When Irish Maxima ran in the Grade 3 Distaff Stakes at Aqueduct on April 5, she was accompanied by a pretty significant cheering section.

Owned by Irish Three Racing, the four-year-old filly was cheered home by 24 people who had chartered two buses to travel from Pennsylvania to Ozone Park. 

“We took up two big tables in the main dining room,” said owner Rob O’Neill, one of the founding members of Irish Three. “They had a blast.”

And while one suspects that that crowd would have had a blast regardless of the race’s outcome, the fun level got notched up when Irish Maxima went to the front out of the gate and stayed there, winning the Distaff by a length and a quarter for her first graded stakes victory and third straight overall.

Irish Three has owned horses for 14 years; for O’Neill and his two partners, Frank Tyrell and John Donahoe, owning a racehorse had been a dream since the days when they’d get their racing fix at what was then called Keystone Racetrack, now Parx.  

“It was something that we always wanted to do,” said O’Neill. “It was our dream. We always talked about it.” 

“John knew this trainer, Bob Robbins, so we went down to a [yearling] sale in Maryland,” O’Neill said. “We were sitting there with the book looking at horses, and Bob warned us, ‘Don’t do anything without me.’” 

Robbins left Donahoe and O’Neill alone in the auction pavilion and before long, a “nice-looking horse” came through the ring. 

“John said, ‘Put a bid on it! Go for it!’” O’Neill recalled. “We got him for [$20,000], and that was the start of it.” 

“You know how after you buy a horse you go back and look at him?” O’Neill continued. “We brought Bob back to the stall and we asked him, ‘What do you like about him?’ and he said, ‘Nothing! I told you two not to do anything without me!’”

The partners named that colt Irish Answer, because, said O’Neill, “We thought he would be the answer to our dreams. But he wasn’t.” 

It took Irish Answer 18 starts to break his maiden, and he ended up running 46 times for them, for a record of 3-5-3 and earnings of $111,598. He might not have been the answer to their dreams, but he put them well on their way. 

After a foray into breeding, including a Pennsylvania-bred mare called Dinner to Boot that they bred to Smarty Jones, Irish Three hooked up with trainer John Servis.

“We said, ‘John, this breeding thing didn’t work out for us, so let’s try it your way,’” O’Neill said. 

Good decision. 

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The first horse Servis picked out for the trio was a Pennsylvania-bred Flat Out colt, which they picked up as a weanling. Named Irish Cork, he’s raced almost exclusively in the Mid-Atlantic (his connections did try him in the race at Belmont Park named for his sire; he finished fifth), and he’s earned more than half a million dollars, most recently finishing second in an allowance optional claimer at Parx. 

No doubt the partners’ proclivity for nomenclature is by now obvious; Irish Cork got his name because O’Neill’s, Donahoe’s, and Tyrell’s families all originated from County Cork, on the south coast of Ireland. 

Irish Three’s most recent and most successful runner to sport the colors of Ireland will make her Saratoga debut on Friday in the Grade 2 Bed o’ Roses Stakes. Purchased for $50,000 at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic two-year-old sale, she’s earned $516,165 and brought the partnership its first graded stakes win. 

She’s by Maximus Mischief, who got his start at Parx for trainer Butch Reid and owners Cash is King and LC Racing. Like her sire, she made her first start at Parx; also like him, she romped. 

“She’s unbelievable,” said O’Neill. “She won her first race by 2 3/4 lengths, and her second by 6 3/4. I remember John [Donahoe] was so excited and he said, ‘She could be Secretariat!’ I had to remind him that she’s a female.”

Irish Maxima’s recent success has been bittersweet for O’Neill; while his racing dream is indeed coming true, that dream doesn’t include his good friend and partner Donahoe, who died in March of 2024. 

“He was such a great guy,” said O’Neill. “One of those guys you meet once in a lifetime. He’s one of the best guys I ever met.” 

Servis purchased a 2-year-old Maclean’s Music colt for Irish Three at the recent Fasig-Tipton Midlantic two-year-old sale, and O’Neill christened him “Irish Mumba,” honoring Donahoe’s nickname. 

Irish Maxima, a bay filly, comes to the Bed o’ Roses on a three-race win streak dating back to last New Year’s Eve, when she won the Mrs. Claus Stakes at Park. Following that she stepped up to win the Barbara Fritchie at Laurel and then again to take the Distaff.

“The more time we give her, the better she runs,” said O’Neill, explaining her light racing schedule this year. The filly drew post 1 and is the 6-1 fourth choice in the field of seven, which includes a 6-5 favorite in the monster multiple Grade 1 winner Ways and Means. 

Though Irish Maxima shows no signs of slowing down at this point and though her value is increasing with every win, O’Neill would like to keep her to breed her, despite his less-than-successful track record as a breeder. 

“We’ve had a couple of offers for her, but I’ve never been tempted to sell her,” he said. “I wouldn’t take a million dollars for her. I love her, and she’s really special. We were just three knuckleheads out there doing what we wanted to do. We never thought this would happen, and it’s been quite a ride.”