Irish Maxima the seventh stakes winner of the year for Maximus Mischief

Irish Maxima came from just off the pace to score a hard-fought victory in the $100,000 Weather Vane S. Sunday at Laurel Park, the first stakes win for the 3-year-old Maximus Mischief filly.

Maximus Mischief now has seven stakes winners this year, second to only fellow Spendthrift stallion Omaha Beach on the Second-Crop sire list.

A front-running allowance winner one month ago, Irish Maxima took slightly off the pace in Sunday’s six-furlong dash. She was three wide around the turn and took over the lead from Youalmosthadme turning for home. The latter gave a good effort, but could not match Irish Maxima late, with the margin being three-quarters of a length at the wire.

“I wasn’t concerned about her not finishing. I was more concerned about the dirt maybe first time hitting her and her maybe climbing a little bit,” winning jockey Frankie Pennington said. “When [Youalmosthadme] came over, she came out and she handled it like a true veteran. She showed up good. She was still strong galloping out.”

Irish Maxima has won four of her six starts and earned $171,515 for Irish Three Racing LLC. The bay filly was bred in Kentucky by Pillar Property Services Inc. and is the latest of 10 foals, all winners, out of her stakes-winning dam Palace Pier.