Filly Royal Mission and colt Variegated, who won their respective New York Sire Stakes finals as 2-year-olds, led a hat trick for trainer Marcus Melander in NYSS action for sophomore trotters on Monday afternoon at Vernon Downs.
Driven by Scott Zeron in her $58,000 flight, Royal Mission led on the first turn, briefly released a two-wide Calculus Risk (Frank Affrunti) past the 27 4/5 quarter and then re-moved to the top. From there, Royal Mission hit the half in 57 1/5 and the three-quarters in 1:26 1/5, then used a 27 4/5 final quarter to win over a rallying Sonmar Pond (Brett Beckwith) by a length and a half in 1:54. Calculus Risk ended up third.
Jeff Snyder owns the Jonas Schlabach-bred Royal Mission, a daughter of Chapter Seven. She has a summary of 4-3-2 from 12 outings, has put away $340,838 and paid $4.90 to win.
In his $59,100 test, Variegated (Dexter Dunn) was in the two-hole at the 27 3/5 quarter but swung to the outside and cleared Happy Jack B (Ake Svanstedt) for control prior to the 56 3/5 half. Variegated got separation on the rest of the field on the last turn and to the 1:24 2/5 three-quarters, then came home in 28 1/5 to prevail by six lengths in 1:52 3/5. Global Sensation (Beckwith) collected second and Karinchak (Mark MacDonald) grabbed third.
A Chapter Seven colt, Variegated was sent out by Melander for owner S R F Stable. Variegated now owns four wins, three seconds and a third from ten trips behind the gate, has banked $302,895 and returned $3.00 to win.
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Super Chapter, who was one of the top freshman trotting colts in North America a year ago, started his 2025 campaign with a 1:53 3/5 victory in his $59,100 division. Super Chapter was in the two-hole at the 29 1/5 quarter and 59 second half-mile marker, then came off the pylons and went by leader Chat Room (Tyler Buter) heading to the 1:27 three-quarters. The sprint was on from there, and a 26 3/5 last panel got Super Chapter to the wire four lengths ahead of 2024 Valley Victory champion Monserrate (David Miller), with Seven Layer (Niko Karna) back in third.
Hanover Shoe Farms bred Super Chapter, another colt by Chapter Seven, and he is owned by Jeff Snyder and Arthur Pronti. He has won half of his 12 starts, has earned $550,810 and paid $2.90 to win.
My Debt Collecter (Buter) improved to two-for-two in the NYSS program this year by winning the other $58,000 filly clash in 1:55 4/5. Pink Chou Chou (D. Miller) put up fractions of 29 1/5, 59 4/5 and 1:28 2/5, but Buter tipped out beyond three-quarters and got around the tempo-setter en route to the win by three-quarters of a length in 1:55 4/5. Pink Chou Chou held second over Best Story Ever (Tyler Miller).
Breeders David McDuffee, Mel Hartman and Little E LLC. own My Debt Collecter and she is trained by Nifty Norman. She made her sixth appearance in the winner's circle from 13 efforts, has pocketed $336,496 and returned $3.60 to win.