Chapter Seven colt breaks track record

Variegated (Chapter Seven– White Cheetah- Muscle Mass) broke the harness racing track record for three year old trotting colts on Saturday evening at Saratoga Casino Hotel.

The Marcus Melander-trained high-stepper was the 1-9 betting favorite in his $82,500 division of the New York Sire Stakes and lived up to the hype.

Variegated competed against top-flight trotters in recent weeks racing in the Stanley Dancer and Hambletonian Elims at the Meadowlands before returning to half mile racing in the Sire Stakes on Saturday.

Jason Bartlett sat behind the sophomore for the first time and cruised to the early lead with the public’s overwhelming favorite. The first half of the race appeared to be nothing extraordinary as Variegated posted fractions of 28.4 and 58.1 but when the speedy invader was asked to crank it up, he responded in record fashion.

The Melander trainee cruised through a final half in 56.1 en route to stopping the timer in 1:54.2 to lower the track record for sophomore trotting colts.

VARIEGATED REPLAY

The previous record of 1:54.3 was held by The Veteran who did it in 2018 with Scott Zeron in the sulky. Karinchak (Mark Macdonald) was the runner-up to Variegated while defeated by close to seven lengths. Seismic Step (Jordan Stratton) earned the show spot. The track record holder is owned by S R F Stable of Delray Beach, FL. 

The other division of the NYSS for colts and geldings went the way of Seven Layer (Chapter Seven– Coffeecake Hanover- Cantab Hall) who sprung a bit of an upset on Saturday evening scoring on the engine while dismissed at odds of 8-1. Noel Daley trains Seven Layer whose victory was the first of his career despite the fact that the three year old came into the race with six-figure earnings in the ’25 campaign. 

Live racing resumes on Monday afternoon at Saratoga with a matinee that begins at 12pm.

For complete race results, click here: US Trotting results.

by Mike Sardella, for Saratoga Raceway