The stakes portion of Colonial Downs kicked off with a bang Saturday.

Front-running Rolando shrugged off his rivals and drew away to win the Petramalo Mile by four lengths in a track-record time of 1:33.55 for the one-turn mile on a fast main track. It was Rolando’s fourth win from eight career starts and pushed his bankroll to more than $230,000.

But it was his first track record.

“You know, the first rule is, when you make a track record, the track has to be absolutely fast,” said Fausto Gutierrez, who trains the Vekoma colt for St. George Stable. “You never see a horse put in a track record on a heavy track.”

A disappointingly distant fourth last out in the Lafayette at Keeneland in April, Rolando showed up today in a big way.

Under jockey John Velazquez, he zipped to the early lead, threw down testing fractions, and simply ran his rivals off their feet.

“When you ride a horse like this, you don’t have to do too much,” Velazquez said. “Just start to hold on and try to save it for the end.”

Rolando broke alertly and zipped an opening quarter-mile in 22.71 seconds. He led by a length-and-a-half after a half-mile in 45.22 seconds and by three after six furlongs in 1:09.08.

“The whole plan with him is, I was trying to settle down no matter what,” Velazquez said. “I had a good close position from outside. We thought that two horses had speed inside of us. And I was like, I mean, I got a good position. I’m just going to try to keep it as far as I can.”

That turned out to be the full mile. Rolando was never challenged in the lane as the other speedy sorts dropped away. Late-running Barbadian Runner rallied into second but was never a threat to the winner. Lured Away, far back in last early, rallied into third. Favored Flood Zone, up close early, faded to fifth.

Rolando paid $8.80 to win and topped an exacta that returned $18.50 for a one-dollar wager.

Rolando is out of the winning Tapizar mare Mixteca. Mixteca, who won twice in five career outings, is a half-sister to Gutierrez’ best trainee, Letruska, the 2021 Eclipse champion older dirt female after a season in which she won four Grade 1 races.

“He’s a horse with a lot of quality,” Gutierrez said. “He liked the track, the competition. I’m very happy for this.”

NOTES The Petramalo Mile is named for Frank Petramalo, the longtime executive director of the Virginia Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association. Petramalo attended today’s races, resplendent in a striped blazer… One race later, Reputation blitzed the field to win the Tyson Gilpin Stakes for sophomore fillies by almost seven lengths, getting seven furlongs in 1:21.14. Javier Castellano was in the irons for trainer Gustavo Delgado…