Variegated broke the Saratoga Casino Hotel track record for three-year-old trotting colts with an authoritative stakes score on Saturday, Aug. 9.

The Marcus Melander-trained high-stepper was the 1-9 betting favourite in his $113,014 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 NYSS on Saturday. Jason Bartlett sat behind the sophomore for the first time and cruised to the early lead with the public’s overwhelming favourite.

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. Variegated cruised through a final half in :56.1 to stop the timer in 1:54.2 and lower the track record for sophomore trotting colts. Karinchak (Mark MacDonald) was the runner-up to Variegated while defeated by close to seven lengths. Seismic Step (Jordan Stratton) earned the show spot. 

Variegated (Chapter Seven - White Cheetah) is owned by S R F Stable of Delray Beach, Fl. He erased the previous record of 1:54.3 set by The Veteran in 2018.

The other division of the NYSS for colts and geldings went the way of Seven Layer (Chapter Seven - Coffeecake Hanover) who sprung a bit of an upset on Saturday evening scoring on the engine in 1:57.3 while dismissed at odds of 8-1. BJMs Lil Man (Tyler Buter) was three parts of a length off the winner with favoured Fadeaway Hanover (Brett Beckwith) rounding out the triactor.

Noel Daley trains Seven Layer, whose victory was the first of his career in 17 starts despite the fact that the three-year-old came into the race with six-figure earnings in the 2025 campaign. The gelding is owned by Allister Stables LLC of Monroe Twp, N.J., Joe Sbrocco And JAF Racing of Staten Island, N.Y., L A Express Stable LLC of Lincoln University, Pa. and Sjoblom Racing Inc. of Delray Beach, Fl.

Live harness racing resumes on Monday, Aug. 10 at Saratoga with a matinee program that begins at 12 p.m.

(with files from Saratoga)