It all started at the 2022 Kentucky Derby. Kelly Mahoney had the time of his life attending his very first horse race as he watched Rich Strike (Keen Ice) make one of the biggest upsets in Derby history. Afterwards, he called up his business partner Brad Kinsell and uttered that notorious phrase: ‘I want to win the Kentucky Derby.’

It took some convincing on Mahoney’s part, as neither of them had any prior experience or involvement in horse racing, but eventually his friend acquiesced and Victoriam Farm was born. Now less than three years since its inception, the operation already has two stakes winner in Stone Silent (Adios Charlie) and Just a Care (Ire) (Australia {GB}), their stable has grown to 36 horses and they have big plans for Victoriam to make a lasting impact on the sport.

Mahoney and Kinsell have been business partners for nearly a decade. Mahoney is involved in property development, building apartment complexes throughout southeast Florida. When Gainesville-based Kinsell became a vendor and investor in Mahoney’s business, the two became fast friends.

Shortly after Mahoney’s excursion to Louisville, he visited Ocala and became so enamored with the horse business that he purchased a farm there. In his quest to start a racing partnership with his friend, Mahoney reminded Kinsell of his connections in the industry, namely David O’Farrell of Ocala Stud.

“David’s daughter and my daughter play volleyball together,” Kinsell explained. “At first I kind of ignored Kelly. I kept putting him off for about four months. Finally I called Dave and said, ‘Listen, my partner really wants to get into the horse business. He bought this farm in Reddick.’ When we went to go see Dave he said, ‘Man, you really don’t want to do this. You could waste money a lot of other ways.’ So it took some convincing, but Kelly is a very determined person. When he wants to do something, it’s all in.”

The pair attended their first Keeneland November Sale in 2022 and, with the help of O’Farrell and Upson Downs Farm’s Hunter Rankin, came home with a handful of broodmares for the new farm. They returned the next year and bought four more mares including Stone Silent, a stakes winner at two who was also stakes-placed that year at three.

Their original plan was to build up a broodmare band and eventually race what they bred, but O’Farrell suggested that Stone Silent might have some racing left in her. They sent their $170,000 purchase to Brian Lynch and in her first start for her new connections–which also marked the debut of Victoriam’s racing silks–she claimed the Abundantia Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

“We had very low expectations,” recalled Mahoney. “I was just hoping she didn’t run last, but she ended up winning the race. The next race was [the Ladies’ Turf Sprint Stakes] and I was actually at the Super Bowl in Las Vegas so I didn’t go to it. We had a big bunch of people watching from the sportsbook and she wins that race also. David is telling us that this just doesn’t happen and we’re kind of like, ‘We don’t know what’s going on.’  Then for the third race of the series [the Captiva Island Stakes], we brought about 50 people to Gulfstream and sure enough, she won it. She swept the series. After that we were completely hooked and now we have about 36 horses in the program. We’re all in now, to say the least.”

Stone Silent went on to race to more times for Victoriam, earning graded stakes credit with her third-place effort in the GII Franklin Stakes at Keeneland last fall. She has since retired to Victoriam’s fledgling broodmare band and this year will visit Not This Time.

Going into last year’s Keeneland November Sale, Mahoney was set on finding another Stone Silent.

“Dave was telling us, ‘Look, that was one in a million. We will look, but don’t get your hopes up,’” said Kinsell. “Sure enough, we ran across Just a Care.”

Purchased for $200,000, Just a Care already had three wins and a runner-up performance in the Melody of Colors Stakes on her resume. She made her first start for Victoriam a winning one in the Abundantia Stakes, racing five wide around the turn in the five-furlong turf contest and pulling away to win by a length and a half.

This weekend, the 5-year-old looks to continue on the same path as her predecessor Stone Silent as she takes on the Ladies’ Turf Sprint Stakes.

“Brian Lynch loves this horse, maybe more than Stone Silent,” reported Mahoney. “He said she’s doing everything he has asked of her so knock on wood, we have high expectations.”

Mahoney said that they will have a crew of at least 20 people on hand at Gulfstream on Saturday to watch their latest stable star perform.

“The fun thing for me is that this has really galvanized a lot of the guys that work for me,” he said. “They love watching horse racing and the camaraderie around it. I would have never guessed something like construction crews and vendors would all rally behind this.”

Stone Silent wins the 2024 Ladies’ Turf Sprint Stakes | Lauren King

Mahoney and Kinsell have a lot more to look forward to this year with their incoming class of 2-year-olds. They have six juveniles in training at Ocala Stud, including a Maxfield filly purchased at Keeneland September for $290,000 that they are particularly high on. They said they plan to offer one or two 2-year-olds at the upcoming OBS April Sale and race the rest.

They are also excited about next year, when the first class of Victoriam Farm-breds reaches the racetrack. The group of current yearlings at Victoriam Farm includes a Justify colt out of Imposition (American Pharoah), one of the first mares that Victoriam purchased back at the 2022 Keeneland November Sale, as well as an Uncle Mo colt out of Victoriam’s $300,000 2023 Keeneland November purchase Donnamary (Justify). Their plan is to breed for both selling their homebreds and building up their own racing stable.

“Growing up my mother liked horses, but that was more like trail horses and had nothing to do with Thoroughbreds or anything like that,” explained Mahoney. “I grew up pretty underprivileged so we certainly didn’t have access to things like horses or racing or anything like that. I’ve had some success in my career, so I’ve been able to get into some of this stuff.  If we didn’t have Dave we would just be flying blind. He’s a great friend as well, so it’s more than just a business connection. Hunter Rankin has really taken us under his wing too. His farm in Kentucky is where most of our mares foal and we have a couple Florida-breds foal at Ocala Stud as well.”

He continued, “The funny thing is, we’ve heard so much negativity about how it’s a ‘good old boys’ game and how you can never break into it, which could be true but I will say that everybody we’ve encountered has been world class to us. Maybe Dave and Hunter get the credit for that, giving us the stamp of approval amongst circles in the barns. They’ve maybe validated us to people in the industry where if we were just trying to do this on our own, we would have probably given up a long time ago.”

Mahoney and Kinsell will be the first to admit that they have a lot to learn, but so far they’ve enjoyed the journey of immersing themselves in the industry.

“I remember when we went to our first sale,” recalled Kinsell. “We walked in and found Dave. People came up and introduced themselves. They’re talking amongst themselves and it literally seemed like a different language. We had no idea what anyone was talking about. I’ve been in the fire protection business for 27 years and it kind of gets repetitive. For me, it’s been a lot of fun with what little I’ve learned so far, really delving into the specifics and the nuances of the business.”

“The other unique thing about both of us is our mothers are super excited and deeply involved,” added Mahoney. “Both of our moms have been to several races. We took them on a mother-son date up to Saratoga last summer, so it’s really cool.”

And both Mahoney and Kinsell are adamant that, as they continue to grow their stable, everything they do be geared toward building a sustainable business model so that Victoriam Farm can someday become something bigger than just the two of them.

“We’re doing this for the long haul,” said Kinsell. “The return for us is really in the enjoyment. We’re not looking to get a quick return. We’re looking to have some fun and build a good program.”

“’Victoriam’ means victory in Latin,” continued Mahoney. “At the end of the day, that’s why we’re doing this. We want to breed winning horses, whether it’s for us to race or for others to ultimately race. We want to build reputable bloodlines. We’re in our mid-forties and we want our grandkids to be able to be in this sector and enjoy racing. Hopefully it will be a legacy for both of us.”