Latest chapter in Jeffrey Snyder’s story worth more than a million

by Debbie Little

For a change of pace a few years ago, owner Jeffrey Snyder embarked on a new chapter in his harness racing career when he decided to focus on trotters.

Snyder had been known as a million-dollar man when it came to pacers, having won eight seven-figure races between 1994 and 2009.

But his recent trotting tendency paid off in a big way over the last year, when Apex turned a million-dollar-double winning the 2025 Mohawk Million followed by the 2026 Hambletonian. Then, Super Chapter conquered the world in the $1 million Yonkers International Trot a few weeks ago.

This year’s victories by Apex and then Super Chapter in a five-week span pushed Snyder’s million-dollar record into double digits.

Although there is no official list for how often an owner has received a seven-figure payday, it seems unlikely that anyone is playing in the same ballpark with Snyder.

When asked how it felt to win back-to-back races worth $1 million in a five-week span Snyder said, “It’s not even the money, it’s the situation. It’s a bit of a nerve-wracking experience.

“We were all running into the winner’s circle [after the Hambletonian], my whole family, and then they held up the photo for about 10 minutes.

“It was extremely nerve-wracking, and then finally, after 10 minutes, they put up the win photo because [Apex] only won by a nose. So, these kinds of races are very stressful to start with, but afterwards, especially a day or two or the week after, you really feel wonderful about it, and admire the accomplishments that these horses have made.”

Snyder owns Apex in partnership with Lennart Agren’s S R F Stable and Steve Stewart, who bred the colt as part of the Mission Brief Stable.

Snyder is the owner with the most wins in the Meadowlands Pace — Cam’s Card Shark (1994), Rocknroll Hanover (2005), and Well Said (2009). All three of those victories occurred when the Pace was worth a million and all three horses had also won the North America Cup, worth a million or more, just a month prior.

Just because Snyder has won back-to-back million-dollar races multiple times doesn’t mean each one isn’t significant.

“It’s never old hat, but this particular horse is very special we think,” Snyder said of Super Chapter. “He’s done it three weeks in a row, and this was a mile and a quarter race and he was devastating the other day [in the International Trot], and he was eased up the last sixteenth.

“He’s been going since he was a 2-year-old and he’s at the top of his game right now, I would think, beating a lot of the best horses in the world. So, it’s very exciting for us.”

Snyder gives a lot of credit to his friend, the late Dr. Dave Goodrow, for helping to pick out Super Chapter.

“He went up and looked at him at Hanover,” Snyder said. “We all looked at him, and, you know, there was quite a bit of talk at the sale that he was probably the best-looking Chapter Seven. And what led me to him particularly is the mare Lifetime Pursuit who won the Hambletonian Oaks. She earned over a million dollars.

“She had three foals before him, but I like the step up in the breeding to Chapter Seven. That’s really what kind of got us interested. We really love Chapter Seven as a sire.”

Snyder shares ownership of Super Chapter with Arthur Pronti and Hanover Shoe Farms Inc.

“In terms of partners, first of all I like to buy horses on my own, and I only have up till now,” Snyder said of the last few years. “I only have two partners, one is Lennart Agren from Sweden, and the other one is Arthur Pronti. And I never take less than 50 per cent.”

Super Chapter, bred by Hanover Shoe Farms, sold at the 2023 Standardbred Horse Sale in Harrisburg for $300,000 under the name Lorax Hanover.

Although the Dr. Seuss character The Lorax speaks for the trees, the name didn’t speak to Snyder at the time of the sale.

“I don’t know what Lorax means, and it sounds like some sort of detergent,” Snyder said with a laugh. “I was thinking Clorox or something.

“Nobody around us knew what that name came from. Normally we don’t change names, you know, when they’re bred by Hanover, but I just came up with different names, and that was the name I picked, Super Chapter.

“In my business, I name products too, so I’m familiar with naming things. I came up with Super Chapter, and my partner [Arthur Pronti] agreed. There’ve been so many great horses by Chapter Seven… So, we submitted the name Super Chapter, and the USTA accepted it.”

Super Chapter is not Snyder’s first foray into the Chapter-verse.

“I had Big Time Chapter and Supreme Chapter, which I named last year, and I had another horse named Next Chapter a few years back,” he said. “Super Chapter has been an amazing horse for us.”

Hanover came onboard with Super Chapter in July 2025.

“Well, last year I called Hanover and I talked to them about the possibility of standing him as a stallion, and giving them the opportunity to buy into the horse, and they agreed, and the rest is history,” Snyder said.

As someone who can often be seen at The Meadowlands watching his horses compete and who owns Jersey-sired horses, Snyder said he’s happy about the press release from Meadowlands’ owner Jeff Gural about the new races — the million-dollar Meadowlands Trot and $500,000 Meadowlands Oaks Trot — that will take place in 2027.

“It’s amazing,” Snyder said. “I think the timing of the announcement was very smart, creating an upbeat, justifiable mood for the sales and for harness racing in general.”

Both Super Chapter and Apex are in action on Saturday (Oct. 3) in the $250,000 Grade 2 Dayton Derby and $575,000 Grade 1 Kentucky Futurity, respectively.

With the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale set to start on Monday evening (Oct. 5), Snyder will be there with his trusty catalog, but he said there aren’t too many that he has circled.

“I only have a limited number of horses that I look at; usually, they’re on the high-priced side,” he said, adding with a laugh, “I’ve made my notes, I’ve studied the catalogs, I’ve studied the pedigrees, and then I bid on them, and I usually don’t stop, because I don’t buy too many of them. That’s why.

“So, I kind of focus in on the few that I like, you know, rather than looking through so many horses, which after a while, one starts looking like another. So, I won’t even look at horses that don’t appeal to me on paper.”

In addition to Apex and Super Chapter, Snyder also owns top performers Aetos Kronos S and Spencer Hanover.

“What makes me happy is we’re doing this with only a small number of horses,” he said. “Whereas some of these people have 50, 60, 70, 80, 100 horses, we’re doing it with only nine racing currently.

“When you win these races, they’re like the pinnacle of harness racing. To win the Hambletonian or to win the International Trot, which was a mile and a quarter with Super Chapter going wire-to-wire pretty much. It was totally exciting. But again, it’s emotional and stressful until the race starts, and then afterwards, it’s like a relief, but a satisfying relief and you know the effects of it, and the good feeling about it lasts for quite a while.”