George Krikorian Jr. Is Off to the Races

George Krikorian Jr. is a movie theater mogul, construction and real estate magnate, and an owner and breeder of world-class thoroughbred racehorses. It all started at the old Rockingham Park in Salem when he was just a child.  

“My grandparents immigrated to this country in the early 1900s from Armenia. At that time, there was a genocide of the Turks killing the Armenians, but fortunately they were able to get to this country, and they settled in Salem,” says the 79-year-old entrepreneur who lives in Palos Verdes, California, but still speaks with a slight accent that authenticates his New Hampshire roots.  

“They bought a property on Policy Road called Fairmont Manor. It had 12 or 14 bedrooms which they rented out to jockeys and trainers from the racetrack in the 1940s and 1950s. It was right at the intersection with Pelham Road where it heads up to Canobie Lake Park, and people would stop there every five minutes of every day and say, ‘How do I get to Canobie Lake Park?’”

His father, George Krikorian Sr., had no interest in the amusement park. He heard the siren song of the other Salem landmark.

It called George Sr. to the track and sparked his lifelong passion for Thoroughbred racing. Eventually, the father began his career as a trainer, and the son came of age in the stable area.

“As a kid, I worked in his barn. I used to walk horses (by hand on a shank before morning exercise or to cool them down after their races) for my dad. In the mornings, I would go out in the fields near the track and pick alfalfa for the horses,” he recalls.

Nonetheless, he spent more time on the fronts ide of the track than the back side. The defunct-Rockingham Park, now the site of the sprawling multi-mixed-use development Tuscan Village, was where he developed his entrepreneurial spirit and business acumen. 

“I used to hang around the track when I was 10 or 11. I’d stand outside the gate during the races, and as people were leaving, I would ask them for their programs and racing forms. Then I’d resell them to people coming in to bet on the races. I made a lot of money doing that,” he says with a laugh. 

“I also made a deal with a guy who was selling ice cream out in the parking lot. He couldn’t get inside the track because Harry M. Stevens was the concessionaire. He would load me up with a big case of ice cream and sneak me inside the gate where the railroad train platform was right inside the racetrack. As people were getting off the train (from Boston), I’d run out, and I’d sell all my ice cream in five minutes to that group. And then the guy would load me up again, and I’d go sell more.”

After graduating from Woodbury High School (now Salem High School) in 1964, he wasn’t sure about college or keen on being drafted into the military, so he enlisted in the Navy, served in the Vietnam War and came home to Salem. 

Lutza Smith, the wife of Rockingham’s then-owner Lou Smith, always liked him and got him a job at the track selling tickets for the New Hampshire Sweepstakes, now known as the state lottery. But when September rolled around and the weather turned, he heeded the proverbial phrase, “Go west, young man” in the late 1960s.

“I woke up one day and thought I’ll go to California and see if I can maybe go to school and study real estate. I went to Los Angeles City College and got my A.A. degree and my real estate certificate. I started my real estate career as a salesman, then became the manager of an office, and then I created my own brokerage. Then I got into construction and development and kept moving,” he says.

Along with his booming business in real estate and commercial development, he founded Krikorian Premiere Theaters in 1984. He opened the first chain of more than 100 movie theaters in Southern California, which he eventually sold to Regal Cinemas in 1996 for $28 million plus stock options. By 2000, he had created a new chain of more upscale and commercially viable metroplex theatres with an emphasis on old Hollywood quality and glamour, and he became the president and CEO of Krikorian Premier Theatres.  

In 2000, he returned to his roots and ventured into the Thoroughbred racing business as an owner and breeder, and his Starwood Farm near Lexington, Kentucky, competed at the top echelon of the sport. In October 2023, his mare War Like Goddess and homebred filly Just FYI, a daughter of 2018 Triple Crown-winner Justify, won back-to-back prestigious Grade 1 races in New York. Even winning a single Grade 1 race in this sport is an enormous accomplishment, so this is a rarity indeed.

“That is very exciting, very special, for sure. I had flown in from L.A. to watch my horses run, and my daughter was with me. It was amazing,” says the father of two and grandfather of four.

George Krikorian Sr. retired from his training career in New England in 1986 and moved with his wife to Southern California. He never had a stakes winner in his barn, let alone a Grade 3, Grade 2, or top-level stakes winner. 

“Fortunately, he lived long enough to join us at the races. One of my first stakes-winning mares was Starrer, and she was a multiple Grade 1 winner (in 2001). My dad was alive to see her,” says Krikorian, who has about 125 broodmares, weanlings and yearlings on his Kentucky farm plus a contingent competing at the racetrack with Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. 

“I had multiple Grade 1 winner Hollywood Story, who won her first race in the (2003) Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet at the old Hollywood Park (now So-Fi Stadium),” he continues. “I’m so glad my dad, who died in 2004, was there to see that and be in the winner’s circle with her. That’s a full-circle moment.”

George Krikorian (center) celebrates the victory of War Like Goddess with Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott (far left), jockey Junior Alvarado, and family. In a rare feat, his star mare and champion filly Just FYI won back-to-back Grade 1 races in New York on the same day, October 7, 2023. Photo by New York Racing Association

It’s said that it’s better to be lucky than good. It’s even better to be both.

George Krikorian bred the filly Just FYI, a daughter of 2018 Triple Crown-winner Justify, although she was never supposed to stay in his stable. She was set to be auctioned at the prestigious Keeneland Yearling September Sale in Kentucky in 2022, but an inflamed wound in her shoulder made her unpresentable to buyers so she never went through the ring. Instead, she went home to his farm and, after she turned 2 years old, she was ready to join the racetrack stable of Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott.

In 2023, Just FYI carried Krikorian’s silks to victory in an undefeated season that culminated with a win in the Breeders’ Cup World Thoroughbred Championships division for 2-year-old fillies, which is a Grade 1 race with a $2 million purse. At year’s end, she earned the prestigious Eclipse Award as North America’s champion horse of her gender and age. She gave Krikorian his first Breeders’ Cup win in 13 tries, and his first Eclipse Award in almost a quarter century of owning and breeding quality Thoroughbreds. 

“I’ve had some good luck. There is so much more that can go wrong than go right in this business. I’ve been very fortunate,” he says. “Just FYI is so very special. Her grandmother, Starrer, was a multiple Grade 1 winner for me, but she’s my first Breeders’ Cup winner and my first Eclipse Award winner. I’m very attached to all my horses, but she holds a very special place in my heart. She’s an incredible horse.”