George Krikorian has been around the game of racing for a long time and has owned a lot of good horses. But a win in the Breeders' Cup has eluded him. He's 0-for-11. But he has two strong candidates this year in Just FYI (Justify) in the GI Juvenile Fillies and War Like Goddess (English Channel) in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf, where she will tackle males for the second straight year.
Will this be Krikorian's year? Those were among the questions our team asked Krikorian on this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland. He was the Green Group Guest of the Week.
“I'm pretty excited to be here and to have this opportunity and with two horses,” he said. “This is the first time that's happened for me. So it's going to be a pretty special weekend.”
In War Like Goddess, Krikorian owns one of the biggest over achievers in the sport. She sold for $1,200 as a weanling before RNA'ing for $1,000 at Keeneland September 2018. She showed up next at the 2019 OBS June Sale, where bloodstock agent Donato Lanni convinced Krikorian to take a shot on the filly. He bought her for $30,000. All she's done since is earn $2,495,184 and win eight stakes, including three Grade I's.
“You have to give kudos to Donato Lanni because he called me one day and said, 'I've seen this horse and she should not be in this sale and she's going to be overlooked,'” Krikorian said. 'He said, I see in the future that she could be a very special horse.' I told him that I knew that he didn't mind taking the time it takes for a horse to develop. And so that's exactly what we did. We took our time. Just as he predicted, she turned out to be an incredible horse.”
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Just FYI is 2-for-2 and coming off a win in the GI Frizette. Despite her strong credentials, this might be a tough spot for her and only because she'll have to take on Tamara (Bolt d'Oro), considered by many to be the most likely winner of any Breeders' Cup race.
“I know that Tamara is going to be a tough, tough horse,” Krikorian said. “The bottom line is you're challenged by any horse that's in a race like this. I think that Just FYI has shown to be a incredibly talented horse and I think that she's going to be a very tough competitor in that race.”
Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders, West Point Thoroughbreds, WinStar Farm, XBTV.com and 1/ST Racing, the team of Zoe Cadman, Bill Finley and Randy Moss went through all the Breeders' Cup races, offering their insights and handicapping opinions. Both Moss and Finley loved longshot Roses for Debra (Liam's Map) in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint. Moss had a less positive take on the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, calling this one of the weakest Classic fields ever assembled. Yet, everyone agreed that this might be the best field ever assembled for the Breeders' Cup Turf. Moss also made a compelling case why Elite Power (Curlin) should turn the tables on Gunite (Gun Runner) in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint.
To watch the podcast as a video, click here. For the audio version, click here.
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