Irish Maxima registers front-running G3 Distaff win
Irish Three Racing’s Irish Maxima sustained her recent run of success, going to the front and leading at every point of call en route to a 1 1/4-length victory in Saturday’s Grade 3, $175,000 Distaff, a seven-furlong sprint for older fillies and mares, at Aqueduct Racetrack.
Irish Maxima notched her fourth stakes win from her last six outings for trainer John Servis, building on a two-length win in the Listed Barbara Fritchie in February at Laurel Park that commenced her 4-year-old campaign. In the 71st running of the Distaff, jockey Frankie Pennington led Irish Maxima from the inside post to the front, where she led the compact five-horse field through an opening quarter mile in 23.26 seconds and the half-mile in 45.80 over a main track labeled fast.
The Maximus Mischief filly maintained command in the stretch and was never seriously threatened by St. Benedicts Prep’s potential rally in the final furlong, powering to the wire in a 1:22.92 final time.
St. Benedicts Prep, ridden by Jose Lezcano, outlasted Socially Selective by one length for runner-up status, marking the seventh consecutive time the Linda Rice trainee has finished in the money. Sea Dancer finished fourth.
Ocean Gateway completed the order of finish and was pulled up after the wire and provided a ride back in the equine ambulance. She was reported to have bled, per NYRA’s Veterinary Department Director. Royal Spa and All Class scratched.
“She broke a hair slow, but her third jump she took a hold of the bit and took the lead,” Pennington said. “She was settled after that, and after that it was just a waiting game. When I asked her, she took off with no problem.
“I knew somebody was eventually going to come running at me, so I took a peek to see when to let her go at the very last second,” he added. “This is a long stretch here, so you want to obviously wait as long as possible. She was in the one hole, she usually breaks quick, but it was just one of those things that happened, she happened to get off slow but it still worked out in our favor.”
Irish Maxima won for the sixth time in seven starts overall, including a 13 3/4-length romp in Parx Racing’s seven-furlong Mrs. Claus on December 31 that capped her sophomore effort.
Irish Maxima rewarded her 4-5 favoritism by returning $3.60 on a $2 win wager in moving to 8-1-0 in 11 career starts. Her career earnings improved to $516,165.
“She’s gotten better with every race. The time off did her a world of good,” Servis said. “She was a little – I don’t want to say speed crazy, but just very anxious. We put her away early in her 2-year-old year and freshened her up and she came back mentally stronger, bigger and happier. She hasn’t done anything wrong.
“I was uncomfortable when she drew the one hole,” Servis continued. “She broke through the gate in her last start, so I was kind of worried about that, so I had her in the gate twice this week already standing her and making sure she’s settled. I know she’s quick, and she didn’t break that great, but you saw her, she put herself right in the gate."
Servis said a potential next start in the 6 1/2-furlong Grade 3, $175,000 Vagrancy on May 4 at Belmont at the Big A, or the seven-furlong Grade 1, $1 million Derby City Distaff on the same day at Churchill Downs, could come next.
“Let’s see how she comes out of this, whether we come back here or I might take a big shot with her and go to Kentucky on Derby day in that million dollar race [ Derby City Distaff]. She’s handled everything great. She just keeps getting better. She’s done nothing wrong. It is hard to fault her.
“The Kentucky race is going to be very salty, I don’t know if I’ll do that,” he said. “I may come back here and take it a step at a time, but with sprinting fillies, unless you are in the Breeders’ Cup, you don’t get to run for a million dollars very often, so it might be worth taking a shot.”
St. Benedicts Prep, who ran third in the Barbara Fritchie against Irish Maxima before running a close second, a nose behind winner Sunday Girl, in the Correction last month at the Big A, has finished first or second in 14 of her 23 races for Rice.
“She ran good. She broke good,” Lezcano said. “I think the filly who won is just a nice filly. My filly gave me everything she had. That winner kept going. My filly kept trying and ran a good race in my opinion, the other filly just never stopped.”
The Distaff was one of five stakes slated for Saturday’s 13-race card, which is headlined by the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino.
Live racing resumes Sunday with a 10-race card that features the $125,000 Biogio’s Rose in Race 4 and the $125,000 Haynesfield in Race 9. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.
America’s Day at the Races will present live coverage and analysis of the Aqueduct Racetrack winter meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule/.
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