Breeders' Spotlight: 'Just' Like the Movies, Krikorian Gets a Breeders' Cup Champ

It seems like almost too good of a plot line to believe it now, but Just F Y I (Justify) was never meant to race in George Krikorian's silks.

The filly made it all the way to the Keeneland sales grounds before a puncture wound in her shoulder kept her from going through the ring. While it was nothing serious, the minor abrasion became inflamed enough to make walking back and forth for buyers impossible. So she was scratched from the September Sale, sent to Margaux Farm and eventually joined Bill Mott's stable. Not long after, she became Krikorian's first Breeders' Cup champion.

“It's funny how things happen because we would have sold her,” reflected Donato Lanni, Krikorian's longtime advisor who was the one that had made the call to Krikorian about withdrawing the filly from the sale. “Somehow when you do good things in life and you're a good person, the Man Upstairs decides that he's going to take care of you. I really believe things like that happen for a reason.”

Lanni couldn't be more genuine in his praise for Krikorian, the California-based movie theater mogul who famously gave Lanni the opportunity to buy his first horse. As the story goes, Krikorian told a 20-something-aged Lanni that if he ever saw a yearling that he liked, to go ahead and buy it. In the summer of 1999 while Krikorian was busy scouting out properties for a new theater project in Arizona, Lanni somewhat nervously spent $35,000 on a Dynaformer yearling. Named Starrer, the filly eventually became the first of many Grade I winners for both Krikorian as an owner and Lanni as an agent.

Krikorian celebrates his first Breeders' Cup victory with Just F Y I | Benoit

While Lanni has since developed a stellar career working with a number of the top horsemen and owners in the game, he has maintained a steady relationship advising his good friend–the soft-spoken Vietnam veteran with a knack for business who had launched his start in the sport.

“George is the kind of guy that is very low-key,” Lanni explained. “He has that Shawn Connery way about him. He's charming and everyone that meets him says he's a gentleman and a great guy. His whole operation is pretty cool.”

Krikorian, who developed a passion for racing while growing up near Rockingham Park where his father George Krikorian Sr. was a trainer, has spent the past three decades building up a prosperous racing and breeding operation with an emphasis on establishing and advancing each family in his commercial program.

As a perfect example of his success in achieving just that, Starrer was among the top performers of Krikorian's racing stable for many years as a dual Grade I-winning millionaire, but she would eventually be surpassed in earnings by her own granddaughter Just F Y I.

A Breeders' Cup win had alluded Krikorian for many years, but to make it to the winner's circle with a homebred in the Juvenile Fillies –and at his home track at Santa Anita with his children and grandchildren celebrating alongside him–made the wait all worthwhile.

“It was exciting just being there the whole week before the Breeders' Cup and going through the whole process,” Krikorian recalled. “The whole experience of going back and forth with the horse to the track every morning, watching her get ready and watching the other horses, she was just showing herself more and more. I knew the day that she ran that she was going to run a hell of a race. I didn't know if she would win or not, but I knew she was going to run her best race.”

Wrapping up her juvenile season undefeated, Just F Y I secured her spot as the best 2-year-old filly in the country after overcoming the widest post to come out victorious in the Juvenile Fillies. Since then, the talented bay has enjoyed a bit of time off in Florida alongside fellow Krikorian stable star War Like Goddess (English Channel), the three-time Grade I winner who is set to return to the racetrack for her 7-year-old season this spring.

To go into 2024 with the most accomplished 3-year-old filly is exciting, but Krikorian acknowledges that there are plenty of others vying for the top spot.

“It feels great, but there is going to be more competition coming,” he said. “The competition gets a little bit tougher this year, but she is also growing. She was going through a growth spurt before the Breeders' Cup and she went through a growth spurt again when she got turned out. She's going to be a much bigger, stronger horse this year. Both she and War Like Goddess are back galloping and we're getting ready for the spring. In a few weeks we will probably start putting together schedules.”

When he's not in sunny California or traveling the country for the next horse race, Krikorian has found himself spending more time in Kentucky. He recently opened a one-of-a-kind entertainment complex across from Rupp Arena in downtown Lexington called LexLive.

“I can't help myself,” the entrepreneur admitted. “If I'm driving and I see a location that I think may be a good location for a theater, I go for it. So downtown Lexington had no theaters and I thought it would make sense to put something there.”

Opened for business in 2021, LexLive is home to 10 movie theaters, a bowling alley, multiple restaurants and bars and an arcade.

But the main draw for Krikorian's trips to Lexington is to visit his farm outside of Versailles. Named Starwood Farm in honor of Starrer and fellow foundation mare Hollywood Story (Wild Rush), the 350-acre property Krikorian purchased 15 years ago is home to around 40 broodmares and their offspring.

Krikorian is known for the effort he puts into the clever, oftentimes cinema-related names of his racehorses, but he has just as much pride for the work he puts into planning his matings every spring.

Lanni gives Krikorian all the credit for successful matings like the one that produced Just F Y I, but he does wryly point out that Krikorian has a tendency to match his mare to the perfect stallion even if it might be to the detriment of the farm's bottom line in the short term when it comes time to send the yearlings to the sales in the fall.

“It's a commercial operation, but sometimes he likes to breed to stallions that are not the most commercial at the time because it's the right thing to do for the mare,” Lanni explained. “So when we go to sell them, they don't bring the money because they're not by a first-year stallion. He wants to breed to the best. I'll tell George, 'This mare is 15 years old and she hasn't had a runner. I think spending this amount of money is too much.' But he doesn't look at the price of the stallion. He just wants to breed what is best for the mare.”

Krikorian checks in with the full-sister to champion Just F Y I | Sara Gordon

He might stray away from the commercial norm, but at the end of the day Krikorian knows when to make the right business decision in order to keep the farm's overhead in check and oftentimes that means parting with a horse that he is confident has all the potential to become a star.

The one that still makes him wince just a bit is Honor A. P. (Honor Code). The son of his Grade I-winning star mare Hollywood Story, Honor A.P. went through the sales ring as a yearling and fetched $850,000 from CRK Stable before he developed into a Grade I winner and eventual Lane's End sire.

“Honor A.P. stood out from day one from when he was born and it was painful to sell the horse, but I had to,” Krikorian reflected. “The poor horse ran in the Derby, but he never got a chance to really run his race. Coming out of the gate, he gets hit and knocked out but still ends up finishing fourth. Had he been able to run his race, who knows what would've happened?”

Another recent success in the sales ring for Krikorian's program was the $1.1 million sale of Mucho Unusual (Mucho Macho Man). The homebred claimed four graded stakes including the 2020 GI Rodeo Drive S. before selling to Shadai Farm when she retired from the track in 2022.

Now Krikorian is looking to make another shrewd move for his program as he sends a high-caliber mare to the Keeneland January Sale. Starrer's stakes-placed daughter Star Act (Street Cry {Ire}), the dam of Just F Y I, already has two other winners that sold for six figures as yearlings on her produce record and she is carrying a foal by Life Is Good.

“She's gorgeous,” Krikorian gushed of the winning 13-year-old mare. “She was a beautiful racehorse to look at. Unfortunately she had an injury that shortened her career as a racehorse, but she has made up for it as a broodmare. Her foals are large and very strong-boned with big shoulders and big hips. They're just what you want in a racehorse.”

Star Act's newly-turned yearling, a full sister to Just F Y I, was originally slated for the January sale as well, but Krikorian opted to focus on selling the mare in January and perhaps send the yearling to Keeneland come September. He admitted that she reminded him too much of her older sister to part with just yet.

“Just F Y I ruled the roost here,” he said with a smile. “She really stood out physically and she pushed everybody around. She was running the show and now this foal here is doing the same thing.”

The Starwood Farm office features portraits of farm matriarchs Starrer (pictured) and Hollywood Story | Sara Gordon

Krikorian's Starwood Farm has suffered several sad losses in recent years as Starrer passed away in 2021 and Hollywood Story died the following summer. With the passing of the farm's two matriarch mares, there is space in the program for other talented race mares to take on the role of leading producer someday–be it Just F Y I, or perhaps Big Pond–a daughter of Krikorian's stallion Mr. Big who recently ran second in the GI La Brea S., or maybe one of his rare sales purchases like War Like Goddess.

Bought as a 2-year-old by Lanni for a mere $30,000, the future multi-millionaire marked a full-circle find for Krikorian and Lanni, taking them back to their early days of shopping for bargain buys together back before Krikorian raced almost exclusively from his own breeding program.

“When I had first met Donato, he had just moved to Kentucky and was starting out,” Krikorian recalled. “He was sleeping in his car, looking to get a job. I liked him because he was really energetic and you could tell how much he loved the horses. Starrer was the first horse he picked. He was starting his career and I was starting a new venture, so it worked out well. He had an eye for a horse and he didn't know he had an eye for a horse.”

Krikorian, too, has more of an eye for a horse than he will readily give himself credit for.

Only a few years after the purchase of Starrer, Krikorian and Lanni were shopping for yearlings when Lanni pointed out Hollywood Story. Krikorian took one look and knew he had to have her. He was worried she might sell for too much, but the bidding stalled at $130,000 and he took home a future Grade I winner.

It was a similar story with Mr. Big (Dynafomer). Krikorian rarely buys weanling, but when Lanni mentioned the colt at the Keeneland November Sale in 2003 and Krikorian went to see him, he couldn't resist going to $220,000 for the youngster. While injuries kept Mr. Big from reaching his full potential on the racetrack, Krikorian bred a few mares to him on a whim when the new retiree was letting down at Starwood and was thrilled when the stallion's first starter won on debut by almost 10 lengths.

Now standing at Legacy Ranch, Mr. Big is ranked among the top five leading sires in California and Krikorian supports him with a dozen mares every spring.

So when it comes to judging horseflesh, Krikorian's opinion is one to take seriously. And while the septuagenarian doesn't have any specific goals as he continues to develop his program, his drive for finding the winner's circle is evident.

“I just keep looking for those nuggets,” he said. “But everything has worked out well. It seems like every couple of years, we've been fortunate to have something good happen and that keeps you rolling along.”

Krikorian is understated in reflecting on his many achievements in the sport, but Lanni is clear that Krikorian is deserving of everything he has attained and more.

“He's self-made and he did it the hard way,” Lanni said. “I'm lucky that I've known him since 1997 and so to me he's like a father figure. I work for him, but he's more like a father figure than anything else. He takes care of a lot of people and he's very generous, so he's an easy guy to cheer for.”