will acquit himself well in the free-for-all racing this season.”

You are generally looked upon in these days of many high-priced yearlings being owned by groups as being somewhat of a lone wolf. You have generally owned all or a majority interest in the horses which you buy and race.

“More often than not that is still the case. However, in the price ranges of where I play, its sometimes wise to spread the risk somewhat. I still want to own at least 50 per cent of any horses I own. I’ve been very fortunate in having exceptional partners through the years. I owned Rocknroll Hanover with Audrey Campbell’s Lothlorien Enterprises. I have a wonderful, partner in Arthur Pronti in Super Chapter. I own Apex, the Walner colt out of Mission Brief that we bought for $525,000 last year as well as Spencer Hanover a Chapter Seven colt we bought for $450,000; Apex partnering with SRF Stable’s Lennart Agren and Spencer Hanover with Arthur Pronti.”

How are things shaping up for your 2025 racing season?

“I’m very excited and looking forward to this year’s racing. We probably have one or two more in training than usual. However, I’ve been in the business a long time. I know better than to get too excited before the races take place.

“In the older ranks, we have high expectations for Aetos Kronos and we will be bringing back Date Night Hanover to race at 4.

“We have three 3-year-olds of whom we think highly. I’d like to think that we might have our Hambletonian horse in Super Chapter who was the second highest money winning 2-year-old trotter last year with earnings of $525,000. We also have the reigning New York Sires Stakes champion Royal Mission and Kadena, a stakes winning daughter of Mission Brief. I’m hoping they all stay sound and race to their potential. However, it’s hard to get too excited when your competition is a colt as dominating as Maryland was last year.

“We have two 2-year-old colts in training. One is a Walner, Apex that brought $525,000 at Harrisburg, the other is a Chapter Seven colt named Spencer Hanover that we bought for $450,000 at Lexington. Thus far the reports on both of them are encouraging.

“I’m exceedingly grateful for all the good fortune we have had through the years. I know it would not have been possible without the aid of all the horsemen with which we have been associated. I’m thankful to all the trainers and grooms who have played such a vital role in any success that we have enjoyed.”