Krikorian Has War Like Goddess, Just F Y I Ready for BC

Speaking from the taxicab returning to his hotel from Aqueduct Oct. 7, owner George Krikorian noted, "I've never had a day like this before."

Who has?

On a dank, rainy afternoon in flood-soaked New York, Krikorian took down a pair of grade 1 races in the space of 30 minutes. First up was War Like Goddess , Krikorian's veteran race mare who proved she has plenty left in the tank, bouncing back from a pair of losses to repeat in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational Stakes (G1T). It marked her second consecutive triumph in the Hirsch, in which she defeated males and earned her third grade 1 score.

In the following race, while another heavenly downpour soaked the Aqueduct dirt track, Krikorian's 2-year-old homebred filly Just F Y I  made her second career start a memorable one, spurting out of the pack to deliver in the Frizette Stakes (G1) to remain undefeated.

Both the mare and the filly earned expense- and entrance fee-paid trips to the Breeders' Cup World Championships Nov. 3-4 at Santa Anita Park in Krikorian's home state of California. At least that travel won't be quite as tricky as it was for the owner to get to New York to witness the Hirsch and Frizette.

The Hirsch was scheduled to be run Sept. 30, and Krikorian traveled from California to New York only to be greeted by record rains that dropped six inches of water on the area and caused the turf race to be postponed a week. After repairing to Lexington, where he has a farm and a residence, Krikorian made his way back to New York a week later, with the extra attraction of the Frizette being run as the race after the Hirsch.

"It was like, basically, 30 minutes of 'What happened?'" he said. "Both horses dominated their races. It was crazy; super-special."

Krikorian is the antithesis of an attention-grabbing headline maker. Born in New Hampshire, he embodies the quiet New Englander disposition. He's soft-spoken, humble, and not completely comfortable in the spotlight. 

His father trained horses on the leaky-roof circuit around New England and Canada, and as a kid George began hanging out at Rockingham Park, a mile from his home. He tipped his entrepreneurial spirit early on, asking people for their programs and Racing Forms as they left the track, and then reselling them to late-arriving patrons.

After a tour in Vietnam, he settled in Southern California and established a chain of movie theaters he called Krikorian Premiere Theaters. He used the popcorn profits to buy some racehorses. About 25 years ago, he met Donato Lanni—a fortuitous union for both. Lanni, then just getting started, is today one of the world's top bloodstock agents.

"George was the first guy who gave me the chance to buy a horse and actually pay me a commission," said Lanni.

In 2019, Lanni spied an English Channel filly at the June Ocala Breeders Sales auction. It was unusual enough, a two-turn turf filly being offered at a sale geared to horses that could sprint on dirt. The filly had sold for just $1,200 as a weanling and was a $1,000 RNA at Keeneland's September yearling sale. She didn't work fast at the sale, was light, and had shin issues. Lanni bought her anyway for $30,000.

That was War Like Goddess, who has now earned just under $2.5 million for Krikorian. Under trainer Bill Mott, she has won 11 of 17 starts and nine graded stakes. In the Hirsch, she was facing 1-2 favorite Rebel's Romance , but it was 90-1 shot So High  that posed the most danger, racing Secretariat-like ahead of the field. Eight furlongs into the 1 1/2-mile Hirsch, So High had a 23-length lead over War Like Goddess, and even at the quarter pole, she had 14 lengths on the defending Hirsch winner. 

But jockey Junior Alvarado tipped Krikorian's mare off the fence and she set sail like she was in a race of her own.

"When they came around the turn, I thought there was no way they'd catch that horse," Krikorian said. "But when she came out and accelerated, I had to look twice. Three jumps and she was right there. She's still got her stuff together."

War Like Goddess won by 4 1/2 lengths, and will be looking to make her third straight Breeders' Cup appearance, having finished third in the 2021 Filly & Mare Turf (G1T) and in last year's Turf (G1T) against the boys, both after troublesome trips that didn't allow her to extend her stride in time. She's again pre-entered to take on top international males in this year's Turf.

Lanni also is connected to the Frizette winner. Back in 1999, with that first purchase for Krikorian, Lanni selected a Dynaformer filly for $35,000 at Fasig-Tipton's Kentucky yearling auction. Krikorian named her Starrer, and she banked more than a million bucks by winning the 2003 Santa Margarita Invitational (G1) and Santa Maria (G1) handicaps and two editions of the Bayakoa Handicap (G2). 

Kept by Krikorian as a broodmare, Starrer produced the stakes-placed Street Cry mare Star Act, who also joined his broodmare band and was eventually sent to Justify  , yielding Just F Y I. Also trained by Mott, Just F Y I was an eye-catching maiden winner at Saratoga Race Course this summer even though six furlongs appeared way too short for her.

Sent to the one-mile Frizette, she was overlooked in the wagering, which favored Emery  as the even-money choice and Life Talk  as second-favorite. Splashing through the mud and with rain pelting down on her, Just F Y I raced in third before storming to the front at the quarter-pole and running away from her field by 3 3/4 lengths. 

"When they came around the turn, Junior said he couldn't believe how much horse he had," Krikorian said.  "So she can probably go longer." 

The Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) at 1 1/16 miles should be right up her alley.

Krikorian, who maintains a sizable broodmare band at his Starwood Farm in Lexington, also stands California-bred Mr. Big   in the Golden State. Mr. Big got his first grade 1 winner when Ceiling Crusher  scored in the Cotillion Stakes (G1) Sept. 23.

Aside from his horse interests, Krikorian operates the LexLive entertainment complex next to Rupp Arena in Lexington, featuring a dozen movie screens, bowling alleys, and a sports bar with giant TVs. But for the first weekend in November, he will be up I-405 from his La Jolla home to watch his filly and mare compete at Santa Anita.

"It gives you something to look forward to now," he noted with his usual restraint. "I hope we can keep them both healthy."