In 1984, retired vaudevillian and successful real estate investor Ben Rochelle bought a fifty percent interest in Grinstead's Blue Diamond Ranch, thus becoming a half owner of the yearling.
Conditioned by veteran California trainer Mel Stute, Snow Chief made nine starts at age two, winning five, including the Norfolk Stakes and the Hollywood Futurity.
His 1985 performances earned him California Horse of the Year honors, but Tasso, the 1985 Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner, was voted the Eclipse Award for American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt.
Snow Chief was sent off at even money as the bettors' choice in the Kentucky Derby but in a sixteen-horse field, he finished eleventh to winner Ferdinand.
He stood at Diane Rochelle's Eagle Oak Ranch in Paso Robles, California, and died due to an apparent heart attack on the morning of May 18, 2010. drk.br.